"Well behaved women seldom make history"
This is the quote that sits nicely at the bottom of my signature on all of my emails. I really like this quote because it exemplifies what it means to be a feminist, a progressive and above all, what it means to be a woman in leadership. Women fight to become good leaders in a world that is not conditioned for them to be leaders. Throughout the Women in leadership class we have heard from ground breaking women leaders who push the envelop.
For Juana Bordas it was her experience helping to advance Latina women, she fought to find a space to do the work that she saw necessary to the prepare women for leadership roles. She wrote this great book that we read that basically provided a forum for my in depth discovery of leadership as a cultural practice. Juana taught me that not only can women and persons of color can be great leaders, but we can learn and apply different culture's community values in our leadership practices that are really wonderful. One of them being "Sankofa", the idea that we need to look to the past and understand it so that we can move forward without forgetting where we came from. For the dominant culture this is important, especially for leaders because we need everyone to move forward and become a more just society, and if we don't know and understand the multiple histories, we can't move forward together in a multicultural society. Thanks to Juana for bringing a little Salsa, Soul and Spirit to our lives!
Another important thing to know about Women and Leadership is that women don't always do the best job of selling themselves and their accomplishments to employers. Luane Lawrence, VP for University Advancement at OSU spoke with us about our "Brand". Her day in class was one of my favorites because she made us really think critically about who we were as leaders, employees and as authentic people. She reminded us that how we represent ourselves on various arenas is our guarantee so it needs to be consistent and authentic. I think as a feminist and woman leader we really need to work hard to make sure that we are being our authentic self and not attempting to conform to what we think that people want us to be. We need to know what our values and talents are and find a place where we can be our best selves. I think Luanne Lawrence taught us to be proud of who we are, not to hide it or try to be something that we aren't. How comforting is that? She helps women on campus to push their personal envelopes by helping them to seek their authentic selves. Thanks Luanne!
Luanne also talked to us about having mentors, I think this is one of the most important things that I learned throughout this year and in this course. One of my recent mentors is Mamta Accapadi, our new Dean of Students. Mamta came in to talk to us and what really resonated for me was her boldness when it comes to work life balance. As women we always worry about whether or not we can do it all. I think that I learned from Mamta that if you are going to maintain balance, you can't always behave, you have to push the envelope. I'm so glad that she does, she is a great role model for women who want to be professionals and mothers. Simply put she says, If I can bring my laptop home, I can bring my daughter to work. She is also very honest about her own growth and development making her really approachable and easy to talk to. Mamta is also very humble, a trait that I think is wonderful. Another great lesson that Mamta taught us is that sometimes we need to make tough decisions in leadership. She talked about her hair, in order to progress in administration and be an Asian woman, she was told to cut her hair. At first I throught this move was bad, I asked why she would compromise who she was if an organization wasn't going to accept her. I think that I learned that she did it so that she could make progress for women in leaders. Now she is a public figure that can serve as a great role-model for other women leaders, especially Asian Women leaders. She is probably one of the bravest women that I have ever met and I am glad we have the opportunity to hear her speak.
There were several amazing women leaders (and Tim) that came to speak with us, I think that I really loved these three the most because they taught me something about myself. That I can be bold, authentic, brave and nurturing. I am a Woman Leader. I can help people to learn about themselves and how they can push the envelop, how to make change and how to set the stage for women leaders of the future. I am privileged to be in the position that I can educate myself, and become a role model for other women. I think what I learned from this class most of all is that I am proud to be a woman leader.
So if you are reading this right now, know that you are important to others, you are a leader, you can be brave, authentic, bold and nurturing. And contrary to belief, you do not always need to behave.
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