Channeling Hildegard of Bingen: Transcending Time and Fanning the Flame

You know, Hildegard, I didn\u27t ask for this calling to support the cause of women. Well I didn\u27t ask for what happened to me either, Helen. Ijust happened to be born the tenth child of a wealthy family in the twelfth century. Do you know where the word tithe comes from? In my day, the \u27tenth\u27 child was \u27donated\u27to the church. So stop whining and let\u27s get on with this story. Kind of cheeky for a 12th century nun, aren\u27t you? We mystics can take on the vernacular of the time-should that be so surprising? In fact, one of my biographers correctly observed that there were \u27limits to my patience and humility, and that \u27meek\u27 and \u27ordinary\u27 were the last words to describe me (Flanagan, 1998, p. ix). OK, so I occasionally talk with a brass statue of St. Hildegard of Bingen that I bought in Germany. Ironically, about eight years ago, an invitation to keynote at a German conference on women and educational leadership came out of the blue from someone who had heard me speak about the topic as a social justice issue. I did not know my host, or at least had never met her in the physical sense. A new initiative, Gender Mainstreaming,H was beginning in Germany, which recently emerged from iron curtain rule. It was an intentional effort to increase the number of women in educational leadership positions. I spoke about encouraging and mentoring female leaders in education at the transatlantic conference. The leader of the initiative in Bavaria, the source of my invitation, was at the University of Augsburg. Her name is Hildegard ... I somehow felt compelled to buy the statue of her namesake while in a shop in that medieval city. I have felt Hildegard Bingen\u27s presence ever since

There\u27s No Place Like Home? The Effects of Childhood Themes On Women\u27s Aspirations Toward Leadership Roles

This qualitative study explores the impact of childhood themes on women\u27s aspirations toward leadership as suggested by the Eccles Model of Achievement Related Choices. Using intensity sampling, the research solicits childhood gender- related experiences of women in leadership and non-leadership roles through interviews, focus groups, check lists, self-esteem measures and journaling. Using a phenomenological approach, themes prevalent in the childhood homes of the participants are identitied, coded, sorted and compared. The findings indicate that the messages sent to the participants about their own capabilities and the expectations their parents held for them are of greatest impact. These messages form the women\u27s values regarding education, career choice and leadership potential. Dorothy\u27s words in the 1939 MGM silver screen adaptation of L. Frank Baum\u27s tale The Wizard of Oz (as she is about to click her heels and leave the Emerald City) should be a cause of concern for all women. After her victory over the wicked witch, her battle with the haunted forest and her confrontation with the winged monkeys, she tells Glinda, the good witch, and the Tin Man how the experience has changed her. When the Tin Man asks what she has learned, she states, If I ever go looking for my heart\u27s desire again, I won\u27t look any further than my own back yard (Warner Home Video, 1999)