Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Service-learning can profoundly alter students' perceptions of leadership, often clouded by negative stereotypes of racial and ethnic, gender, and social-class differences that dis-advantage one group while advantaging another. This article presents findings from a 5-year study conducted at a women's college linking program design to students' perceptions of women's leadership for social justice. Before venturing into community organizations, female students complete a preassessment designed to measure definitions and perceptions of leadership. Students then engage in a program design emphasizing discontinuous experiences. Students also read and respond to multiple, often contradictory texts regarding women's leadership and social change while engaging with female community leaders often of differing racial and ethnic and social-class backgrounds. At semester's end, a postassessment is administered. Although the preand postassessments in this study found no change in students' perceptions of gender differences in leadership effectiveness, their definitions of leadership and their perceptions of women's style of leadership evolved consistently with the program's intent.

Keywords

Atlanta Semester women's leadership social change autoethnographic writing feminist leadership service-learning

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Atlanta Women's Foundation . (n.d.). Sexual exploitation. Available at http://awf.techbridge.org/initiatives/initiatives_childprost.asp

Barnett, B. M. (1993). Invisible southern Black women leaders in the civil rights movement: The triple constraints of gender, race and class. Gender & Society, 7(2), 162-182.

Bayor, R. H. (1996). Race and the shaping of twentieth-century Atlanta. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Cone, D. , & Harris, S. (1996). Service-learning practice: Developing a theoretical framework. In Campus compact introduction to service-learning: Tool kit readings and resources for faculty (pp. 45-57). Providence, RI: Brown University.

Epstein, C. F. , Olivares, F. , Graham, P. , Schwartz, F. , & Mansbridge, J. (1991, January-February). Debate: Ways men and women lead. Harvard Business Review, pp. 150-160.

Eyler, J. , & Giles, D. E. (1999). Where's the learning in service-learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ferree, M. M. , & Martin, P. Y. (Eds.). (1995). Feminist organizations: Harvest of the new women's movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Georgia Citizens' Coalition on Hunger . (2001). Our mission. Available at http://www.gahungercoalition.org/

Helgesen, S. (1990). The female advantage. New York: Doubleday.

10.

Klenke, K. (1996). Women and leadership: A contextual perspective.New York.Springer.

11.

Robnett, B. (1997). How long? How long? African-American women in the struggle for civil rights. New York. Oxford University Press.

12.

Rosner, J. B. (1990, November-December). Ways women lead. Harvard Business Review, pp. 119-125.

13.

Schermerhorn, J. R. (1996). Management. New York: John Wiley.

14.

Simmons, V. C. , & Roberts-Weah, W. (2000). Service-learning and social reconstructionism: A critical opportunity for leadership. In C. O'Grady (Ed.), Integrating service-learning and multicultural education in colleges and universities (pp. 189-207). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

15.

Sjoquist, D. L. (Ed.). (2000). The Atlanta paradox. New York: Russell Sage.

16.

Stanton, T. K. , Giles, D. E. , & Cruz, N. I. (1999). Service-learning: A movement's pioneers reflect on its origins, practice, and future. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

17.

Williams, I. (2002). Women's leadership and social change in the Atlanta Semester Program. In N. Naples & K. Bojar (Eds.), Teaching feminist activism (pp. 207-220). New York: Routledge.

Southern Community Women Teach a New Generation Lessons of Leadership for Social Change

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References