Coalition for Women's Identities
Thursday, 9 October 2014 - 2:10pm
Supporting Women in Student Leadership
Because my student leadership experience is still fairly recent, and because I now, in my first full-time position, advise two student organizations, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how we can and do work to empower women in student leadership. It’s an important question, but one that, in the past, I haven’t given as much intentional thought to as I have to issues of gender at work or in the classroom.
Observational experience and research both support the idea that women in leadership face unique challenges. The way our students’ peers perceive them based on their gender, the way they have been socialized to perceive themselves and their potential, and the expectations and obstacles they must navigate have a substantial impact on their leadership identity development. Whether we are directly advising women in leadership roles, supervising those who advise them, tangentially interacting with them, or simply contributing to the culture in which they lead, we ought to give intentional thought to how we can support and empower them.
To that end, I’ve made a few personal commitments in the way I want to approach women in student leadership on my campus (and elsewhere in my life).
Don’t pigeonhole women in terms of their leadership styles and strengths…and encourage them not to pigeonhole themselves.
How frequently are women in leadership roles expected to be caring and nurturing…and questioned or labelled when they are assertive and strong-minded? And how often do we see women fill “secretary”/administrative positions and other roles that require skills in organization and note-taking and supporting others’ efforts? Yes, these positions are important and we should celebrate these skills. But I know it’s true for me (a perpetual secretary/music librarian/etc in high school and early undergrad) and for others that sometimes we’ve run for that administrative role because it seems like something we can do, something people expect us to be able to do, a race we won’t lose, a position we won’t fail at. Is that why we want our students to choose one path over another?
It’s important that challenging students to see more possibilities for themselves doesn’t become pushing them into a role or situation they don’t want, but we should begin, at least, by asking: “Why are you interested in this position? Are there other positions you’ve thought about running for? What made you decide on this one instead?” “Why do you say you’re not good at X?” “Have you ever thought about Y?”
Seek to understand the unique academic/career challenges they might face.
This is especially important to me because I work at an institution where science and research are heavily emphasized; many of the student leaders I work with are majoring in a hard science, engineering, computer science, or another field that has historically been replete with barriers for women. Part of my responsibility as someone who supports student leaders is to understand how the challenges of being women in certain fields may impact their assumptions about leadership and their own abilities, as well as how they will apply their leadership experience to their academic and professional spheres.
Understand the impact of expectations about appearance.
As a society, we have a tendency to conflate aspects of appearance with competence, and this applies especially to women. Weight, the ability to afford expensive clothes and hair and makeup, adherence to gender norms, resemblance to what society has decided is attractive, and more can impact a woman’s access to leadership opportunities and ability to earn respect in a position. How often, when we refer to a young woman as “put together” or “sharp” or “professional” (or “not put together” or “unprofessional”) are we really just discriminating based on factors outside a student’s control? Why isn’t this something we question more in the context of college and university student leadership?
I’m not saying we throw lessons about professionalism and presentation out the window, but we have a responsibility to question how standards that may seem innocuous can have a disparate impact on the women we work with. I have a responsibility to pay attention to how this may impact a young woman’s self-image and identity development, and, more importantly, to challenge assumptions from both students and professionals.
Issues of race and class are particularly relevant here, which brings me to my final commitment:
Remember intersections of identity…and listen.
My experience is not the experience of every woman leader who walks through my door, in large part because I am white, I come from a middle class background, I am in a heterosexual marriage, I am a cis woman, I am traditionally able-bodied…the list goes on. I have a responsibility to listen to how my student leaders’ wide range of identities may impact their leadership experience beyond and in conjunction with their gender identity. I have a responsibility to notice that while I am wrapped up in empowering my woman student leaders, the women I work with directly are those who have had access to leadership opportunities in the first place, who have felt like they could raise their hand, walk through the door, sign up, or apply. I have a responsibility to question why those who are missing from the table are missing, and what we can do about it.
These are the items that have been on my heart in respect to how I can empower and support women in student leadership on my campus and in my life. They are by no means exhaustive. But the point is: Let’s be aware of the unique experiences our women in student leadership have and the unique challenges they face, and let’s do all we can to support them in developing through these challenges.
Lydia Batchelor
The University of Texas at Dallas
Residential Life Coordinator for Community Development