- This topic has 4 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 week, 4 days ago by Aarushi Khanna.
We tend to frame women’s leadership as a process or pipeline issue- not enough women coming in results in not enough women making it to positions to leadership. I want to challenge that- I see women leading all around me, whether it’s teams, organizations, movements, budgets, negotiations, communities- creating transformative shifts. I also see a lot of women leaving these spaces, not because they couldn’t handle it, but because leadership, as it is currently constructed, is still shaped by systems that reward dominance, extraction, and burnout.
Leadership is celebrated when it looks relentless. But feminist leadership has always insisted on something different — sustainability, intersectionality, collective power, vulnerability, care, shared accountability, wholeness.
The question for me is not: How do we get more women to stay?
It is: What kind of leadership culture are we asking them to stay in?
What if the issue is not women leaving leadership……but leadership failing to transform?
Women aren’t walking away from leadership…they’re walking away from harmful leadership models.
So where do we go from here?
What do you think? What does a leadership model that is feminist and truly supports women look like to you?
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We tend to frame women’s leadership as a process or pipeline issue- not enough women coming in results in not enough women making it to positions to leadership. I want to challenge that- I see women leading all around me, whether it’s teams, organizations, movements, budgets, negotiations, communities- creating transformative shifts. I also see a lot of women leaving these spaces, not because they couldn’t handle it, but because leadership, as it is currently constructed, is still shaped by systems that reward dominance, extraction, and burnout.
Leadership is celebrated when it looks relentless. But feminist leadership has always insisted on something different — sustainability, intersectionality, collective power, vulnerability, care, shared accountability, wholeness.
The question for me is not: How do we get more women to stay?
It is: What kind of leadership culture are we asking them to stay in?What if the issue is not women leaving leadership……but leadership failing to transform?
Women aren’t walking away from leadership…they’re walking away from harmful leadership models.
So where do we go from here?
What do you think? What does a leadership model that is feminist and truly supports women look like to you?
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A leadership model that truly supports women considers our limitations and I mean biologically, yes, but not only biologically. It still surprises me that in 2025 we’re still having conversations about workplaces that don’t support basic things like maternity leave, flexible work during pregnancy, or accommodations for menstrual health or hormonal shifts.
But beyond that, a feminist leadership model recognises that women are not machines. It understands that bodies have rhythms, caregiving responsibilities are real, life stages differ, and emotional labour is work.Support isn’t just policies, it’s culture. Thank you very much for sharing Aarushi.
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There’s a well-known book by one of our local authors titled From Boardroom to Bedroom, which explores how women can balance the many roles they hold.
For me, a more feminist approach to leadership means creating spaces where women can truly thrive where the “boardroom” isn’t just a physical place, but any space (even virtual) where meaningful work and decisions can happen. An office should not be the only benchmark for productivity.
Women are natural multitaskers, and leadership models should recognize that flexibility is not a weakness but a strength. If my child is unwell and I’m working from my home office instead of my official one, my productivity might look different but it’s no less impactful.
So the kind of environment women should be encouraged to stay and lead in is one that honors this fluidity and trusts women to lead in ways that align with the realities of their lives.
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It’s the sustainability issue. Women have many things on their canvas and they by nature are more kind and have more motherly instincts as their essence. Managing all at the same time sometimes bind a woman to make choices, which is okay, but the society at large does not support her to come back. The environment does not remain collaborative. Probably a balanced approach, supportive policies whereby a woman can strike a somewhat balance to sustain her professional aspirations need to be there.
And for building that culture the mindset needs to adjust at large.
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