"Surely, women and leadership has been done enough. Who would need more of those seminars?"

"Do women really need to meet just as women to discuss leadership? I don't think that single sex groups are needed any more."

These are some of the comments made by both men and women when I brought up the topic of women in educational leadership recently. My answer to these questions is unequivocal: yes, there is still a need and yes, we do need to meet with other women only.

The purpose of this article is two fold: first, to show that The Link between language, identity and women in leadership is one that needs to be explored continuously by women in these times of changing paradigms of leadership and second, to give examples of how the experiences of women help reshape the language of power, authority and leadership in seminars which I lead. The seminars I refer to are given in the context of a collegiate support group. This professional development has colleagues, i.e. those in the same profession or institution, meet over a long period of time and on an on-going basis. Thus bonds of trust and respect are built and relevant work based problems are solved. It is only one of the many ways in which women can get together to consider their personal professional development and issues which influence them.

It is practically impossible to discuss leadership without discussing the questions of power and authority. Within the organizations where we work, these words are closely tied to the understanding of a hierarchy. They are defined - and experienced - as having power and authority over others. In education as in other organizations those who have the right and the responsibility to exercise power and authority are men. In most seminars where both men and women discuss these issues, this dominant view prevails. Or at least women do not persist in their line of discussion which is to raise concerns about the moral and ethical parameters of how they have experienced power and authority. As people who are not in higher positions in the hierarchy, challenging these ideas is difficult.

At the beginning of the seminars I lead with and for women, the initial reactions to 'power' and 'authority' are ones of ill ease. Women are reluctant to use the terms. They prefer 'empowerment', 'disempowerment', etc. It seems as though adding prefixes and suffixes somehow makes the words more palatable! Yet embedded in the leadership activity are the imperatives of power and authority. How then can women identify with leadership and shrink back from them? In our search to encourage and promote women to positions of leadership we need to acknowledge this paradox. The obstacles are both within ourselves and in the organization.

However, once in a seminar where there are only women and given the opportunity to unpack and discuss the issues of leadership, power and authority, women gain confidence in their experiences, their knowledge and their ability to take on these terms and shape them to fit the leadership positions they already hold in classrooms and schools. Such seminars are necessary if we will take our place easily and confidently in discussions with colleagues - discussions which now focus on the development of an inclusive culture in which relationships are based on participation and membership. To develop such a culture, the notion of leadership is being recast. In a recent study on the principalship and curriculum (1), we discovered that these 'strong' leaders attended to values and activities which marked the emerging of a new paradigm of leadership. For us, we see it as a critical time for all educators to re-examine their understanding of leadership. The collegiate support group seminars serve as a way for women to develop a strong sense of identity with the language of leadership in this time of change.

This poses several challenges to facilitators. How can seminars be designed to unearth positive and unique experiences of power and authority? How do participants then make sense of the different experiences they have had? And finally how do they construct a framework for the daily exercise of leadership, power and authority? I would now like to share with you some of the ways that women have found useful to 'name and claim' those experiences for themselves.

For women who strive to balance personal, family and work life, the prospect of further career advancement raises issues of fragmentation and fatigue. They can see the attraction of change but understand its price. One of the ways Bridges (2) recommends dealing with change is to understand the underlying sense of unity in the changes and in one's life. In seminars, I have found the mandala to be an important key to unity. The mandala is a Sanskrit term borrowed from India and Tibet. Johnson (3) describes it as "a holy circle or bounded place that is a representation of wholeness". He lists several ways that mandalas are used traditionally: to represent the unity of God and all living things, symbols drawn by Tibetan students to inform their meditations and frequently, in Christian art, as a symbol of healing.

In my seminars, I have asked women to draw a circle, divide it into six to eight parts and place the name of someone who has been significant in their lives in each pie shape. The person may be alive, dead or fictional. They may be someone they've known for a long time or just briefly. In some incidents, people whom they never knew but have read about are identified as are writers. Beside each name, they add the messages of that person, a colour and a symbol which seems appropriate. At this point, participants are often surprised to see how the colour or symbol seems to appear suddenly. As they divide into small groups, they begin to talk about their mandala. The room is filled with the sound of quiet voices, gestures and eye contact. Bit by bit they begin to see connections. A picture of their lives begins to emerge as they realise that there are patterns, images and messages that they have received and that guide them.

We often use some time to 'represent' their world by asking them to stand and to choose others to represent people in their lives. Some people are placed in front of the participant, some to one side, others behind. The act of positioning causes further reflection and quiet sharing. It is a time of recognition of self and often very emotional. In the time that is spent on this activity women begin to see the uniqueness of their lives. They also identify common themes and messages which unify different stages and aspects of their lives. Parts of a lifetime which have been forgotten are reclaimed. As they listen to each other, commonalities in the group appear and give meaning to what it means to be a woman in education. Some of the insights are positive, others negative.

The purpose of this activity is to begin the process of valuing experiences and tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is that knowing which we take for granted and which we don't discuss or often have the occasion to name. This is an opportunity to construct knowledge and see its interrelationship with 'hard facts'. It is important for women to understand that this experience has meaning beyond their own experience. We take the time to talk about stages of life and about other conceptual frameworks which inform their understanding. They leave the experience able to talk about it both as subjective and objective learning.

The second concept that I explore is power. Power is a word that women are not comfortable with. Although women want to empower others, we do not want to be identified with the dominant sense of power which carries with it a sense of abuse. Again the basis of reconceptualizing is done using the experience of participants and an outside framework. They write about their peak experience in learning, i.e. a time when the learning was exhilarating. No obstacle was too high not to surmount. The conditions of success were in place: resources, support, recognition. We name and claim this as an experience of personal power. This term is used by Lips (4) in her book on Men, Women and the Psychology of Power. She acknowledges that power is most often considered to be over others. Nonetheless, feeling powerful, feeling able to develop one's abilities and to control both the choice of experience and the outcomes are at the heart of understanding power. As women discuss their experiences of power, they recognise how the organization shapes conditions to enhance or limit personal power. They also begin to visualise how they, too, will be able to shape the context of the organization. They can now relate their leadership and career development more completely with power and its multiple realities.

Because educators have the unique privilege and responsibility of working with young people, it is important to understand power relationships. Analysing the concept of power with, and alongside, women see the different ways of choosing and using their construct of power. They acknowledge that they lead parallel lives with their students. How they are currently exercising power in the classroom becomes an important consideration of the seminar.

Finally, we spend some time talking about authority and what it means. Like the term power, authority has strong roots in the hierarchal organization. It is the right to control and command those beneath you. I point out to them that the word has two derivatives: authoritarian and authoritative. We identify situations in which we use authority in the sense of authoritarian. To be authoritarian includes having the right answers to problems so that no discussion is needed. In this definition, the world is stable and predictable. By looking closely at scenarios where they have had the 'right' answer, women realise that they too can be authoritarian. Sometimes it is necessary at the time, at other times it is questionable.

Professionals claim expert knowledge as basic to their professional judgement. Therefore, we can define authority in the sense of authoritative. To be authoritative is to be recognised for one's expertise. In the seminars we consider questions such as: to whom do we turn to for expert advice? Are we acknowledged as authoritative by others? What questions do others ask us? When do we stand firm on issues of our practice? When we link 'authoritative' to the changing world around us, we understand that a part of the current leadership imperative is to ask substantive questions. The changing context demands that discussion of possible answers to those questions form a basis for collegial dialogue. These are the tough questions that the profession needs to answer in times of change and economic restraint.

As useful as these reflections are, they beg the question what happens to women who take higher positions. Built into the structures of hierarchies is the understanding that as you climb the pyramid, your power (i.e. your ability to act) and your authority (i.e. your right to command and control) increase. The interpretations we have examined in this article are not included in those norms. Are the new interpretations of power and authority still relevant and if they are, how can women leaders begin to demonstrate and use these new ideas in their leadership. Regan (5) addresses this dilemma in her discussion of the broken pyramid. She points out that the broken pyramid is a metaphor for the role changes in our societies. The fault line runs through the pyramid and delineates the difference in roles.

She says

"Above the fault is the world that operates competitively in an either/or mode. Either people move up the pyramid and gain more wealth, status and power, or they do not. The movement ... prescribes failure for others because there is room for fewer and fewer as the pyramid narrows at the top. ... Below the fault lies a whole different world. ... [Its] organization is horizontal and collaborative; it is cyclical and repetitive. This is where caring and nurturing, relationship and community building happen. It is a both/and world."

As Regan unfolds her journey of reflection and action she shares her new image of leadership. It is the double helix whose ever moving and intertwined sections give her a sense of how to include both power 'with' as well as power 'over', authority to command as well as to be authoritative. Through her openness, she allows both men and women to understand how to deal with the broken pyramid and to maintain integrity. As Regan and others deal with the paradoxes and challenges embedded in leadership they open the way to include new images of leadership. Slowly, as new images and concepts become the norm, we will learn to rely on their framework and put aside the pyramid and its constrictions.

From my experience, the time and the reflection on these central issues of leadership enhance women's ability to discuss, assert and confront issues with greater confidence. We have all had extensive experience with the many aspects of power, authority and leadership. We have both received and given leadership directives. As a result of the collegiate seminars and time spent reflecting and discussing, we are now better able to choose how to exercise our leadership mandate. We have both a clearer vision and a commitment to how we want to lead. Our understanding and our questions are more focussed. Our participation in discussions is more assertive and knowledgeable.

At the beginning of this article, I stated that our research indicated an emerging paradigm of educational leadership. It is therefore prime time for educators to examine and recast their understanding of leadership. I have also described the changes in understanding that result from women only groups. How do these changes fit into the educational debate on leadership? The unique perspective developed by women on leadership need to be shared with others. We generally take leadership for granted. Since everyone knows what it is, discussions tend to focus on issues which are relevant to leadership rather than on the nature of leadership. However, as new perspectives and understanding form the heart of discussions, leadership, power and authority will be redefined. As well collegial discussions will have a greater sense of equity and equality. Our schools will profit from open debate by well informed colleagues - both men and women.

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