| Abstract |
The study explores the intersections of gender and ethnicity as a point of
inquiry in the emerging roles of Meranao women who work in the field of
leadership. Drawing on qualitative interviews with seven Meranao women
leaders in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, in The Philippines, this paper
examines the multilayered issues and challenges these women face in their
roles as leaders, as they leap into higher decision-making positions. I
articulate the ideologies that shape their leadership experiences and their
performative repertoires, and examine the ways in which they are able to
perform their leadership roles given their opportunities and constraints.
Finally, the study describes the agentic pathways the women traverse to
effect leadership in Meranao politics and socio political development.
Results show that intersectional approaches to investigating leadership,
taking into account interconnected and overlapping factors of gender and
ethnicity, can not only reveal the issues and challenges women leaders face,
but also the individual agencies and strategies they use to overcome such
constraints. The intersectionality approach challenges essentialist framings
of leadership, and emphasizes an individual芒聙聶s social location, as reflected in
the intersecting identities of these Meranao women. This intersectionality,
as I reveal, allows for the emergence of a negotiated form of leadership
among women, which requires a delicate balance between meeting social
expectations as women and fulfilling roles as leaders. |
Mindanao State
University - Iligan Institute of Technology