A collection of essays achieving a deeper understanding of the historical roots and theoretical
assumptions that inform the realities and fantasies of German female leadership. The Western
tradition of excluding women from leadership and disparaging their ability to lead has
persisted for centuries not least in Germany. Even today resistance to women holding power is
embedded in literary cultural andhistorical values that presume a fundamental opposition
between the adjective female and the substantive leader. Women who do achieve positions of
leadership are faced with a panoply of prejudicial misconceptions: either considered incapable
of leadership (conceived of as alpha-male behavior) or pigeonholed as suited only to
particular forms of leadership (nurturing cooperative egalitarian communicative etc.).
Focusing on the German-speakingcountries this volume works to dismantle the prevailing
disassociation of women and leadership across a range of disciplines. Contributions discuss
literary works involving women's political authority and cultivation of community from Maria
Antonia of Saxony to Elfriede Jelinek women's social activism as embodied by figures from
Hedwig Dohm to Rosa Luxemburg women in political film environmentalism neoliberalism and
the media from Leni Riefenstahlto Petra Kelly to Maren Ade and political leaders Hillary
Clinton and Angela Merkel. Contributors: Dorothee Beck Seth Berk Friederike Brühöfener
Margaretmary Daley Aude Defurne Helga Druxes Sarah Vandegrift Eldridge Anke Gilleir Rachel
J. Halverson Peter Hudis Elisabeth Krimmer Stephen Milder Joyce Marie Mushaben Lauren
Nossett Patricia Anne Simpson Almut Spalding Inge Stephan Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker.
Elisabeth Krimmer is Professor of German at the University of California Davis. Patricia Anne
Simpson is Professor of German at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
