LEAD 220(F) Women and Leadership (Same as History 381 an Women's and Gender Studies 200)*

As more and more women claim leadership roles in the United States and worldwide, overcoming centuries of patriarchal barriers, important questions arise: Have women, across time and cultures, exercised leadership differently than men? Does leadership by women carry advantageous potential to achieve transformational rather than incremental change? How can we examine the history of women's leadership without falling into "essentialism" on one side and gender blindness on the other? How has leadership by white women differed from leadership by black and Latina women?
This course will explore these questions and others comparatively by examining a wide array of leadership experiences, starting with mythic cults of the Virgin Mary and Virgin of Guadalupe and culminating with contemporary grassroots leaders in South Africa and other African countries. The bulk of the course will focus on black, white, and Latina U.S. leaders of the last two centuries, including Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Marian Wright Edelman, Dolores Huerta, and Condoleezza Rice.
Format: seminar. Requirements: class participation, response papers, midterm exam, 10-15 page comparative essay on two women leaders, final exam.
Prerequisites: Leadership Studies 125 recommended. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected: 25). Preference given to Leadership Studies and Africana Studies concentrators and Women's and Gender Studies majors.

Hour: S. BURNS