ABSTRACT
In Chapter 16, Vivian Pender explores three interrelated themes regarding women and leadership: identity, conflict and subjective reality. As she states: “The difficulty for women is the mantle of leadership while living in an alien world.” Pender believes that women face the difficult task of being “positive and persistent when odds are against them” while “tolerant of rejection and generous of isolation.” Regarding Claire, Pender wonders if Claire was pressed to assume the identity of “the other,” noting that Claire’s sense of difference is complicated and includes internalized racism and complex intersectional identities. Pender explores the issue of female authority and suggests that Claire is like many women who, in fact, “do not have the authority to give an order or a direction” or are in a situation in which “the authority they thought they had is often hollow or an illusion.”
