Filipina Global Leadership Book

"Filipina women have migrated all over the world to seek economic or social empowerment - their collective stories will be the largest recorded diaspora of modern times." - Marily Mondejar, FWN CEO & Founder

40+ FWN Awardees will share personal global leadership competencies developed or learned through the years!  This is an ambitious but essential project to document the Filipina Women Global Leadership Competencies.

This book is a FIRST of its kind and is a huge part of FWN's mission of Pinay Global Power 2020 – a Filipina woman leader in every sector of the economy. 

This book is produced by an all-volunteer editorial and production team. Book Release Date: October 5, 2014 @ the Filipina Leadership Global Summit in Manila, Philippines

We invite your support and would love to have you be part of this ground-breaking venture.

Filipina Global Leadership (working title)

OVERVIEW

“Filipina Global Leadership,” planned for release in October 2014, is a compilation of narratives and case studies by Filipina women leaders based in countries around the world.  Key themes to be addressed will include:

1) identity (including consanguinity and affinity),
2) migration,
3) gender, and
4) leadership on public policy, advocacy, diplomacy, entrepreneurship, technology, health care, education and other sectors.  

A synthesis chapter will pull together key themes and make recommendations for aspiring leaders as well as thought leaders in the field.  Most importantly, the book is designed to reach daughters, sons and grandchildren as words of wisdom imparted by lolas and mothers. 

TRIGGER AND RATIONALE

FWN has honored accomplished women as one of the Most Influential Filipina Women in the United States and/or the World.   This award comes with the privilege to help build our talent pipeline - develop next generation Filipina women leaders. 

During the Global Leader panel at the October 2013 FWN Filipina Leadership Global Summit, we established that a book about “Filipina Global Leadership” would be a desirable next step towards achieving FWN's Pinay Power 2020 mission:  A Filipina woman leader in every sector of the economy.

OBJECTIVE AND TARGET AUDIENCE

The book will be useful for people who have current leadership responsibilities with varying degrees of complexity and culture-spanning, for leadership development in the Philippines and all over the world, and for teaching leadership in a way that not only informs but also transforms promising leaders into actual leaders. 

Moreover, Filipina women's leadership styles have implications for gender and intercultural leadership research and practice (see Hofstede, 1980 and 1991) and for advancing theories of women and leadership.  Understanding how Filipina women bridge the range of Filipino and global cultures will challenge existing theories of multi-culturalism, co-culturation, and global leadership (House et al, 2004, Mendenhall et al, 2013).

The book will look at how Filipina women who have succeeded in the global workplace define who they are (Sino ba sila?) -- their “being a leader identity” -- and what they are about (Ano ba sila?)  -- their exercise of leadership. 

The book will also examine the extent to which Philippine values have underpinned their leadership, and what cultural adjustments were made to succeed beyond the Philippines. 

Based on their reflections on their journey from the Philippines to the global workplace, the book will explore such themes as:

1) core identity -- the fixed sense of self that underlies their continuously shifting multiple identities as they demonstrate their power and influence;

2) how their Philippine heritage formed their values, their sense of purpose, their leadership style and their outlook on the world;

3) how their experiences beyond home challenged or reinforced their notions of leadership, and

4) how they cope with cognitive dissonance when Philippine traditional beliefs are at odds with the requirements of success in the global workplace.

The book is an individual and collective reflection, and soul-searching by Filipina women who have exercised leadership. 

The book intends to capture how their spirits have survived, have transformed, have transcended challenges to make the impossible possible in academe, arts, cooking, writing, journalism, politics, governance, enterpreneurship and more.

KEY THEMES

The view of Filipina women as successful leaders in the global workplace runs counter to the prevailing narrative based upon the trauma of dislocation undergone by more than eight million overseas contract workers, mostly women (San Juan, 2002).

These women are blamed with blurring the distinction between 'Filipino' as the name of a sovereign people and 'Filipino' as the generic term for designating a subservient class dependent on foreign economies (Rafael, 1997).  

The Filipina woman "in her domesticated role as nurturer, caregiver, homemaker, teacher, nurse" (Suarez, 2010) has been thrust into the global labor force where she is hailed as a national hero in the Philippines.

During the celebration of the centennial of Filipino migration to the United States in 2006, the Filipina Women's Network (FWN) noted that the focus was largely on Filipino men who came to America as migrant farm workers and Filipina women who came as war brides.

To ensure that the role of Filipina women in the building of America is never forgotten, the FWN launched Pinay Power to inspire and advance Filipina women leaders who would influence the Filipino American community's future.  

From 2007-2013, FWN has recognized five hundred Filipina women - the FWN100, as Founders and Pioneers, Innovators and Thought Leaders, Policymakers and Visionaries, Behind the Scenes Leaders, and Builders and Emerging Leaders.  

In 2013, FWN honored the Global100 – the most influential Filipina women in the world.  FWN’s campaigns to recognize Filipina women leaders have created an archive of questions and answers on leadership, including videotaped interviews about leadership experiences and writings on the global impact of Filipina women leaders'  influence.  

For the FWN Board:

Maya Ong Escudero and Maria Beebe
Co-Chairs, FWN Publications Task Force