Author Description

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which women and women's experiences with leadership theories and their construction are represented and made visible within leadership theory textbooks. Since the early 20th century, leadership theories have been developed and studied to explain the characteristics and practices of effective leaders. The study of leadership has continued to the present day, and concepts of leadership are used across disciplines, including education. However, from their inception, leadership theories have often excluded women and have been found to represent the experiences of white, middle class, heterosexual men in leadership positions. Leadership theories as a canon are taught at the graduate level in leadership-focused courses, including in educational leadership programs. From the perspective of critical discourse analysis, in which discourse is both constitutive and constituted, discourse in leadership theory is both constituted by and constitutive of leadership practice. As such, how, where, when, and in what ways women are represented in theory matters, as it produces particular constructions of what it means to be a woman-leader in a practical setting. As women continue to be under-represented in educational leadership positions, it is worth investigating the ways in which women are represented in the teaching of leadership through leadership theories. Through this study, the following research questions were addressed: (1) To what extent through frequency are women represented in leadership theory textbooks? and (2) Through discourse, in what ways are the experiences of women in relationship to leadership theories made visible within leadership theory textbooks? Data was drawn from three popular leadership theory textbooks in the education field and analyzed through frequency analysis and critical discourse analysis. This dissertation focused specifically on charismatic and transformational leadership, as these are the mo