Musings on Practicing Leadership with Care
To co-opt the words of one of my storytelling heroes Issa Rae, ‘I am rooting for everybody female’.
Last week we celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) marking 110 years since its inception. For many people around the world, IWD is an opportunity to celebrate the everyday practices of resistance and refusal amongst women from all walks of life. We celebrate those marching on the streets demanding justice and the recognition of reproductive rights, as well as those redefining societal constructs of womanhood. We celebrate countless women attuned and burdened by the label of ‘first’— aware of its ambivalent use as a recognition of accomplishment but also a reminder of the obstacles placed on many women that came before them. As a Black feminist, I describe myself as a woman’s woman. To co-opt the words of one of my storytelling heroes Issa Rae, ‘I am rooting for everybody female’. In fact, if I had it my way, everyday would be women’s day because it is no easy feat to not only survive but also thrive in a patriarchal world.
Scrolling through my social media news feed, it was wonderful to see thousands of people and organizations engaging in numerous campaigns and conversations around gender issues while celebrating the women in their life who have in one way or another impacted them. What I found striking was that for most people, the women who had the greatest impact were those who in simple terms cared, be it for them, their communities or environment. One such hero for me is the late Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan social, political and environmental activist and the first women to win the Nobel Peace Prize. What I find consistent and inspiring about her journey was that with every role she took up be it as a women’s rights activist or environmental activist or a member of parliament, caring as a practice took centerfold. As someone who thinks deeply about the subject of leadership and gender, I see her as an example of someone who was an exceptional leader not despite of but because of being a woman. Indeed, far gone are the days when being feminine is considered detrimental to one’s ambition and leadership potential. In fact, one might say when looking at the data around leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic that it is by leaning on gendered practices such as care and collectivism, that women leaders stand out.
Within Black feminist thought, the notion of care is posited by Saidiya Hartman as the “antidote to violence”. And here, I must mention that we must begin to think about violence more expansively beyond physical harm for it is indeed patriarchal violence that has subjugated the woman within society. It is also the violence of capitalism, racism and colonialism that continues to harm so many of the communities that my fellow WHT scholars and I come from. As young leaders charting new paths and bringing into life new visions for our countries, I wonder what it means to take a leaf out of these women’s pages and dare to become caring leaders. How about if we move from the investment in being human beings, a category not everyone has benefitted from, to being caring beings. What kinds of societies are we able to foster? This is indeed how we are able to move from being a world in which everything hurts to one in which all life forms thrive. While I admit it can be quite an onus task in need of capacious thinking, leadership with care requires very little to kickstart. One can simply start by asking the question, “Are you okay?” with an intention to listen and support those around you. This may seem so simple but the events of the past year remind us that it is those simple things that are the hardest and yet most needed during difficult times.
