A Tradition That Has No Name: Women's Ways of Leading

Noting that ""the percentage of mothers and children living in poverty in the United States [is] the highest among the developed nations,"" the authors contend in this interesting academic exploration that it is possible for poor, powerless women with low self-esteem to transform themselves into articulate community leaders. They base their theory on the positive results of an empirical study conducted on their own program, Listening Partners--which brought together women in rural Vermont--as well as on evaluations of the U.S. and German Mothers' Centers movements and the Congress of Neighborhood women. All three projects, detailed here, are designated ""public homeplaces"" by the authors because they have created group environments where women support one another's participation and emerging leadership skills within a ""female"" democratic rather than a ""male"" hierarchical structure. Belenky is a consultant in human development, and Bond is a professor of psychology and Weinstock an assistant professor of education at the University of Vermont. (June)