Women leaders at the intersection

Introduction

Originating from the pioneering work of Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, intersectionality emphasises how racial and gender prejudices intersect to shape women’s experiences and opportunities. While the concept has gained global recognition and become a critical framework for examining the underrepresentation of global majority women in leadership, as well as the enduring psychological impact of racial and gender biases (Moorosi et al., 2018; Pogrebna, 2024), it remains underutilised in leadership and management literature (Derry, 2023). Notwithstanding contributions that have been made to the study of women’s leadership (Moorosi et al., 2018), particularly in educational leadership (e.g., Johnson, 2023; Rodriguez, 2023; Rollock, 2019; Ruggs et al., 2023; Wane, 2023), substantial knowledge gaps persist. There is a lack of comparable, measurable data on the ethnic and gender composition of women in leadership across industry sectors in the UK and internationally. Although qualitative research offers rich empirical insights, many studies remain small and descriptive, with limited theoretical or policy contributions. Knowledge gaps are particularly evident in fields such as the judiciary, medicine, finance, across education and senior corporate leadership.

This special issue aims to address these gaps by exploring the intersectionality of gender, race, and ethnicity in leadership within gender and management literature (SDG 5, SDG 10). We welcome multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral, and international contributions that employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies, as well as policy reviews, desk-based analyses, and theoretical papers. Our objective is to serve as a forum for advancing knowledge, informing policy and practice across diverse organizational sectors and international contexts, and laying a foundation for future research. 

References

Crenshaw, K. (2005). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color (1994). In R. K. Bergen, J. L. Edleson, & C. M. Renzetti, Violence against women: Classic papers (pp. 282–313). Pearson Education New Zealand.

Derry, R. (2023) An Intersectional Perspective on Gender and Leadership. In: Painter, M., Werhane, P.H. (eds) Leadership, Gender, and Organization. Issues in Business Ethics, 63. Springer, Cham.

Johnson, N.N. and Fournillier, J.B. (2023) “Intersectionality and leadership in context: Examining the intricate paths of four black women in educational leadership in the United States,” International journal of leadership in education, 26(2), pp. 296–317.

Moorosi, P., Fuller, K. and Reilly, E. (2018) “Leadership and intersectionality: Constructions of successful leadership among Black women school principals in three different contexts,” Management in education, 32(4), pp. 152–159.

Pogrebna G, Angelopoulos S, Motsi-Omoijiade I, Kharlamov A, Tkachenko N. The impact of intersectional racial and gender biases on minority female leadership over two centuries. Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 2;14(1):111. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50392-x. PMID: 38167539; PMCID: PMC10762112.

Rodriguez, J.K., Guenther, E.A. and Faiz, R. (2023) “Feminist futures in gender-in-leadership research: self-reflexive approximations to intersectional situatedness,” Gender in management, 38(2), pp. 230–247.

Rollock, N. (2019). Staying Power: The career experiences and strategies of UK Black female professors. U. C. Union. https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10075/Staying-Power/pdf/UCU_Rollock_February_2019.pdf

Ruggs, E.N., Bilotta, I., Membere, A., King, E.B. and Shelby Rosette, A. (2023) “At the Intersection: The Influence of Race on Women’s Leadership Self-Efficacy Development,” Group & organization management, 48(2), pp. 507–545. 

Wane, N. (2023) “Black Canadian Women Leaders in the Academy: In Their Own Voice; An Intersectionality of Race, Gender, Class,” Canadian woman studies, 36(1-2), p. 77.

List of topic areas 

• How intersecting identities shape global majority women’s experience in leadership, and how they navigate power and identity in leadership.
• Examination of systemic systems of privilege and oppression and how these can be dismantled through intersectional analysis.
• Policies and practices that are effective at supporting global majority women’s leadership, for example, the role of allyship, anti-racist policy, positive action.
• The effectiveness of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in supporting global majority women’s career advancement and leadership.
• Quantitative studies of global majority women’s representation in leadership.
• Mixed method and qualitative studies of global majority women’s lived experiences of leadership.
• Creative research methodologies that offer fresh research insights on the theme of this Special Issue.
• The challenges and successes of global majority women in leadership and management.

This list of topics is indicative. We welcome a broad range of contributions.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at here. 

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here. 

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal. 

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 04/04/2025

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30/01/2026

Guest Editors

Dr Karen Jones, University of Reading, UK, karen.jones@reading.ac.uk 

Professor Carol Azumah Dennis, Open University, UK, azumah.dennis@open.ac.uk

Dr Karen Healey, Manchester University, UK, karen.healey@manchester.ac.uk 

Loleta Fahad, Education Consultant, UK, loletacf@aol.com