A Portrait of Servant Leadership: Women Caring for Other Women

• In Event: Interactive Roundtable Discussion Session

Short Description

This scholarship-based discussion will present recent research on servant leadership, care ethics, and the role of food in healing and building community. How can women uplift one another in personal, professional, and global settings? In order to increase solutions and promote harmony in all areas, notions of what constitutes “the greater good” and how this impacts women will be dissected through the lens of care ethics as described by Nel Noddings.

Detailed Abstract

The inspiration for this roundtable discussion springs from my dissertation research which was completed in Spring of 2018. The purpose of that study was to illustrate a portrait of servant leaders who embody healing and community-building through preparing and sharing food. In order to investigate the role of food in healing and building community (two tenets of servant leadership as identified by Larry Spears), Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’s qualitative method of portraiture was chosen to pursue this inquiry.

This study grew from an increasing concern regarding the fractured world in which we live where violence, fear, injustice, and suffering often dominate. However, despite horrific stories of atrocity, it is also possible to uncover accounts of love, compassion, and humanity when one asks, “What is good here?” This study sought to discover, describe, and depict one way in which people care for those in their community. To do so, the writings of philosopher Nel Noddings regarding care ethics were used to understand the frameworks regarding this portrait.

In order to create this portrait, data was gathered through a series of interviews with six women who serve the Welcome and Hospitality Committees for The Mom’s Network of Walla Walla, WA. Five themes were extrapolated from the interviews: 1) teaching service to one’s children, 2) childhood experience of domesticity, 3) desire to give back, 4) way to be involved, and 5) food as love language. Each theme was identified and explored through the words of the participants. A discussion of the role of food in healing and building community, the challenges and the joys in serving, and implications for leadership theory are will be included in the discussion.

While this study looked at a specific group of women in a small setting, the importance of service, caring, and "grassroots" leadership are universal. I am interested in discussing how we as women can support each other similarly in our homes, our schools, our neighborhoods, in our places of work, and in the community. Conversation topics will address 1) modeling service, 2) ways to give back, 3) finding sustainability, and 4) demonstrating love.

Special attention will be given to women’s styles of leadership and service. The ideas embedded in Nel Noddings’ philosophy of care ethics will also be addressed.

Presenter

• Cami Eastep, Walla Walla Community College