Mainstream leadership theories and the literature on women's leadership recognize the importance of relationships, intimacy, identity, and nonlinear development patterns in women's lives. However, mainstream theories are less likely to acknowledge leaders' need to understand personal identity issues and use different language to describe important…

A literature review uncovered three themes on women's psychosocial development: diverse and nonlinear patterns, importance of intimacy and identity, and centrality of relationships and connectedness to others. The review assessed the applicability of existing developmental models to women and identified alternative designs and methods needed to…