Everyone has an opinion about political leadership. Until recently, the voices, experiences, perceptions, and representations of a few men in their roles as leaders, advisors, practitioners, and scholars have dominated the debates about what makes an influential leader or constitutes successful leadership.
Henriette Müller, NYUAD Assistant Professor of Gender, Governance, and Society, is questioning longstanding assumptions on leadership. She examines political leadership in the context of multi-level and global governance and the role gender and other intersecting social identities have on our conceptualizations of leadership. She is challenging perceptions of what leadership should be, the struggles to reach it, and how equal representation impacts how people communicate.
“Since leadership and gender are both about power and hierarchies, I find it very central to study the nexus between gender and leadership and to think about what is ethical and inclusive leadership from this point of view, and how gender, democracy, and leadership mutually shape and impact each other,” Müller said.
Müller has focused her work on the questions of equality and equity in leadership, particularly the representation of women across the institutions of the European Union. She found that although women have ascended more visibly to leadership positions, they remain underrepresented across EU institutions. Analyzing the performance and communication of women leaders compared to their male counterparts, she observed that because women continue to be severely underrepresented in leadership, the few who reach high-level positions often emerge as highly accomplished leaders practicing multi-dimensional leadership styles.
Together with colleagues from Europe and the United States, Müller is currently working on a book about Ursula von der Leyen, who, in 2019, was the first woman to be elected President of the European Commission. Müller said von der Leyen proclaimed a “Union of Equality” at the beginning of her term, making gender, as well as racial and ethnic equity, a central part of her agenda.
“Achieving a “Union of Equality” demands mainstreaming gender and other equality concerns beyond one individual field, making equality, equity, and inclusion the expectation and the norm everywhere,” Müller said. “However, the first term of the von der Leyen Commission also highlights that a long-term structural transformation of the European Union faces many hurdles and challenges—even if von der Leyen emphatically set out on this path.”
Working alongside inspiring colleagues and excellent students from every region of the world, Müller said she’s excited to be a part of NYUAD's unique global environment. Here, she has expanded her work beyond the European Union and the Arab Gulf states, studying gender and leadership from a truly global perspective.
“I’m interested in rethinking our understanding of leadership and moving beyond gender dichotomies and towards inclusive environments,” Müller said. “The empirical world tells us that leadership is multidimensional; it’s not one side or the other, masculine versus feminine understandings but rather embracing this multi-dimensionality of leadership.”
