How do our systems support women leaders?

Submitted: Oct 25, 2022 (08:19 am)

“Closing the gender leadership gap is an imperative for organizations that want to perform at the highest levels. Leveraging the full talents of the population provides a competitive advantage; companies with more women in leadership roles perform better, and employees on diverse and inclusive teams put in more effort, stay longer, and demonstrate more commitment. To change the numbers, gender bias and stereotypes have to be understood and counteracted.” https://leanin.org/tips/managers#! 

Share your ideas by responding to any of these question prompts or the essence of this topic.

  1. How do we help individuals better navigate challenges and prepare for more senior roles?
  2. Success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. Have you experienced this?  How can we mitigate this?
  3. What do you attribute your success to? “Men typically attribute success to innate qualities and skills, while women often attribute success to external factors such as “working hard,” “getting lucky,” or “help from others.” Women and men also differ when it comes to explaining their failures. When a man fails, he attributes it to situational factors like “didn’t practice enough” or “not interested in the subject.” When a woman fails, she is more likely to attribute it to lack of ability.”
  4. “Compared to women, men tend to talk more and make more suggestions in meetings, while women are interrupted more, given less credit for their ideas, and have less overall influence.”  What strategies do you have to ensure yours and your colleague’s ideas are heard?
October 28, 2022 (08:31 am)
terrilynn.guimond says:
Some great conversation around the table! Some key messages are:
1- Our conversations kept coming back to the current challenge of the lack of desire of teachers to take on formal leadership roles. 2 - We talked about how we, as leaders, have to do a better job on sharing our positive stories of impact.
3-Relationships, relationships, relationships! The importance of making connections and building positive relationships across the board. Many of us also said timing and family support were key factors.
4-The experiences around the table suggested the negativity often came from women, but stressed the importance of staying true to yourself and not trying to be something different for someone else.
There is an increased awareness of the gender gap for senior roles. Some districts have Women in Leadership programs, but most of the time, women are tapped on the shoulder and encouraged to pursue leadership positions.