Dr Zozan Balci, University of Technology Sydney, and Visiting Research Fellow, University of Liverpool, is a speaker at our upcoming Advance HE Member Benefit online event, Advancing Gender Equity through Inclusive Leadership.

As someone working at the forefront of social justice advocacy, I am often invited to speak about how institutions might become more diverse, inclusive and representative. Increasingly, these conversations turn to women in leadership, and in particular, women of colour in leadership. 

Over time working in this space, I’ve seen ideas evolve, new frameworks being introduced and language being refined; moving from “equality” to “equity” in an attempt to better capture what it is we are striving for. 

But I’ll be entirely honest: I don’t want equity. 

Equity translates into more mentoring, more support, and more resilience-building. This sounds good in theory, but we are not actually supporting individuals to succeed; we are asking them to navigate unjust systems that were never designed with them in mind. 

So, to me, the question is not “how do we support women to achieve equity?” but rather, “how do we reshape the system itself to achieve justice?” 

This is where leadership becomes central. 

As a linguist, I tend to be particularly attentive to language and word choices. Reading through job descriptions, it is common to see words like “strong”, “effective”, “influential” and “impactful” associated with leadership – but is the meaning of these qualities as self-evident as we assume? What assumptions sit behind those words, and to what extent have they been shaped by particular histories, norms and expectations about who leads, and how? 

If we do not pause to examine the assumptions behind those words, we risk reproducing the very patterns we are seeking to change. The best leadership I have observed, particularly from women, is indeed effective, influential, strong and impactful, but it often looks different from what institutions formally recognise. 

It looks like bringing others with you. 

Mentoring, advocating, resourcing. 

Actively relinquishing space and power to create room for others to lead.  

Standing beside someone, cheering them on, so they have the courage to be the first. 

Being brave enough to be the first – and ensuring you are not the last. 

Sitting with someone as they find the confidence to ask for what they deserve. 

Holding space for people to bring their whole selves, and to be seen as people first. 

It is the relational, emotionally intelligent leadership that research increasingly identifies as central to trust, performance and effective teams. This form of leadership is underpinned by a strategy that goes beyond metrics and refuses to reduce impact to what most readily serves the bottom line.  

And yet, this type of leadership is not consistently captured within existing frameworks. In order to uplift minoritised groups into leadership roles, we need to rethink the questions we ask, the criteria we set and the evidence we are willing to see. 

For example, a job description commonly states that candidates must have “a commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion”. Of course, when asked whether they value those things, any candidate will say yes. They probably genuinely do. 

But if we rephrase the question to ask, “How have you personally advanced equity, diversity and inclusion in your organisation recently?”, something interesting happens. Suddenly, the usual answers don’t hold up anymore. 

Common answers like “ensuring to invite female speakers onto panels” start to sound exactly like what they are: minimal at best, and tokenistic at worst. It is certainly not leadership. 

Once we begin to ask different questions about what people have done, who they have supported, and what they have changed, the true issue reveals itself: it was never their leadership, but our definition. If we change this, we can begin to transform the system itself towards one that is just and recognises those who have been leading all along. 

They were always there; we are only just beginning to see them. 

Dr Zozan Balci is an award-winning sociolinguist, author and social justice advocate at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of Liverpool. Her work explores language and identity and how these shape institutional inclusion, with a particular focus on anti-racism and cultural equity. 

She is the author of Erased Voices and Unspoken Heritage (Routledge, 2025) and leads the international Say Our Names initiative, translating research into anti-racism policy and institutional reform. Her work has informed government policy in collaboration with the City of Sydney, and she serves on the New South Wales Multicultural Anti-Racism Working Group. She is on the executive committee of the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network, where she leads initiatives to address structural barriers and advance equity in recruitment, retention and progression.