The status of women’s leadership within the last decade has been slow to make gains in executive level leadership. While American women are now earning the majority of all undergraduate degrees at 57%, master’s degrees at 60%, and 52% of all doctoral degrees, women still find themselves highly qualified, yet underrepresented in the Fortune 500 (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2014). However women do find opportunities to advance to middle management (Eagly & Carli, 2007). Women continue to experience gender discrimination through exclusion to the informal networks that men build through social networks and informal networks. According to Kellerman and Rhode (2007), women still hold “an outsider status in the corporate world” (p.388).
In the next 10 years, women will continue to gain “firsts in leadership positions.” I truly believe that we will see men taking on more active roles in assisting women to attain higher level leadership roles. Recent research conducted by the organization Catalyst (2014) suggested that the more men knew about gender stereotypes and biases, the more willing they were to help with gender initiatives in the workplace. In addition, I think the number of women earning college degrees will continue to surpass men. I do think because there has been a recent call for transformational leadership in a growing service industry and global marketplace, the leadership styles of successful women-a blend of communal and agentic- will also be in demand in the next decade (Eagly & Carli, 2007).
Two skill sets that I need to improve upon are increasing my social capital with people outside of the education discipline and expanding my utilization of new technological tools. Participating in the Ed.D. program has given me an appreciation for an interdisciplinary perspective into most things that I undertake in the professional sense. In improving my social capital, I will have access to information and professional knowledge in other parts of the economy and society. Individuals with more social capital or “habits of cooperation” are likely to have better health, happiness, and higher income potential than those individuals with lower social capital (Shirky, 2008, p. 192). As a future leader, I will need to stay current with tools of technology-which seem to change quite frequently with modifications. By staying up-to-date with new tools of technology, I will be better able to select tools that will keep my organization more competitive in a global market.
Not all professions have mentors that are provided by their employer for several years while on the job training. However in some school districts, teachers new to the profession or district are assigned a star teaching mentor for the first two years. This mentor is a former classroom teacher who was given the duties of mentoring new teachers because they exceeded expectations as educators. In addition, the star mentor’s peers nominated them because they felt that their colleague’s talents and abilities should be shared with new teachers. I would say to a new teacher that they should keep a list of pieces of advice, resources, and observations of successful educators. In addition, I would encourage the teacher to develop their social capital with both genders and to stay connected with people in other types of work. As elementary educators, we are highly engaged in developing trusting relationships with students, parents, colleagues, and community members. Building relationships at all levels of a network is crucial to gaining support and resources needed for success (Eagly & Carli, 2007). Because new teachers have three-year probationary periods before they are granted continuing teacher status-which is attaining tenure-teachers must excel and demonstrate outstanding professional growth on teacher evaluations. Teachers who “go above and beyond” in the classroom, have mentors, volunteer for high-visible projects, and network with other powerful persons in the learning institution will be more likely to gain tenure (Carli & Eagly, 2007).
References:
Catalyst. (2010, November 30). Engaging men in gender diversity initiatives. Retrieved fromhttp://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/engaging-men-gender-diversity-initiatives
Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Kellerman, B. & Rhode, D.L. (2007). Women & Leadership: The state of play and strategies for change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Shirky, C. (2008). Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin
The Chronicle of Higher Education. (2014). 2013-14 AAUP faculty salary survey. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/2013-14-AAUP-Faculty-Salary/145679/#id=139755