Kayla's rationale is deeply troubling for reasons beyond the obvious helplessness she expressed. There's a good chance that the messages our society promotes about the role of women will further ingrain this attitude during her teen and young adult years -- and I strongly suspect her perspective is shared widely by the other girls who responded to this poll. I am alarmed at how this pervasive lack of confidence, and the inability to envision oneself as a leader, may impede our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and sisters from seeking leadership positions in any walk of life, not just the Oval Office.
The Scholastic News poll is just the latest wake-up call regarding the need to educate women for leadership and advocacy at a time when it has never been more essential. As Linda Basch, president of the National Council of Research on Women, has remarked, "The education of women and girls . . . [is] a driver of economic growth, productivity, and poverty reduction."
Yet women still face economic and political obstacles to equality, despite it being in society's best interest to create a climate of opportunity for them. In its summary of the weekly earnings of wage and salary workers for the fourth quarter of 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that women who usually worked full-time had median earnings equaling only 80 percent of those for men.
While major U.S. corporations led by women CEOs grew from nine to a record 12 in 2007, USA Today noted this still represents only 2.4 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. And in 2007, according to Rutgers University's Center for American Women in Politics, women held 87, or just 16.3 percent, of the 535 seats in the 110th United States Congress.
Meredith Reid Sarkees, president of the Global Women's Leadership in International Security, has said, "If we want to have a society in which there is equity for women, then we have to nurture and support transformational leaders who have both a vision of a better world for women and who are willing to take actions and risks to benefit others." She added that women's colleges can be the catalyst with which we can accomplish this vitally important endeavor.
What led Sarkees to make such a powerful endorsement? A new survey commissioned by the Women's College Coalition from the independent company Hardwick-Day offers some insight. Based on interviews with women who graduated from college during a 27-year period, the survey found that in key areas, women's college graduates reported outcomes that surpass those of women who attended co-ed public and private college and universities.
The survey indicates that women's college alumnae are more likely than women at co-ed institutions to gain leadership experience in student government and campus media; learn to think analytically; bring social and historical perspective to issues; work as part of a team; write and speak effectively; and gain entry to a career.
Women's college alumnae report strong benefits from mentoring, small classes, and personal interaction with professors while having sophisticated research equipment and internship opportunities focused on and available to them. And they have significantly greater chances than women who complete an undergraduate degree at a co-ed institution of earning a graduate degree.
After her graduation, Sen. Hillary Clinton said that attending single-sex Wellesley College taught her "to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible." I am absolutely certain that the experience of attending a women's college, as evidenced in the Hardwick-Day survey, could convince Kayla and many of her peers that they can also make the impossible, possible -- whether it's the presidency or any other leadership role of their choosing.
With the issues our world faces in the 21st century, it is imperative that we give our young women the skills and self-belief to tackle them.
Nancy Oliver Gray is the president of Hollins University in Roanoke, the state's oldest chartered women's college. |
