Female leadership ‘from the sidelines’
Research project explores the scope of female literary characters
Die Bitte der Königin an den König, Flore die Wahrheit zu sagen (aus: Konrad Fleck "Flore und Blanscheflur")
Image: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (Public Domain)
- Liberty
Published: | By: Gender in Focus
How do women manage to carve out political scope for action, even when they are excluded from positions of actual power due to social conventions? Dr Malena Ratzke from the Institute of German Literature is exploring this fascinating question as part of the project "Lateral Leadership in Liminal Space. Political Spheres of Action for Princesses in German-Language Literature and Chronicles (1150–1500)".
Her research focuses on female literary figures from the High and Late Middle Ages who, as mothers, wives or advisers, are often closely linked to rulers and the elites close to the ruling class, but who do not hold formal powers of rule. They therefore operate in a social and political liminal space, yet in doing so exploit far greater scope than is conceded to them in the codes of conduct of courtly society. The project builds on Malena Ratzke’s research into the literary representation of political discourse. It innovatively broadens existing perspectives in medieval German Studies, in which political culture is implicitly conceived as a male culture and figures of princesses are primarily considered either in the exceptional cases of their sole rule or in relation to the monarchical ruler.
Jules Kielmann, Hannah Rieger, Malena Ratzke, Anna Stemmann (from left to right)
Image: Lena Kirsch / Mathilde SchröderOn 24–25 February 2026, Dr Malena Ratzke organised a workshop on this topic to exchange ideas with experienced colleagues and lay the foundations for a joint research project. The event, funded by the BMFTR project "Gender in Focus" and entitled "Ruling – Governing – Leading. Portrayals of Female Literary Characters as Lateral Leaders", featured contributions from Dr Hannah Rieger (University of Hamburg), Dr Jules Kielmann (University of Jena) and Jun.-Prof. Dr Anna Stemmann (University of Leipzig).
A key focus of the joint discussion was to adapt the concept of ‘lateral leadership’ with regard to gender orders and to make it useful for the analysis of literary texts. The term "lateral leadership" has been a topic in organisational sociology for some time and refers to leadership in situations without formally defined authority to issue instructions. The aim of the workshop was to explore the analytical potential and limitations of lateral leadership, as well as alternative concepts, and to test them using excerpts from primary texts as examples. Following an examination of a foundational sociological text, various textual examples from all subject areas of German Literature (Early German Literature, Modern German Literature, and Children’s and Young Adult Literature) were discussed, in which gender-specific interrelationships between domination, power, trust and communication become apparent.
Through an in-depth exchange, it was established just how illuminating an intersectional, gender-sensitive perspective can be – particularly in counselling situations – for understanding female leadership behaviour, and how well the concept of lateral leadership lends itself to cross-period literary analysis. Following the workshop, an agreement was reached to form a research group that will continue to explore this topic in the future.
Ratzke, Malena (2022): Erzählte Oratorik. Politische Rede in der deutschsprachigen Literatur des Spätmittelalters. Berlin, Boston (= Trends in Medieval Philology 42). Link to the publicationExternal link
Further publications by Malena Ratzke can be accessed via her ORCID profile: LinkExternal link
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