Exploiting Empathetic Women Leaders and the Shadow Side of Servant-Leadership

Through a feminist constructivist grounded theory study of mid-career Protestant clergy women who have left active ministry due to violations of their interpersonal boundaries and psychological safety (Horan, 2024, 2025), this discussion presents the central theoretical proposition of the shadow side of servant-leadership in the context of feminized servanthood. Dimensional analysis of participant interviews revealed core dimensions of 1) experiencing feminized servanthood as dehumanizing and 2) experiencing feminized servanthood as abusive, revealing concrete ways in which self-sacrificial love and empathy in women’s leadership is systematically exploited through oppressive gendered narratives of self-emptying (Davis, 1993), altruism and selflessness (Reynolds, 2014), and sacrificial demand (Wray-Bliss & de Pater, 2025). The study findings expand the scope of previous servant-leadership theory and practice (Greenleaf, 2002) in both religious and non-religious leadership contexts, by calling for more liberative and decolonizing ways of conceptualizing compassionate love and empathy beyond harmful expectations of the self-sacrificial woman leader.