Deeds Not Words: Exploring Genderwashing in Leadership

In honour of International Women’s Day, the Faculty of Education hosted a virtual panel on the phenomenon of genderwashing - where surface-level commitments to gender equity mask deeper, systemic inequalities.

Our panelists drew on their recent contributions to the thought-provoking book, Genderwashing in Leadership: Power, Policies and Politics.

The book is available for purchase here: https://bookstore.emerald.com/genderw...

ABOUT OUR PANEL:

Rita Gardiner, PhD is an Associate Professor in Critical Policy, Equity, and Leadership Studies in the Faculty of Education. Her research explores leadership and organizational culture through different lenses. These lenses include feminist theory, intersectionality, and phenomenological inquiry. Rather than advocating for prescriptive models Dr. Gardiner seeks to re-envisage leadership as an affective, embodied, and relational experience.

Carole Elliott, PhD is a Professor of Leadership Development at University of St Andrews Business School, a Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Rennes School of Business. She is recognized as a leading scholar in critical human resource development, which couples organization studies with adult education. In 2022, Dr. Elliott was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy of Management, and she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Dionne Rosser-Mims, PhD is a Professor and the Vice Chancellor for the Troy University Phenix City Campus in Alabama, U.S. Dr. Rosser-Mims has nearly 20 years of adult education experience including work in collegiate teaching, as well as training and development. She continues to work with a range of audiences to provide facilitation services in the areas of team-building, group dynamics, leadership assessments, conflict management, communication, board development, and strategic planning.

Hayley Baker, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ School of Kinesiology. Her scholarly interests include leadership, gender, and sport. Her research has focused on addressing the underrepresentation of women coaches at Canadian universities by exploring normalized institutional practices and processes. More recently, she has examined the implementation of gender-based violence policies in universities and the institutional responses to gender-based violence within Canadian university sport.

Syeda Tuba Javaid is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education. She is an educationist who is enhancing the communication and linguistic skills of learners and a researcher who is striving to develop the perfect tool for second language acquisition. Along with this, she is currently working on experiential learning, policy making and women leadership in higher education. She has six years of teaching experience, seven years of research experience and four years of material development experience and educational management experience.