Viewpoint: Women's Learning Partnership

By Anna Workman, Program Associate at WLP
One World Perspectives Magazine, Issue 7: Women in the Lead (USA)
Friday, February 24,2006

This January we witnessed two outstanding achievements in the field of women's leadership-Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's inauguration as president of Liberia and Michelle Bachelet's election as president of Chile. The success of these women speaks to the ways in which beliefs about women's ability to lead are slowly changing.

But achieving gender equality at all levels of decision making in families, communities, and societies requires more than a gradual increase in women's participation at the highest levels of political office-it requires a qualitative change in the practice of leadership. Not only politicians, but all women, stand to benefit from the development of participatory leadership skills. If we can empower women to believe in themselves as leaders in all areas of life and enable them to work together to achieve their shared visions for change, then we will begin to see a real transformation in women's leadership.

What is participatory leadership? Mahnaz Afkhami, president of the Women's Learning Partnership (WLP), in cooperation with women activists and leaders from Muslim-majority societies, has created one model. First, you don't need to hold a formal leadership position to be a leader. Rather, good leadership is based on the ability to communicate, listen, build consensus, and work in partnership with allies to develop a collective vision and implement an action plan. It's about "power with" rather than a "power over." Sharing power and respect creates a strong group identity that both empowers individuals to achieve personal goals and mobilizes the group for collective action.

What does this mean in practice? WLP has worked in partnership with 18 autonomous women's organizations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to create culture-specific curricula for leadership workshops with women. These workshops have involved women activists, academics, factory workers, NGO leaders, politicians, refugees, students, and indigenous women, among others.
Participants practice participatory leadership skills by applying them to their own particular sets of circumstances, with diverse outcomes. For example, after attending a leadership workshop, a Jordanian woman ran for municipal office, speaking out on her views and gaining the support of many community members. In Lebanon, a group of workshop participants campaigned for women candidates in local elections. And, leaving formal politics aside, our partner in northeast India used leadership workshops as a way to help indigenous women reclaim their traditional market spaces from encroaching private development.

The ultimate objective of this approach is to build a mass movement for women's leadership. While increasing the numbers of women in formal leadership roles in all fields at the local, national, and international levels is an important goal, it's also vital to transform the practice of leadership so that women-when they take on such roles-have the experience and skills to exercise a new style of leadership.

Practicing participatory leadership will enable women in formal leadership roles to build a community of support for their ideas, avoiding isolation and marginalization within male-dominated organizations and institutions. Furthermore, women in these roles will be able to use their position to empower other women to fulfill their potential. When women who practice participatory leadership take office then we will be taking an important step towards achieving gender equality for all and will have real cause to celebrate.