Speaker: Professor Monika Foster, Northumbria University, UK
Time: 17 April 2024 at 14:00–15:00 (please note the time has been updated since the original publication of this event)
Venue: Aula, Collegium Heliodori Święcicki
Short synopsis
In ‘Through the Labyrinth’, sociologists Alice Eagly and Linda Carli apply the ancient female image of the labyrinth to describe the multiple obstacles women face on the path to leadership. It is not a straight path, with gendered division of labour and societal norms still biased against women leaders. On the other hand, women have made a lot of progress in having their voice heard and being able to lead. As the concept of leadership evolves, some key questions remain to be addressed including: does women leadership matter and what are the barriers still faced by women?; are there benefits of women leadership for men? and should diversity be a focus rather than female leadership? In this lecture, a personal story as well as examples from the literature will be applied to illustrate resilience and breaking the bias as strategies to develop own leadership and have a sustained impact as a professional and an individual. The lecture will conclude with recommendations on ways to promote female leadership to make it less of a labyrinth and more of a linear leadership path for women and men.
Speaker bio
Professor Monika Foster is Head of the Department of Marketing, Operations and Systems at Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University in the UK and Professor of Business Education. Monika has led a number of Business Schools and has been responsible for strategic activities in the Business Schools in the UK, Europe and the Far East. She has been awarded the highest professional recognitions in the UK Higher Education including National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy for her innovations in large research projects and strategic initiatives including developing a strategy to embed internationalization in the curriculum in the UK and with partners in Europe, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore. Monika’s research interests lie in developing social capital, cross-cultural management, internationalization of higher education, intercultural aspects, and leadership and change management. Monika’s latest publication commissioned by Routledge is Building Intercultural Learner Relationships: Towards a critical pedagogy.Monika’s external recognition includes the title of Visiting Professor from Shandong University of Finance, China.