Lexington Books Political Women: Language and Leadership

This collection examines the ways in which women have used political rhetoric and political discourse to provide leadership, or assert their right to leadership, at the national level. While over the years women have broken through traditional roles, they are still underrepresented in political leadership. In this text, scholars consider the various factors that continue to restrict political leadership opportunities for women as well as some of the ways in which individual women have strategically sought to enact political power and leadership for themselves. The contributors analyze various case studies of leadership positions at the national level, looking at women who have run, been nominated to run, or appointed to national positions. The interdisciplinary approach lends itself to: rhetoric; political rhetoric; political discourse; leadership studies; women's studies; gender issues; satire; pop culture. Review Face it. Women are not only underrepresented in politics, they still face recrimination for how they use political rhetoric and political discourse once they get there and attempt to provide leadership and to assert their rights to it, all the way up to the national level. These eleven essays describe a fight for language. They look at modern-day leadership, the race of 2012, women's leadership in America, the argument for spatial agency in Willard's Wheel within a Wheel, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Californian Gubernatorial campaign of 1934, the invitational rhetoric of Shirley Temple Black, women as heads of state and rhetorical action, the acceptance speeches of Ferraro and Palin (and Ferraro and Palin on Saturday Night Live), feminist leadership in the Republican Party, female leadership in the 2012 Obama campaign, Rodham Clinton's 'women's rights are human rights, ' Rodham Clinton's model for understanding the construction of collective memory, and the gender regime and Rodham Clinton's 2008 campaign rhetoric.-- "Book News, Inc." This thought-provoking collection of essays on political leaders, leadership, and discourse gives us a sophisticated and theoretically rich analysis to deepen our understanding of the political, social, and cultural traditions and constructs surrounding men and women as political executives, including a response to the question, 'Why hasn't a woman been elected President of the United States?'--Janet M. Martin, Bowdoin College About the Author Michele Lockhart teaches business communications and English at Texas Woman’s University. Kathleen Mollick is an associate professor of English at Tarleton State University, where she serves as the Director of the Writing Program.