Case Set

Women City Leaders Case Set

Authors LaChaun J. Banks, Anna Burgess, Lisa Cox, Warren Dent, Fernando Fernandez-Monge, Archon Fung, David Giles, Hollie Russon Gilman, Arnold M. Howitt, Jorrit de Jong, Kimberlyn Leary, Dutch Leonard, Elizabeth Linos, Gaylen Moore, Christopher Robichaud, Eric Weinberger, Mitchell B. Weiss

Last Updated
Mar 6, 2024
Topics
Collaboration, Innovation, Strategic Leadership and Management
Location
Global

Overview

The rise of women’s leadership in city governments has led to more gender-equitable policies and programs and shifted societal norms about women and girls. However, women remain underrepresented in local governments worldwide, and when they do rise to positions of executive power, they disproportionally face gender-related challenges and threats.

Introduction

This collection of teaching cases features women in public leadership and management roles in cities. The learning objectives for which these cases were developed include:

Thinking and acting strategically
Mobilizing others to take collective action
Exercising moral judgment in difficult situations
Innovating in government
Collaborating across organizational and sectoral boundaries
Negotiating in multi-issue, multi-stakeholder contexts
Engaging residents in public problem-solving

Cases come with educator guides (suggested session plans for use in academic courses) and practitioner guides (suggested session plans for standalone workshops) as they become available. As a set of curricular materials, this collection of cases lends itself well for courses and training on:

Women and power
Public leadership in cities
Capabilities for social problem-solving

City Leadership Curriculum

The teaching cases developed by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative feature diverse protagonists, including women, people of color, and leaders from the global south.

Cases:

Collaboration

More than a Contract: Black Self-Determination and People’s Assemblies in Jackson, Mississippi

Protagonist: Safiya Omari, Chief of Staff, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba

Region: North America, South Region, United States

Location: Jackson, MS

Operation Pufferfish: Building and Sustaining a Department of Neighborhoods and Citizen Engagement in Lansing, Michigan

Protagonists: DeLisa Fountain, Neighborhood Resource Coordinator, Lansing Department of Neighborhoods and Citizen Engagement (DNCE); Andi Crawford, Director, Department of Neighborhoods and Citizen Engagement

Region: North America, Midwest Region, United States

Location: Lansing, MI