Asian Women Leadership; A Cross-National and Cross-Sector Comparison; First Edition

This book is an interdisciplinary anthology grounded in scholarly research that offers a concise but in-depth examination and exposition of leadership that helps readers better grasp the basics of the various aspects of Asian leadership and examines the practices of Asian women leadership across sectors in Asian and western countries. While many leadership books effectively describe leadership styles and/or outline various approaches to leadership, this book focuses on Asian women leadership and illustrates performed styles, experiences, opportunities, challenges and management strategies across sectors ranging from higher education, business, nonprofit organizations, the media industry, politics and social movement to immigration, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It can serve as a handy reference for aspiring women leaders, academic researchers, general readers and students who want to study Asian women leadership, work in Asian societies and/or work with Asians. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 10 List of contributors 11 PART I: Introduction 16 1. Introduction to Asian women leadership 18 Introduction 18 The challenge of conceptualizing leadership 18 Leadership literature on culture and gender 19 The importance of studying Asian women leadership 20 Organization of the book 21 References 22 PART II: Asian women leadership in academia 24 2. Leadership style and success experience of Chinese women academic leaders in China, Taiwan and the United States 26 Introduction 26 Significance of the study 26 Literature review 27 Research questions 31 Method 32 Results 32 Discussion and conclusion 39 References 40 3. Breaking the bamboo and glass ceilings: Challenges and opportunities for Asian and Asian American women faculty leaders 43 Introduction 43 Higher education and the leaky faculty pipeline 44 Breaking the glass and bamboo ceilings 45 Method 49 Results 51 Discussion 55 Limitations and future directions 56 Acknowledgement 57 References 57 PART III: Asian women leadership in politics and social movements 62 4. The rise and downfall of dynastic female leaders in Asia 64 Introduction 64 The rise of dynastic female leaders 67 The downfall of dynastic female leaders 70 Conclusion 74 Notes 75 References 75 5. The “first” first lady of China and the “first Black” first lady of America in the media’s portrayal 78 Introduction 78 Literature review 79 Method 83 Results 86 Discussion and conclusion 88 References 89 6. Unnie comes out: Conceptualizing egalitarian leadership among South Korean women 92 Introduction 92 A new generation of South Korean feminists: Three collective actions 93 Leaderless democracy enabled by online media: How unnie networked 96 Making the protest site personal and performative: How unnie rallied the forces 99 Erasing individuality and presenting a united front as a symbolic anonymous woman: How unnie comes out to protest 100 Discussion 102 Notes 104 References 105 7. Soong Ching-ling and Soong Mei-ling: For the love of one’s motherland 108 Introduction 108 Christian connections and historical context 109 Common beliefs and values of the two sisters 113 Fundamentally different values and beliefs of the two sisters 117 Conclusion 120 References 120 PART IV: Asian women leadership in news media 122 8. Female leadership in Vietnam: Traditional gender norms, gender quota policy and the media 124 Introduction 124 Vietnam’s historical, cultural and political background of feminism 125 Female leadership, gender equality in contemporary Vietnam: does the gender quota policy work? 126 What are the barriers to female leadership? 127 News media and female leadership 129 Conclusion 135 References 137 9. Women leaders in India’s newsrooms: Challenges and perspectives 140 Introduction 140 No country for women? 142 Walking the thin line: Lived experiences of senior journalists 143 Existing theories on female leadership 145 Status report: Where are the women? 145 Judged by colleagues: Perceptions and stereotypes 147 Catty, crazy, cold, or cool: Do gender stereotypes affect management decisions? 148 The big challenges: Harassed at work, harassed at home, and given ‘easy’ jobs 150 The silver lining: Things are changing? 151 Conclusion 153 References 154 PART V: Asian women leadership in business, non-profit organizations and rural communities 158 10. A pentadic analysis: The realism, idealism and mysticism of Chinese female leadership 160 Introduction 160 Review of literature 161 Method 162 Results 163 Conclusion 171 References 172 11. Gender and career development in nonprofit organizations: Comparative study of female leadership in China, South Africa and the U.S. 174 Introduction 174 Conceptual framework 175 Research design and method 178 Research 179 Discussion 182 Limitations and suggestions for further research 184 Conclusion 184 References 185 12. Cultivating leadership among Indian women in climate change adaptation 188 Introduction 188 Literature review on cultivating leadership among women 190 Assessments of regional differences 193 Discussion and conclusion 202 References 203 PART VI: Asian women leaders as immigrants and minorities 206 13. Breaking the bamboo ceiling and reframing success: Perspectives from professional Chinese immigrant women on work, life and leadership 208 Introduction 208 References 219 14. Asian American and Hong Kong Chinese women leaders 222 Introduction 222 Social and global contexts 223 Women as leaders 224 Comparison of US and Hong Kong women leaders 225 Influence of gender and ethnicity on leadership 226 Cultural values and lived experiences 228 Asian women leadership 230 References 232 15. Future outlook of Asian women leadership and research directions 233 Introduction 233 Future of women leadership research 236 Developing a new generation of Asian women leaders 239 References 240 Index 242