Voyager
KENT PLACE SCHOOL
Voyager WINTER 2007
Advancing the Female Leader: Leadership at Kent Place By Gayle Allen, Assistant Head and Director of Studies “One of the most difficult tasks for women is overcoming the ‘imposter syndrome’– the feeling that we aren’t good enough, don’t have the necessary background, or don’t deserve leadership opportunities. We feel like we need one more credential, one more bit of experience, etc. Men do not have this problem.They take the job and figure out how to do it later. We need to adopt some of their sense of entitlement to leadership.” – Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations
Browse any bookstore. Read through recent magazines and newspapers. Flip through the television channels.You quickly realize the topic of leadership is alive and well. When it comes to women in leadership, however, there are much-needed conversations still to be had, books and articles to be written and news to be made. Bottom line – there is work to be done. Fortunately, cultivating young women leaders is a hallmark of a Kent Place School education. It is at the heart of what we do. All-girls’ schools like Kent Place play a vital role in addressing the work that remains to be done in preparing women for leadership roles in a variety of fields.To that end, I will discuss why the issue of women and leadership needs to remain on the front burner. I will also share leadership advice from women in diverse leadership roles. Finally, I will describe the ways in which Kent Place School fosters student leadership skills through what it provides for students, teachers, administrators and staff.
Women’s Leadership on the Front Burner Marie Wilson, in Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World, writes, “When I look at the issues we face, and when I think of the changes we need, I am as convinced as I have ever been that our future depends on the leadership of women – not to replace men, but to transform our options alongside them.” Wilson contends that women’s leadership will be universally recognized only once it reaches a critical mass. She claims that “the more people like you in a working group, the more likely you are to be yourself.” To attain a critical mass, Wilson argues, cultural shifts need to take place, and those shifts must include the media and the ways in which women are represented. If we determine how we want women to appear in the media, if we are the driving force behind those images, then those images will be supported by advertising and subscription dollars from corporations. We have a strong voice in our buying power. “Culture,” argues Wilson, “is crucial to change because it provides role models . . . for the world’s power structure.” To change our cultural perceptions requires that we promote valuing female qualities rather than using them to marginalize women. Political statistics prove that women have still not arrived when it comes to equal representation as leaders, at least in the United States. Wilson’s White House Project presents some startling data regarding the U.S. political landscape for women. •
Only eight (16 percent) of our current governors are women, and no women of color have ever been governor of a U.S. state.
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Only 14 of the mayors of the U.S.’s largest 100 cities are women (14 percent).
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Women currently hold only 14 Senate seats (14 percent) and 66 seats in the House of Representatives (15.2 percent).
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The U.S. ranks 69th in the world out of 187 countries, as of March 2006, in terms of women’s representation in national legislatures or parliaments.
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Of the nearly 600 people who have served in the president’s cabinet or as cabinet-level officers since George Washington’s term, only 30 (5 percent) have been women.
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According to a recent study by Deloitte & Touche, 79 percent of the U.S. population agrees completely or somewhat with the statement, “If women are to be truly accepted as leaders in this country, nothing is more important than seeing women in high political office.”
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