Several years ago in a blog entitled “Are Women In The US Really Leading?”, I commented on a global survey ranking women in the area of gender equality that was compiled by “The White House Project”. The survey stated that “The United States ranks 22nd out of 115 countries.” The report utilized 4 measurement standards: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. We came in first for Health and Survival, and third for Economic Opportunity. But, we received our lowest score for Political Empowerment, coming in 66th.
I wondered about our progress since that time and went looking for an updated report. I discovered a thought provoking and heart touching blog written by Mary C. Wilson for “The White House Project Blog”, entitled A False Divide Between Head and Heart: What I Learned From Robert McNamara. It is well worth reading in its entirety. As for the report, she states in her blog, “Women are still vastly underrepresented in the halls of power. As the soon-to-be-released “White House Project Report: Benchmarking Women’s Leadership” has found, women are far from parity in every sector, from business and politics to sports and religion. Projections show that it will take decades to reach even a critical mass in many of these arenas; and the women who do make it into positions of power often do so at great sacrifice.”
Do we have decades?
Becoming leaders takes courage and determination and most of all a willingness to step forward. It can and will not be done for us. Though, each of us must take that step for ourselves, we need not do it alone.
Maureen Simon
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