The Leadership Quarterly recently published a research paper written by Mills College biologist Dr. Jennifer Smith and her colleagues entitled “Obstacles and opportunities for female leadership in mammalian societies: A comparative perspective.”
I was recently so impressed by the important precedent set by Michigan's Chelsea High School. This year, they have chosen to replace the annual homecoming queen title with an excellence award instead. This change resulted from the high school’s 2016 #WhyYouMatter campaign. The new award will be open to all students regardless of gender. Drew Vanderspool, president of the Student Council, wrote in a letter, “Responses to the change have mostly been positive, though some students who were hoping to be named homecoming queen are disappointed.”
Yanise Ho, originally from Hong Kong, has defied multiple cultural and gender expectations by traveling across the United States with nothing but a forty-three-pound backpack and a pair of rollerblades. According to MSN News, this twenty-three-year-old hopes to verify female empowerment and prove there is more good in the world than we think.
RBG, the recent documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is attracting a great deal of attention, for good reason. Ginsburg is a US Supreme Court justice, nominated by President Clinton in 1993, and the second woman to be appointed to this position. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the court, staunchly supporting social issues like gender equality and the environment.
Honoring women who have brought their feminine energy and feminine qualities into leadership roles include women who lived centuries ago. Yet no matter when they lived, the women below provide compelling examples from which we can learn.
