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Monday, April 21, 2014

UC's prez on leadership & women

There have been many firsts in my career: first woman attorney general of Arizona, first woman governor to win reelection in Arizona, first woman secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. And now I'm the first woman president of the University of California. But I was a woman first.

The somewhat elusive topic of leadership and women raises several important questions. Do we subtly send messages to girls that they should not be leaders? Is leadership something that can be taught? And, fundamentally, what makes a leader?

I imagine many people have heard of the new movement to ban the word bossy. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of the Girl Scouts, are leading the effort.

Sandberg says that when parents are tempted to describe their daughters as bossy, they should instead try saying, "My daughter has executive leadership skills." According to Sandberg, she has never heard anyone say that phrase without laughing. Bossy is a pejorative word for girls, its usage just one example of how we steer women away from leadership. It is an unassailable fact that we have whole swaths of our economy where there are virtually no women...


It's interesting that the BAM (?) group that keeps yelling at Regents meetings for Napolitano to resign has a male yell captain who seems to be in charge of organizing the speakers/yellers.  Yours truly can't remember what BAM is supposed to stand for.  Badass Angry Mob?  Bullies And Mudslingers?

Anyway, there was a song that seems to go with the op ed:



There have been many firsts in my career: first woman attorney general of Arizona, first woman governor to win reelection in Arizona, first woman secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. And now I'm the first woman president of the University of California.
But I was a woman first.
The somewhat elusive topic of leadership and women raises several important questions. Do we subtly send messages to girls that they should not be leaders? Is leadership something that can be taught? And, fundamentally, what makes a leader?
I imagine many people have heard of the new movement to ban the word bossy. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Anna Maria Chavez, the CEO of the Girl Scouts, are leading the effort.
Sandberg says that when parents are tempted to describe their daughters as bossy, they should instead try saying, "My daughter has executive leadership skills." According to Sandberg, she has never heard anyone say that phrase without laughing.
Bossy is a pejorative word for girls, its usage just one example of how we steer women away from leadership. It is an unassailable fact that we have whole swaths of our economy where there are virtually no women.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20140420_Men_have_no_monopoly_on_leadership_skills.html#EtxaqPT0AphJhqcC.99

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