Our Crossing the Rubicon: Understanding How U.S. National Security Female Senior Executives Make Meaning of Their Career Experiences Within the Framing of Leader Identity Development
Open AccessExisting theories of leadership identity development do not adequately address the complexities female leaders face in effectively navigating male-dominated contexts. While increases in women’s participation in national security indicate consistent growth, a limitation to the number of female senior executives still exists. Furthermore, incongruity remains between female senior executives and the high numbers of women entering the national security workforce. Despite efforts to diversify, gendered norms within the organizational culture persist, making the negotiating of leader identity a complex process for women. Through this qualitative study, the researcher aimed to understand whether women's limited representation at the senior executive levels of the national security sector results from macro-, meso-, and micro-level cultural barriers that inhibit the leader identity development process. The researcher sought to explore (a) how female senior executives within the U.S. national security sector make meaning of the development of their leader identity, (b) how female senior executives describe their career experiences within their respective organizations, (c) how these female senior executives understand their career experiences within the framing of leader identity development, and (d) how these career experiences shape who these women are as leaders. Eight themes emerged from semi structured interviews with 15 women who are either currently senior executives or previously senior executives working in the U.S. national security sector: navigating multiple identities, support of critical leadership theory, serendipitous career trajectory, leader development activities, leader identity development, gendered communication, insight into developing future leaders, and leadership goals and aspirations. The findings indicate (a) a need to more fully understand the lived experiences of female leaders with identity negotiation in the context, (b) that equity and inclusion efforts within the context cannot be approached using monolithic principles of identity, (c) that the leader identity validation process for women is occurring both inside and outside of the context, and (d) that female leaders are enacting leader identities which promote positive change towards resolving perceived organizational cultural shortcomings, all add to and contribute to existing research on these topics. The researcher sought to understand the experiences of female leaders in the national security context, how they make meaning out of those experiences, and illustrate how they have constructed positive, effective, and successful leader identities in light of those experiences. The researcher looked to enhance how the national security sector supports the leader identity development of its female senior executives.
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