Neither Here Nor There: Fragments of Scattered Thoughts

I am forcing myself to start writing again. I’ve thought an awful lot about writing and what I might write if I was going to write, but I’ve been caught up in what you might call the ‘post-postgraduate daze’ or the ‘I’ve-used-all-my-words-for-the-next-ten-years’ mentality (all 80,000 of them I might add).

While I have been tutoring, marking, guest lecturing, and preparing an academic article for publication (see, not that lazy!), I am uncertain about what to do next. If I could choose only one word to describe my present state of mind it would have to be: indecisive. And it strikes me that I've never really been in this career-defining position before. At least, not since I was 17 and making the decision to go to university in the first place. To use an appropriate illustration – I am like a stunned possum, frozen in the beam of a set of very bright headlights. The headlights are the future and, as the possum, I am not sure whether to just keep staring at this imminent and unknowable future hoping for the best, or, against all possum-like instincts, make a dash in some purposeful direction…the question is, which direction?!

The ‘question’ itself, I suppose, is: do I choose ‘work’ (popular perception: the 9-5-hour workday in a company with a decent salary) or do I choose ‘academia’ (popular perception: an ‘un-work’ like career in which I am disassociated from the ‘real world’ and observe goings-on from an ivory tower). For me personally, that ivory tower is appealing (I have grand delusions of hermit-hood). So if someone was willing to pay me to sit in an office with a nice window and a pot plant on the desk for the express purpose of researching and writing on interesting ideas and topics all day, with the occasional requirement to dabble (and dabble only) in teaching, then I would be more than happy. But doubtless my idealised vision of academic life and the part I might play in it is somewhat unrealistic (and potentially boring).

Still, the whole idea of an academic career - a chance delve to the very deepest depths and explore the vast uncharted horizons of a chosen field - is very appealing. Yet distant. Elusive. 

Frustratingly elusive and uncertain.

Yes, I am curious, driven, focused, determined, open minded, and so on and so on (as the Auckland University ‘so you want to be an academic’ speakers recommend). And I don’t doubt my ability to do a PhD or teach or research or write. But is it the right thing to do? Will it make me happy? Will I be usefully contributing to anything? What if I suck at interviewing people? What if no one is interested in the academic 'space' I choose to carve for myself? Am I too idealistic, too fragile, too nice to make a career of it? Will there even be any jobs available when I finish? What if no one will hire me? Ultimately, all these 'what-ifs' are merely speculation, and subsequently, pointless. Yet they are ‘real’ in a metaphorical sense. And so I can’t ignore that tightening, pulsating feeling of anxiety they produce; irrationalities that require more than fearlessness and blind ambition to resolve.

And where does that leave me? The present me, the Why Won’t She Just Make Up Her Mind me.

Planning. Meditating. Writing.

Experimenting.

Doing things differently, taking it easy, being present.

Or alternatively: panicking, worrying, questioning. There is little consistency within this unnerving state of indecisiveness. Nor does it engender eloquence or literary acumen. My writing frustrates me. I sit down and try to start something and fail to commit to its completion. I don’t even start sometimes. I’m limited to fragments; individual words and singular ideas.

I’m not explaining all this, whatever this is, to garner sympathy or encouragement, I know what I should be doing. Action is inevitable. But I want to shake off this listlessness. End the dry spell. Be proud of myself rather than annoyed at my apparent stagnation. And saying all this, getting it out of my system, is part of the process. Unloading the uncertainties and examining them one by one until I feel I can finally confront them with energy and even a smile. An ‘I laugh in the face of adversity’ attitude, a ‘fake it till you make it’ smile.

Ugh, so many platitudes. This is ugly writing. It’s sort of scratchy.

I apologise and yet I don’t.

It makes me feel better. Formulating these scattered annoyances into fragmented pieces of badly written self-analysis. There is a freedom and letting go that has to occur, and then a bravery to actually post something so unapologetically pretentious and haphazard. It is a step in accepting that I can’t have everything right and perfect all the time, that any decision could be the right decision, that not knowing is perhaps better than knowing.

One step forward at a time. And in anticipation, I promise musings on books, reading and actual decisions next time.

The 'Art' of Writing

Well I’ve been writing steadily for the last three and a half weeks and so far have produced almost 21 pages of 1.5 spaced content, which roughly translates as 9,000 words. And that’s just for one section (and not including the 51 references)! No doubt there will be a lot of paring down in order to consolidate my argument, but for now, even in all its rough draft glory, I feel an immense sense of relief that I’ve finally started writing. Phew.

But it didn’t start very well…!!

Now I love the library. Massey has a beautiful modern library in which I’ve spent many hours perusing (or frantically searching) the book shelves and participating in group meetings. So I decided it’d be a good idea to sit myself down in the library to start writing the first weighty paragraphs of the Women & Leadership section. I’d packed up my laptop, a stack of hastily scrawled notes and references, and a couple of books, thinking this was going to be an extremely productive morning. I was prepared, focused and ready to produce some serious...academic writing. But as I purposefully strode into the library foyer I made my first crucial mistake.

Mistake #1: I was going to start writing straight away but my weakness for flat whites propelled me towards the café. I pulled out my phone as I waited for my coffee and started skimming the latest trending Mashable and Buzzfeed articles. Once you get hooked into reading this kind of stuff it’s hard to stop, especially if your coffee is ready in 2 minutes (you feel ripped off, caught in mid-article, unsatiated by mindless, yet entertaining drivel). Thirty minutes later I was finished with that (and the coffee) and ready to get started, happily fuelled by caffeine (maybe that wasn’t such a bad mistake then?)

Mistake #2: I hate lifts, absolutely hate them. Someone almost has to hold my hand to get me on one. So in the library, of course, I avoid them like the plague. Now usually I would go up to level 4 or 5 if I wanted to study quietly, but the thought of climbing at least two flights of stairs carrying my laptop, handbag, books and notes wasn’t appealing, even with a coffee buzz. So I went downstairs instead and found a cosy corner spot facing the wall. I set up my laptop, earphones, notes, water, etc. and after the required amount of time fiddling with sound, finding music I actually wanted to listen to, and checking the internet was working, I finally opened up a brand new Word document. It was at that point I realised my choice of location was incredibly poor. A loud intermittent clanking noise emanated from behind a nearby maintenance cupboard, a light was faintly flickering overhead, and people were chattering away in the pods. By now it had been almost 60 minutes since I’d arrived at the library and I hadn’t committed one word to virtual paper yet. Since moving upstairs would definitely push me over the hour mark I decided the best course of action, despite the disturbances, was to turn up my music and just start writing.

Mistake #3: At home I usually leave my smartphone in my bedroom in an attempt to counter it’s tantalising siren-like “pick me up and check Facebook” call. No such luck at the library where it’s only half-hidden in my bag. The first buzz to let me know someone has messaged me and can’t resist checking who it is.

Mistake #4: Forty minutes into writing I’d managed about 300 odd words. I felt rather disenchanted with these sentences, they weren’t quite fitting together and I wanted to figure out why. But I was quickly distracted by a pressing need to use the bathroom. The problem with coffee is that it has a tendency to move through you very quickly. And so I was faced with The Toilet Dilemma. Everyone knows those stories of poor unsuspecting students who just needed to use the bathroom quickly, left their laptop, phone, etc. out because it’s such a hassle to pack them up and returned to find them ‘disappeared.’ That coffee probably wasn’t such a good idea after all. :-/

I did manage to sneak off to the toilet without losing any of my valuables, but obviously by this point the whole library-writing situation really wasn’t working for me. So it made perfect sense to leave after two hours to go shopping with my sister, with only a measly 600 words in that Word doc. And when I got home that afternoon I ended up scrapping them all. It was, for lack of a better expression, a lose-lose day. Thesis – 0, Lydia’s ego – 0.

----

I know this is quite a silly story! Ok, a very run-of-the-mill, hurry-up-and-finish, is-there-any-point kind of story. I will openly admit - it lacks profundity. But I wanted to explore the writing process honestly and the inevitable struggles, however inane, along the way (especially since family and friends often set me up on a pedestal as an example of the perfect, truly dedicated study-freak. And while I do, at times, have an incredible capacity for concentration, I’m still a fallible human being!).

On reflection, I managed to blame literally everything else but myself for getting off to a bad start (isn’t it incredible the human capacity for directing fault onto something/someone else other than oneself?) And for some reason this disastrous attempt at getting started put me off for the rest of the week (off writing at least, I did keep researching and reading!). After a few moments of soul-searching I eventually came to the realisation that the real problem was with me – my notes for the Feminism segment were poor and difficult to use. So the moral of the story is twofold: (1) I’m a creature of habit – home is always where the best writing happens (aka the dining room table!), (2) my writing is only going to be as good as my notes and research are. Such obvious points but so easy to ignore sometimes. 

Let’s Get Serious Now

Since the Women and Leadership (W&L) Section is more of a summary or evaluation (or in academic speak, a 'literature review') of the current issues women are facing in the contemporary workplace, it feels a bit like I’m working with a puzzle. I have 40+ references from which to craft my argument. The difficulty is always keeping in mind how all seven (yes 7!) sections of the thesis are inextricably linked to the arguments I make in this crucial middle piece. And yes, that does seem rather counter-intuitive doesn’t it? I’m sure that’s a rule from English 101 – don’t start writing your essay in the middle. But let’s imagine just for a minute a mindmap:

Women and leadership is the crucial central idea from which all other claims, ideas, and speculations evolve. Of course, doesn’t that still mean it should be the first topic to be addressed in the thesis? The way I like to think of it is concentrated analysis versus a broad ‘birds-eye-view’. Leadership itself is such a huge and often contentious topic, so before I can even begin explaining how gender influences/is-part-of leadership (the concentrated analysis aspect), I have to give a rundown on the perspective I’m adopting in relation to leadership as an academic discourse (the ‘big picture,’ the ‘ideal form,’ the ‘best practice’). But rather than write extensively on leadership with little to no direction, going back to this 'big picture' will ensure its relevance to the arguments I am making in the W&L section.

To give a brief explanation of the term, leadership, as I conceive of it in a business context, is the process of mobilising people effectively and efficiently so as they can work collectively towards a common purpose, goal or objective. But rather than being something that occurs through the agency of a single ‘leader’ figure; followers, context and the purpose to which effort is directed, all contribute to leadership’s occurrence (Ladkin 2010). And the part I'm honing in on is what goes on between leaders and followers during leadership ‘moments.’ More precisely, what does ‘gender’ do to leadership, or conversely, what does leadership do to gender? As much as some theorists would like to remove the ‘leader figure’ as a the primary topic/subject for analysis, because the social world and society’s power structures are arranged to give meaning to the binary classifications of male and female, and the tendency in most people’s minds to equate the term ‘leader’ with ‘leadership,’ gender identities and gender relations (men/women, masculine/feminine, etc.) continue to exert an immense amount of influence on how we conceive of and practice leadership in all variety of contexts and situations.

Image: Inverted Triangles. The inverted triangle exemplifies for me the 'honing in' structure of my thesis.

Another one of the important yet subtle distinctions I’ve been trying to make in the W&L section is the difference between the terms ‘women and leadership’ and ‘women’s leadership.’ Why is this significant? Here is a short segment from my discussion which sums it up nicely I think:

“Although the idea of finding a female advantage or a particular set of traits which allow women to compete on equal terms with men is appealing, a note of caution is in order. Promoting the idea of ‘women’s leadership’ as separate and distinct from ‘leadership’ places female leaders in a comparative position to be assessed against a pseudo-model of universal or neutral (aka male) leadership/power. Elliot and Stead (2009) explain that “women, we might conclude from this, are caught in a gender trap in which they are ‘constructed and reconstructed’ in order to make them appear suitable for managerial labour” (p. 26). If the workplace is established to reproduce and sustain masculinity, whether or not real differences and styles are identifiable in women leaders or not, traditional gender stereotyping will no doubt continue to influence how behaviours are perceived and rated (Whelan, 2012), perpetuating a ‘psychology of prejudice’ by which gender discrimination continues to be legitimated.”

So the aim is not to facilitate the feminisation of leadership, but instead a “loosening up” of management being “culturally connected to men and, in particular, masculine men and given a masculine meaning” (Billing & Alvesson, 2000, p. 155). Based on this premise I've developed a set of guiding questions for the methods section, questions which point to the usefulness of engaging fictional texts written by women: What can we learn about women and leadership by studying it in alternative, non-organisational settings? What methods will be employed to better reflect women’s experiences of leadership in the field of leadership development? How will these methods promote approaches that attend to the social and are concerned with leadership as well as with individual leader development? 

Engaging Imagination: Is the Process of Writing ‘Art’?

Imagine with me for a moment a beautiful large white canvas lying flat on your living room floor. Right next to the canvas is an assortment of paints, all manner of colours and shades, carefully emptied from their tubes and arranged expertly on a palette. And a little further over to the left, a set of clean paintbrushes. A toddler crawls into the room and pauses, awed by the size of the spotless, empty canvas. She spies the paint and makes a quick beeline for the uncovered rainbow of colours, a squeal of excitement on her lips. Tentatively dipping a finger into the sky blue she draws a squiggly line across the white space. It looks lonely, so she places both hands into the paint and swirls them around before drawing them enthusiastically across the unsuspecting canvas in a myriad of waves, dips and circles. The result, as perhaps you can well imagine, is something less than perfect. But perhaps, you might dare wonder, there is some kind of underlying order and beauty to it.

At the moment I feel a bit like that toddler. And if we substitute the canvas for paper, paint for theories and academic perspectives, and the excited toddler for the graduate student, then perhaps we can indeed call the writing process an ‘artistic pursuit’ in its purest, most literal form (brush to paper; hands to clay; keyboard to screen). Or, at least, collaging?!

In the Name of Reading

Books! So many books! If I was offered a job which consisted solely of reading and reviewing books - fiction or nonfiction - I'd take it in a heartbeat. In fact, while I was on holiday I found the latest BBC list of the 100 greatest British Novels, as selected by 82 book critics from around the world. Inspired by this list, I have decided it would be a worthy long-term goal to attempt to read all 100 novels/series over the course of the next 3-4 years (after my thesis is finished of course!). I even created a special Goodreads list for this exact purpose! I could even blog about it - it would be a sort of creative nonfiction exercise...

But that is all beside the point at the moment (and a tad distracting), so without further ado here are my latest readings & ratings:

1. The Dovekeepers (2011) by Alice Hoffman

Applicability Rating: 8/10

Relevant Themes: Interplay of masculine/feminine traits – ‘doing’ gender, challenging gender roles, leadership in crisis, relationships between women, divine feminine (celebration of the feminine)

Key Thoughts: Love, love, love this book! Although, since I read it over Christmas, it almost ruined my tenuous grasp on the ‘spirit of Christmas joy.’ The story was incredibly sad and, as it is based on true events, disturbingly tragic (I shed more than a few tears near the end).

Set in 70 AD just after the fall of Jerusalem, The Dovekeepers retells the tragic story of Masada, a small Jewish stronghold on a mountain outside the Judean desert. Nine hundred Jews held out for several months against the Romans, but by the end of the siege, only two women and five children had survived. The tale is told from the perspective of four extraordinary women whose lives become inextricably intertwined when they become dovekeepers at Masada – Yael, the unwanted daughter of an assassin, Revka, a baker’s wife who has witnessed unspeakable brutality, Aziza, the daughter of a warrior, and Shirah, a wise and powerful woman who some suspect is a witch.

Not only is the story compelling, but the novel also explores the leader-follower relationship from the position of the female follower. Yael is particularly observant of the charismatic appeal found in the ‘leader’ figure: “No one wanted to think about Masada without a leader, a body without a spirit” (p. 98), yet she is also somewhat critical of the godlike and masculine appeal of Ben Ya’ir, a man who “shone because others followed, because they adored him and deferred to him and trusted him…there was a light inside him,” and why they followed him “to this remote and dangerous place” (p. 99). 

In Aziza’s section, Hoffman investigates the tensions between traditional gender binaries and what happens/doesn't happen when they are transgressed. Aziza has lived an unconventional life; although born female, to help her survive in the harsh desert as part of a mountain Moabite tribe, her mother brings her up as a boy. But before she arrives at Masada she reverts back to her female ‘identity.’ However, as the Romans begin their siege, Aziza once again transforms herself into a ‘man.’ Compared to her sister Nahara who joins the Essene people and lives “as if she was nothing more than a passive and beautiful ewe” (p. 284), Aziza is a force to be reckoned with. The gender interplay alone provides plenty of material for discussion about the ‘nature’ of masculine and feminine traits, and the ways in which masculinity and femininity are perceived and the expectations they create.

I loved the sense of 'humanity' in this novel and the way it celebrated the feminine. By allowing some characters to move beyond gender boundaries and enact and play with both the masculine and the feminine, the agentic and the communal, Hoffman has created a story which transcends time boundaries.

2. Flow Down Like Silver: Hypatia of Alexandria, a novel (2009) by Ki Longfellow

Applicability Rating: 7/10

Relevant Themes: Female leadership in male-dominated societies, women’s achievements, perceptions & expectations

Key Thoughts: “Hypatia? Who is she?” I felt I should know, so by the end of the first chapter I was desperately wracking my brain searching for a reference point, some long ago cataloged fact. “Nothing…wait, a movie…Yes! Got it, Agora.”

It’s rather disappointing when all you can remember about such a remarkable woman is that she was killed by a Christian mob sometime in 400 AD, and this from a rather poorly executed movie (as my hubby would claim – the best form of historical (mis)information). Longfellow no doubt thought it was disappointing too, which is why she wrote Flow Down Like Silver, a novel which celebrates Hypatia’s sublime genius in a time period when it was almost completely and exclusively a ‘man’s world.’ Not only was Hypatia of Alexandria a leading Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher in the 5th century, she was also head of the Neoplatonic school at Alexandria where she taught philosophy and astronomy to men – ‘pagans,’ Christians, and Jews alike – during a time of political and cultural upheaval.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the depth with which Longfellow explores Hypatia’s philosophical inclinations (she even has Hypatia debating with Augustine) and bravery in the face of stringent opposition from the leading religious powers. There is no doubt Hypatia deserved to work in the public sphere and male-dominated education system. 
However, I feel there could be problems with workability. The narrative switches haphazardly between protagonists. Personally I would have preferred if the story had followed only Hypatia, or at least Hypatia and Minkah. There is a LOT of philosophy/abstract reasoning sprinkled throughout the text, I love that kind of thing, but it could be a bit tiresome for those wanting a quick, easy read (one of the keys I think is having a story or novel which someone could read in one weekend – books like The Lifeboat and The Dovekeepers are much harder to put down due to the compelling nature of their plots. Saying that, Badaracco still includes more challenging reads like Antigone by Sophocles in his selection).

3.  In the Name of Friendship (2005) by Marilyn French

Applicability Rating: 7/10

Relevant Themes: Third-wave Feminism (in constrast to second-wave), friendship, middleclass women’s careers, changing expectations

Key Thoughts: Written in 2005 and published by The Feminist Press, In the Name of Friendship is a sort of pseudo-sequel to The Women’s Room (originally published in 1977). French obviously realised the need to re-visit the status of the ‘gentler sex’ and relook at the opportunities for (predominantly) white women in the West, and I’m glad she did! I found this novel to be much more relatable (no surprises there!) and in line with the experiences of my own and my mother’s generation.

Set in a small Berkshire town in Massachusetts, the novel opens with the formidable, yet kind-hearted seventy-six year old Maddy Gold stating matter-of-factly: “Things are entirely different for women today.” It is on this premise which French bases her updated exploration into the ‘truth’ behind women’s lives (and to a lesser extent, men’s lives) at the turn of the century. The story brings together four unlikely friends of differing ages and with completely different life experiences, and it seems that what French is really wanting to celebrate is the beauty and necessity of multigenerational female friendships.

Although there is not much in the way of plot or action (it reads quite similarly to other French novels – a type of thoughtful, but disjointed narrative filled with gems of insight and wisdom; ‘real-life’ in all its mundane, everyday glory), as Stephanie Genty notes in her afterword: for readers who are searching for a feminist messages in novels, In the Name of Friendship offers a clear one: “at the beginning of the twenty-first century, more than forty years after the start of the women’s movement, at least privileged women can choose to experience ‘more life’” (p. 389). So it, of course, focused on “female experience in the widest and deepest sense: woman in relation to significant others, in relation to her body and sexuality, in relation to work and creative experience, and in relation to society as a whole” (p. 391).

Does it examine or say anything interesting about women’s leadership? Not overtly. However, it does explore the double-bind women face when it comes to work and family, along with discussing subtle misogyny and sexism in the workplace (there’s an excellent scene where Alicia’s husband, with Alicia’s gentle prompting, comes to the realisation that he has biased perceptions of his female colleagues). As a preliminary text (and by preliminary I mean the type of novel you’d use to kick off the whole discussion of gender and work, an ‘awareness raising’ type of text) it could be useful. 

4. The Gracekeepers (2015) by Kirsty Logan

Applicability Rating: 5/10

Relevant Themes: Gender play, feminist science fiction

Key Thoughts: I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would. I now feel I have a love-hate relationship with the (feminist) science fiction genre. But since this is only Logan’s first novel, maybe I can find it in me to get over my disappointment (or maybe as the fallible reader it was I who failed to pick up on the subtly of Logan’s brilliance??). But opinions count for something, so in my opinion, while The Gracekeepers was poignantly elegant, ethereal and magical in some places, overall it lacked the complexity, depth and artistic genius of Le Guin.

 

The story is supposed to follow the lives of two unusual girls, North and Callanish. They live in a familiar yet mysterious world where the sea has flooded the earth and living on land is a privilege for only the lucky few. North, the circus bear girl, and Callanish, the unwanted gracekeeper, both have secrets which could destroy their lives, and it is because of these secrets that they are drawn to one another. There is a lot of gender play in this book, particularly in terms of androgyny, as well as in a critique of organised religion which is interesting but…there was too much of everything in this short book, too many themes explored, too many characters trying to find a place in the narrative, too many random plot details, etc…And since the book is only 280 pages long (the font is larger than normal and the margins are wide), the ending seemed rushed and forced.  

5.  Remarkable Creatures (2009) by Tracy Chevalier

Applicability Rating: 7.5/10

Relevant Themes: The ‘space between’ leaders & followers (moments between Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot), psychology of prejudice, female friendship

Key Thoughts: Remarkable Creatures retells the true and fascinating story of Mary Anning, a young working class girl in 19^th century Britain with a talent for finding fossils (or ‘curies’ as the locals call them) along the English coastline. To say the least, I learnt a lot about fossils – ammonites in particular, but also Mary’s biggest discovery, a huge ancient marine reptile called an ichthyosaurus. This discovery, and more like it, shook the scientific community, but Mary was barely acknowledged for her significant and difficult work (not only finding and dislodging the delicate fossils from the rock, but also cleaning and piecing the creatures together).

Mary’s story intersects with that of another fossil hunter, Miss Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly middle-aged London spinster who has been effectively banished to the small town of Lyme Regis with her two unmarried sisters. Elizabeth and Mary form an unlikely friendship which crosses class boundaries, sharing a unique passion (and at times, rivalry) for finding fossils. Between them they share many ‘moments’ of leadership as they struggle for recognition in the male-dominated scientific community. It's a charming novel, but underpinned with a kind of haunting sadness or disappointment over the unfair way Mary is treated - if only she had been given the same opportunities as men, what more she could have been and done. As Elizabeth observes, as the 'outcasts' of society (female, working class, spinsters) they are only allowed one or two small adventures in an otherwise unadventurous life.

6. Almost Famous Women (2015) by Megan Mayhew Bergman

Applicability Rating: 4/10

Relevant Themes: Women’s lives, real women, missed opportunities

Key Thoughts: I had really high hopes for this book of short stories, and while it is very well-written and demonstrates the enviable versatility of Megan Mayhew Bergman’s writing style, I felt like something (an ‘essence’? depth?) was missing. The purpose of the collection is to give ‘life’ and attention to a set of unlikely heroines who were born in proximity to the spotlight but, for a variety of reasons, struggled to distinguish themselves or were unjustly relegated to the footnotes of history. Most of the stories are very sad – about unfulfilled potential, reckless decisions and, subsequently, loneliness and bitterness. And while Mayhew Bergman is superb at characterisation, the women she describes are more atypical anomalies than relatable or inspiring examples. 

 

Lists & Classifications

This table is a basic ‘representation’ of women’s literature that I have begun ‘grouping’ into themes/categories (it looks a bit messy because it had to fit the dimensions of this humble blog!). 

The criteria for selection emerged as follows:

• At least one female protagonist/heroine who guides or is subject to the majority of action in the story
• Written after 1970 by a female author
• Well-reviewed and/or award-winning literature (I've tried to stay away from 'chick lit' as much as possible)
• Interesting/provocative story line
• Universal appeal (suitable for a ‘general’ audience)
• Possible 'leadership' themes

Undoubtedly I've missed some suitable books in my search, so this list will hopefully increase to about 50 odd books by the end of February. At the moment I think it stands at 39 novels/plays/short story collections by 32 authors.

Historical Literature / Historical Drama: [Pre-1900]: ·         The Red Tent by Anita Diamant ·         Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks ·         Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin ·         Flow Down Like Silver: Hypatia of Alexandra by Ki Longfellow ·         Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier ·         Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross ·         The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman [Slavery/American History]: ·         The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd ·         The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier ·         Property by Valerie Martin ·         The House Girl by Tara Conklin* [Pre-1980]: ·         The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver ·         In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez ·         The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan ·         The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant ·         Day After Night by Anita Diamant (WW2) ·         The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (WW2) ·         Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (crime fiction) ·         The Help by Kathryn Stockett	Modern/Contemporary Fiction (1980 – 2015): ·         The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ·         How to be Both by Ali Smith ·         Outline by Rachel Cusk ·         A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley ·         White Oleander by Janet Fitch ·         The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer ·         We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler ·         Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray (chick lit?) ·         In the Name of Friendship by Marilyn French ·         The House Girl by Tara Conklin* ·         Unless by Carol Shields	Feminist Fiction: ·         The Women’s Room by Marilyn French ·         In the Name of Friendship by Marilyn French ·         The Group by Mary McCarthy ·         Top Girls (play) by Caryl Churchill ·         The Shadow of the Sun by A. S. Byatt (?) ·         The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer ·         Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman ·         The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark	Prize-winning Literature: ·         The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver ·         The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ·         The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin ·         How to be Both by Ali Smith ·         Outline by Rachel Cusk ·         The Red Tent by Anita Diamant ·         Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ·         The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd ·         Possession by A. S. Byatt ·         A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley ·         Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin ·         We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler ·         The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah ·         Property by Valerie Martin ·         Unless by Carol Shields
	Short Story Collections: ·         The Unreal and the Real: Outer Space and Inner Lands by Ursula Le Guin: -          “The Matter of Seggri” -          “Sur” ·         The Unreal and the Real: Where on Earth by Ursula Le Guin: -          “Hand, Cup, Shell” ·         Oliver Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ·         Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman	Dystopian + Science Fiction: ·         The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin ·         The Unreal and the Real: Where on Earth by Ursula Le Guin ·         The Unreal and the Real: Outer Space and Inner Lands by Ursula Le Guin: ·         The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan ·         The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
	Plays: ·         Top Girls (play) by Caryl Churchill ·         Welcome to Thebes by Moira Buffini

The next round of selection will be concerned with identifying what ‘types’ of women’s stories are appropriate for the study of and deconstruction of women’s leadership. I imagine in this section I will investigate three key criteria for long listing suitable literature. These include, Badaracco’s test of ‘careful reading,’ the ‘Bechdel Test,’ and the presence of identifiable ‘moments’ of leadership within the narrative. Suitable women’s literature should move beyond the actions of a single, heroic leader figure, to encompass complex relationships between followers, purpose and context in the narrative.

From there I should easily be able to long-list 8-10 suitable titles, followed by a shortlist of 3-4 pieces of women's literature which work together to create a unified study on the issues facing female leaders. At the moment, the four interlinked themes I would like to work with include:

1. The impact of gender on leadership (an exploration into social constructionism, gender & leadership)
2. Reinterpreting the hierarchy - destabilising grand narratives
3. Deconstructing popular stereotypes and expectations
4. Leadership as process (women & post-heroic models of leadership)

I will leave it at that for now. The plan is to finish up the women & leadership section by mid-February, go on holiday for a week, come back and write-up the women's literature classification & selection by the beginning of March. #goals