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From Left: Mai Anh Le Tran, Seung Ai Yang,
Grace Kao, and Kwok Pui-lan
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Asian
and Pacific Islander (API) women have to overcome many obstacles in order to
become leaders in their professions. First of all, they have to challenge
persistent cultural stereotypes that portray Asian women as gentle, meek, and
submissive. The image of a soft-spoken and compliant Asian woman does not fit
the cultural expectation that leaders should be active, aggressive, and willing
to take risks. API women often have to work much harder to prove ourselves and overcome
negative stereotypes.
But
in many Asian communities, women who work outside the home are still expected
to be responsible for their children’s care. While it may be possible for
Sheryl Sandberg to “lean in” because she can afford to have a lot of help, many
women simply do not have that option. In Women
Don’t Ask, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever explore the personal and
societal reasons women seldom ask for what they need and deserve at home and at
work. This is especially true for Asian women who are new immigrants. They are
grateful when they are offered jobs and don’t ask for higher salaries or
negotiate benefits, and they frequently do not even realize they can ask. They
may also be passed over for promotion. API women may also be hindered by the cultural
script that says you should not blow your own horn, and if you ask, then you
are too demanding or pushing too hard.
API
women find it hard to take up leadership positions because there are few models
and they often harbor doubt about their abilities. Studies have shown that men
apply for jobs when they meet 60 percent of the qualifications, while women
apply only if they meet 100 percent of them. In theological education in the US
and Canada, women make up only about 30 percent of the faculty. Racial and
Ethnic minority professors made up only 21 percent of the faculty, showing that
seminaries and theological schools do not match the diversity of the
population. Asian and Asian American faculty make up about 6 percent, and among
them only a small number of women are in full professor rank. Since API women have
seldom seen one of their own as a president or dean of seminaries or as a top leader
in other professions, it is understandable that they are hesitant to break the
glass ceiling. Very often, they are nudged by mentors and trusted friends to
apply for and take up leadership posts. Lesbian and queer API women find the
path to leadership tortuous for they are marginalized by both white culture and
their own ethnic communities.
Many
people have hoped that when women become ordained, the church will change. But
unfortunately this is not always the case. If the church’s structure, cultural
ethos, and liturgy do not change, women are just performing the same roles as
their male colleagues, while the patriarchal structure remains the same.
Clericalism remains strong, even though we pay lip service to Reformation’s
vision of priesthood of all believers. We have often heard about the idea of
servant leadership, but very few leaders actually embody this.
People
sometimes argue that we need women leaders because they will bring a different
leadership style, which is more collaborative than men’s. But when some women
become leaders, they act as authoritatively as men do, if not even more so, in
order to show they are strong and in control. API female leaders can be in a
double-bind. If they are not bossy enough, they risk being seen as weak. But if
they act aggressively and give out orders, people label them dragon ladies and
hard to please.
It
is important to remember that successful leadership depends not only on the
quality of the leader, but also on the people she works with. Women can
exercise collaborative leadership if the environment allows and encourages it.
I think of collaborative leadership not so much as the style of the leader, but
a set of practices the leader puts in place with the help of the community,
such as transparency in decision-making, open communication, clarification of
roles and expectations, mutual accountability, and encouragement of new ideas
and feedback. Collaborative leadership is a process, which takes time and
effort, and trial and error.
A
collaborative leader enables each member of the community to feel they have ownership
and a stake in the success of the whole. I was fascinated by how Tony Hsieh has
created a cultural ethos at Zappos to keep his employees motivated and engaged.
The employees can decorate their desks and working areas to “create their home
away from home” with pictures, office toys, and colorful décor. The company
empowers employees with tools to succeed, provides opportunities for continued
learning, and allows employees to fulfill their higher purpose.* Indra Nooyi
writing thank you notes to parents of each of her direct reports so that they
could experience pride in their children also impressed me. Integrating
employees’ family members is an example of wholehearted leadership and the
emphasis on family is a key element of Asian culture.
Collaborative
leadership works when everything is fine, but is put to the test when conflicts
among different constituencies arise. Consider the situation when the board,
administration, and faculty cannot agree on the future directions of a school,
or when there is a financial shortfall and the church budget has a large deficit.
The leader needs to balance the needs and demands of different sectors of the
community and is often caught in the middle or in the worse case, ends up as
the scapegoat.
API
cultures can be sources of strengths or liabilities in handling conflicts. On
the one hand, API cultures value harmony in relationships and tend to avoid
conflicts. But avoiding conflicts may lead to covering up of problems, which
will only get worse over time. On the other hand, API women have been caught in
the middle and serve as the go between in patriarchal systems. In traditional
families, they negotiate between the demands of husbands and mothers-in-law and
other in-laws. There may be lessons gleaned from navigating complicated
relationships.
Female
leaders attract admiration and envy from both men and women. As leaders, they
are judged more harshly than their male counterparts; just ask Hillary Clinton
or Carla Fiorina. This is one of the reasons API women may not want to consider
leadership positions because they can’t bear to lose face and be publicly
criticized. They have to develop very tough skin to deal with insidious sexism
in the workplace. Because Asian cultures
place so much emphasis on shame, API
women often internalize blame and guilt when something goes wrong. It is
important to separate between personal attack and rational criticism. Women
leaders need to accept criticisms when they are due, but reject misogynous
smears.
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| Rita Nakashima Brock |
Many
years ago my school invited Rita Nakashima Brock to speak to the community. In
her talk, she warned that women need to avoid self-sabotage. For example, a woman
might be under so much pressure, with one bad thing piling up on top of another,
that she is just ready to snap. With no more than a slight provocation, all of the
garbage built up inside would come bursting out. She advised that women need to
have a metaphorical “delete” button or a “recycle bin” so that they have a
place to put all that negative stuff.
Finding
a healthy way to decompress and to deal with pressure in life is vital for
women leaders for the long haul. In the past, women have tended to share with
their confidants to seek support. The recent impeachment of President Park
Geun-hye sounds caution. Park said she leads a “lonely life” and trusted too
much in her friend. Sometimes women leaders can live in a bubble in their own
alternate universe, alienated from the people they serve. It is crucial to lead
a balanced life and to have friends and colleagues who can offer a healthy reality
check. Meditation, exercise, and yoga are good ways for renewal and relaxation.
Women leaders stand on the shoulders of women who
have gone before them. In many women’s liturgies, we recall the names of
foremothers who have been influential in our lives. We know that our success is
based on the work and sacrifice of many other women. Therefore, once we become
leaders, let us remember to push the doors wider for women from the upcoming
generation. People sometimes ask why I
spent so much time in mentoring students and junior faculty. I would tell them
that I grew up in a working-class family and my parents came to Hong Kong as
refugees. I would never have been where I am today if not for so many people’s
encouragement and investment in me. When I first came to the US some thirty
years ago, Katie Geneva Cannon and other white women mentored me. Beverly
Harrison invited me to speak for the first time at the American Academy of Religion
on women’s work in China. When I became one of the few Asian women theological faculty,
I decided to help to make the road wider for others.
Pacific Asian North American Asian Women in Theology
and Ministry was started by a group of Asian and Asian American women, with mentoring
by Letty Russell and Shannon Clarkson. In 1997, the Asian and Asian American
faculty in the network acknowledged our debt to Letty and Shannon for their
many years of service and took over fundraising and other administrative duties
from them. The same year we began the doctoral seminar to provide assistance
for doctoral students to develop their dissertation proposals and to learn
professional skills. Celebrating our thirtieth anniversary in 2015, Su Yon Pak
and Jung Ha Kim have coedited Leading
Wisdom: Asian and Asian North American Women Leaders, which will come out
this fall. As the coeditors wrote, “this
book is yet another testimony of how the PANAAWTM movement enables women
leaders to experience the nurturing and empowerment necessary to define their
calling and ministry on their own terms.” I hope the book will inspire more API
women to become leaders to change the church and the world.
*
Mig Pascual, “Zappos: 5 Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Keep Employees Engaged,” US
News, October 30, 2012,
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2012/10/30/zappos-5-out-of-the-box-ideas-for-keeping-employees-engaged.
This is a presentation made at the annual meeting of PANAAWTM on March 19, 2017 at Delaware, Ohio.