Telecommunications and real estate expert Astrid Collins provides a thorough book review of Women Community Leaders and their Impact as Global Changemakers.
Women Community Leaders and Their Impact as Global Changemakers is a collection of narratives about 55 women leaders, or changemakers, across the world. Through these narratives, and via a rigorous data-based analysis of common cultural values, it seeks to test the researchers’ supposition that a change agent who poses transformative leadership traits has a critical role to cultural transformation. Key to the research was establishing a definition of cultural transformation: a process by which cultural norms are unsettled through a cultural disruption. The researchers sought to test the cultural transformation premises they constructed in the taxonomy through collected multicultural narratives.
After the narratives, the researchers explain three main phases of their analysis: how they categorized an overwhelming amount of data; how they coded the data by cultural values; and how they applied grounded theory to the coding. This resulted in adjustments to the initial value codes they identified prior to the completion of the narratives and related research. Ultimately, the researchers created a new diagram to represent the Cultural Transformation Framework that is dynamic and reflects the complexity, friction and interconnectedness of the relationships between the different constructs of values. It illustrates the distinction of individual perspective in the system and community perspective and puts Purpose at the center. They conclude with the recognition that the process of cultural transformation is a learning process, rather than an end to a means. And they hope this process can and will be applied to future research beyond this project-specific female leadership population.
"Awareness, passion, 'in-powerment', resilience, courage, communication… This is only a small handful of recurring themes and values exhibited by the women changemakers that I jotted down while reading this book because they resonated personally with me." - Astrid Collins
Overall, the narratives (and corresponding research) are grouped into three main sections of the book: Section 1 – Business, Politics, and Science; Section 2 – Education and Cultural Development; and Section 3 – Social Service and Empowerment. To ensure consistency in discovering data points across the stories, each narrative is intentionally organized in the same manner: Scene, Character Development, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. For the reader, they are organized into easy-to-follow sections: Abstract, Narrative, Points to Ponder, Author’s Reflections, and Author Bio.
The straightforward nature of the book’s organization (Preface, Narratives, and Conclusion) enables the purpose of the book to be easily understood by the reader and is convenient to re-reference the assumptions outlined in the Preface after reading the Conclusion. The authors identified the three main sections of the book as three themes that emerged from the narratives. However, as a reader, I found myself identifying far more commonalities among the sections than three distinct themes. In addition, while each narrative was supposed to be organized in the same manner, with a clear climax and resolution, many of the narratives did not have a clear climax and resolution. While this could be viewed as not meeting the structured goals, I think this is reflective of the varied nature of the women leaders and each unique story. It is also a reflection of the variety of authors and each author’s proficiency of the written English language. Some narratives were somewhat hard to follow, but again, that adds to the richness of the cultural diversity captured in this book.
| | Women Community Leaders and their Impact as Global Changemakers | Prof. Patricia Goodman Hayward (Northeastern University, USA) et al.
©2022 | 399 pgs. | EISBN13: 9781668424919 | - Latest Research Findings of 55+ Researchers from over
15+ Countries - Covers Topics such as Women Communities, Feminine Energy Revival Movement, & Human Rights
- Features 55 Chapters on the Latest, Peer-Reviewed Research
- 10% Discount on e-Books acquired via GOBI, OASIS, and the IGI Global Online Bookstore through December 31st, 2022.
|
| |
|
|
Awareness, passion, “in-powerment”, resilience, courage, communication… This is only a small handful of recurring themes and values exhibited by the women changemakers that I jotted down while reading this book because they resonated personally with me. The authors identified 367. By compiling such a diverse representation of women leaders from around the world, the reader is exposed in a very short time to a vastness of challenges and corresponding solutions that is truly unbiased and culturally authentic. I recommend this book for a wide variety of audiences. The recurring theme of education makes me realize that this book is empowering all of us who read it, simply by educating us through awareness.
One of the things the authors ask the readers to do is to contemplate not only the differences of these changemakers and their respective cultures, but also to contemplate the commonalities. Following this guidance, but also unconsciously, I found myself pausing to take more notes than I anticipated, which speaks to the power of the impact of these women leaders. I read this book and I am writing this review during a time of personal reflection and change. Messages like “the power of making a difference resides in each of us” from Lili Ben Ami (Chapter 44) were particularly impactful for me. While I recognize that others will read this under many different contexts, this book, like the women leaders featured in it, has the potential to transform perspectives and provides a deeper understanding of the values that contribute to fundamental changes in communities and beyond. An important message described by many of these women is that change takes a long time. Many of the stories also tell of the ripple effect of change. In this case, the ripple effect of readership and the impact this book can have in academia is compounding. This is stated in another way by one of the selected leaders, Helen Zia (Chapter 42). Zia, now nearly 70, reminds the younger generation “There is no such thing as small. What can I do? Big or small, it is all big. Because we can do things as individuals, but, when we get tougher and do it with other people, it becomes big.”
As stated in the Preface, the book is targeted to audiences associated with education, either higher education or secondary education. However, the researchers clarify their intent that was this would not be a casual book, but at the same time, not a fully academic research-based textbook, either. Their objective was for the reader to get inspired, motivated, and encouraged, even if they picked up the book and read just one chapter out of it. This objective was particularly applicable to me, as someone who is a business professional, not in academia. I read this book on my own, without a class or group with which to discuss it, and thoroughly enjoyed every story. Time and circumstances permitting, to fully appreciate each woman’s impact as a global changemaker, and to fully contemplate how you as the reader can apply their values to your own life, this book is meant to be read slowly, pausing to reflect, when compelled, on either a part of a story that resonates with you, or at the end of each story.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of IGI Global.
About Astrid Collins
Astrid’s professional career has been focused in architecture and telecommunications. Most recently, Astrid served as Vice President of Network Strategy at Mobilitie, a leading communications infrastructure provider. Her primary role was program management of large, complex wireless networks, as well as standing up new business units within the company. During her 10 plus year tenure at Mobilitie, Astrid was involved in developing several key initiatives for Mobilitie’s wireless carrier clients and was the main representative from Mobilitie in day-to-day client engagement. Astrid led the deployment of the largest hospitality Wi-Fi network in the country and recently led the design and deployment of a multi-faceted wireless network for a major public transportation system in the Bay Area, encompassing DAS, Wi-Fi, carrier macro solutions, and commercial fiber. Prior to her work in telecommunications, Astrid was a licensed architect in the State of California. As an architect, she was responsible for the design, management, and construction administration of several multi-million dollar mixed-use and multi-family projects. Astrid holds a Master of Science in Real Estate from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati. Outside of her professional endeavors, Astrid enjoys volunteering in her community and is a competitive triathlete.
About IGI Global
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA with a subsidiary office (IGI Science and Technology, Ltd.), operating out of Beijing, China, IGI Global is a leading medium-sized independent academic publisher of international scientific research. They are committed to facilitating the discovery of pioneering research that enhances and expands the body of knowledge available to the research community through traditional and open access publishing workflows. Working in close collaboration with expert researchers and professionals from leading institutions, IGI Global publishes quality peer-reviewed content across 350+ topics in 11 core subject areas, including business, computer science, education, engineering, healthcare, social sciences, and more. With over 150,000+ industry-leading researchers and experts worldwide contributing to IGI Global’s publications, they ensure that each contains the most emerging and timeliest research. Learn more about IGI Global here.
Newsroom Contact
Emma Baronak
(717) 533-8845 ext. 183
ebaronak@igi-global.com
www.igi-global.com