An Interview With Katya Guryeva

Written by Katya Guryeva, Intern at C40 Cities

1. Why is “an approach to leadership that resonates with women” needed?

When it comes to women’s gendered experience of leadership, many of the same obstacles and frustrations echo across generational and cultural divides. What could we as women achieve if we were encouraged to work with and not against each other, if we were more sure of our strength, if we did not have to choose which parts of ourselves to pursue? Globally, women are massively underrepresented in leadership positions despite being directly affected by the policies and plans made by those in power. There is so much potential that isn’t being supported- imagine what we could achieve if more minds with more diverse lived experiences were set upon the same problems.

Beyond this, with women making up half of the world’s population, to be a woman is to be a myriad of different identities. It’s impossible to talk about an approach to leadership that resonates with women without acknowledging the intersectionalities of culture, religion, race and other factors. Therefore, to explore an approach to leadership that resonates with women is also to explore an approach to leadership that is kinder, more just, and more inclusive for everyone. It is to challenge the way that we understand power, to question the systems that we live in, and to propose alternatives to how we can exist in a world that urgently needs collective and compassionate action. 

2. Halfway through the Expedition what are you uncovering?

As the saying goes, the more you know, the less you know. I’m grateful that from Day 1, all members of the Expedition have been ready to ask difficult questions about what we are exploring and why, especially when it comes to wrestling with aspects of our own positionality. There are a multitude of ways to be a woman, and so to do justice to our central Expedition question and address our blind spots, we have to look beyond our group. And in doing so, we often realise the limitations of how much we are able to represent. 

And yet in understanding our limitations, I believe we are coming closer to understanding the form of leadership that we are looking for. We are learning, through interacting with each other and with women beyond our group, how to listen, how to share space, and how to take ownership of our mistakes. Learning by doing, I think, is key to getting closer to what we hope to achieve at the end of the Expedition.

To read more about Katya, click here