Reaching for Balance: Retracing the Paths of the Women Who Lead the World (Tando Inst Tech & Society)

Looking critically at the hard skills behind successful leadership in the political arena, with a particular focus on human security and preventive diplomacy, Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Japan, Akiko Yamanaka shares her perspectives on the impact that 23 top female leaders have had on the global stage based on her own personal interactions.

In order to achieve a peaceful and stable international society that promotes the well-being of all, it is essential that qualified women participate actively as leaders at both the national and international levels. By examining human security as a fundamental concept underpinning international leadership and analysing preventive diplomacy as a practical approach — not only engaged with issues directly related to conflict and war but also broader factors such as natural disasters and pandemics — Reaching for Balance discusses the importance of creating a society in which both women and men have the ability to make choices.

- Beate Sirota Gordon - Margaret Thatcher - Angela Merkel - Marisol Espinoza - Wangari Maathai - Leticia Ramos-Shahani - Shirley Williams - Anna Lindh - Emma Nicholson - Gro Harlem Brundtland - Dianne Feinstein - Nancy Pelosi - Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga - Hillary Rodham Clinton - Susi Pudjiastuti - Michelle Bachelet - Park Geun-hye - Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar - Queen Rania of Jordan - Queen Mary of Denmark - Mayumi Moriyama - Sadako Ogata - HIH Princess Takamado

Professor Akiko Yamanaka serves as President of the International Tsunami Disaster Prevention Society, Senior Diplomatic Fellow of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Special Advisor to the President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. She has served as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Special Ambassador for Peacebuilding of the Japanese Government, as well as Special Ambassador of Awareness of the World Tsunami in addition to Elected Member of the Diet of Japan. As Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, she launched "The Human Resources Development Program in Asia for Peacebuilding", as Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, as well as "The World Assembly for Women (WAW!)" and UK-Japan Global Seminar with Chatham House. She is the author of many books, including Think, or Sink: Preventive State Theory and The 23 Most Fabulous Women in the World. She has been awarded the OISCA Award (for Contributions to Asia) and the International Soroptimist Japan's Sen Kayoko Prize (for contributions to international understanding).