Dr. Kathi Tunheim and Elizabeth Johnson ’14 presented their collaborative paper, “Women and Leadership in Sweden,” at the International Leadership Association Conference in Montreal, Quebec. The ILA is a unique organization that truly blends academics and practitioners from all over the globe. Many of leadership’s stars attend and present at the ILA. Exhibit A, and present at Kathi and Elizabeth’s presentation, was Alice Eagly, one of THE seminal researchers on women’s roles in organizations. Eagly created Social Role Theory to explain why social behavior differs between men and women, and she asserted that differences in behaviors between the sexes results almost exclusively from social stereotyped expectations and norming. Eagly also co-authored the book (with Linda Carli) “Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders.”
Kathi & Elizabeth
To gather their data, Kathi and Elizabeth interviewed professional female business executives, business owners, lawyers and teachers in Stockholm and Mora during August, 2012. They were interested in finding out why the United Nations Commission on Women reported that Sweden is the best country in the world for women to live and work. Elizabeth, a Senior Communications Studies and Management double major and one of Kathi’s advisees, is back in Sweden over J-term 2014. She is conducting more interviews and collecting additional data so that they can enhance their paper even further for journal publication after Elizabeth graduates this spring.