The Rhetoric of Women's Leadership: Language, Memory and Imagination

Abstract

This study examines women's leadership through a rhetorical lens. Thirty women leaders in church, business, and higher education were interviewed with an eye toward discovering ways in which their use of language shapes and is shaped by their sense of themselves as leaders, the legacy of leadership they bring to their roles, and the importance of their words for the people with whom they work. The women included Euro-American, African-American and African leaders ranging in age from thirty-five to seventy years old.