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Lakota women leaders: Getting things done quietly

Leadership

Published online on

Abstract

In Western society, the foundation of what was once a more traditional way of thinking about leadership has been replaced by focusing more on gaining and using power, influencing people, and maintaining an appearance of control. These paradigms that often advise management policies, practices, and decisions have generally reflected the structures and cultures from a more White, heterosexual male perspective. This perpetrates the systemic issue in that minorities in the United States continue to remain underrepresented, and this is particularly true for Indigenous peoples. Unfortunately cross-cultural research has not helped the problem in that differences have often been ignored or negated. Adding gender differences to the mix complicates things even further, as leadership has traditionally been studied using masculine norms as behavioral standards. In addition, colonization is acknowledged as having had a destructive effect on indigenous gender relations and cultural dynamics. Therefore, to address this gap in understanding, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore leadership from a gender and Indigenous perspective. From interviewing Lakota women leaders, findings indicate that Indigenous women’s leadership is not invariable with dominant mainstream leadership theories, and that further research is needed on Indigenous, as well as Indigenous women leadership perspectives and practices.