Paper: Understanding the Role of Liberal
Arts Curriculum in Educating Women Leaders: A Case Study of Asian University
for Women
Abstract: This paper
claims that students of liberal arts education develop qualities that are
crucial to perform transformational leadership roles in communities and
organizations they belong to. Existing scholarship on leadership and liberal
arts education has been limited to the context of American undergraduate education. The proposed research analyses the role of
liberal arts education to promote women leaders in Asian context with its focus
on Asian University for Women (AUW), first regional liberal arts university for
women, situated in Bangladesh. The critical framework employed in this paper
would be “Transformational Leadership Theory” introduced by James McGregor
Burns. Moving away from cultural feminist perspective that categorizes women as
better leaders on gender-essentialist grounds, this paper acknowledges
“positionalities” of individuals within the amalgam of diverse contexts, and
examines the leadership roles performed by the students of AUW in their liberal
arts classrooms and in their respective communities. Material for analysis and
conclusion are drawn through online interviews of students, alumni and faculty
of AUW. Since the researcher is an alumna of AUW, instances of personal
reflection have also been included towards understanding the significant role
that AUW plays in inculcating leadership qualities in women from across more
than fourteen countries of Asia.
Obiya Jolly is a post-graduate student of English with Communication Studies at Christ University, Bangalore. She graduated with a Magna Cum Laude honor’s degree of Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from Asian University for Women, Bangladesh. Her research interests include gender studies, feminist theory, and African American Literature. Her current research is on African American Women’s poetry and French feminist theories of Écriture féminine.
