Lucas and Gerber

Dean Lucas and Robin Gerber for one of my favorite speakers this semester by far.  They seemed to be so motivated, down to earth, and hard working.  I loved hearing about how it took them a while to find themselves as far as a career path. After I graduate I really dont know what to do and now i feel a  lot better.  I really enjoyed listening to your concepts about leadership.  Robin Gerber has written books and Dean Lucas is a Dean.  Both of these are wonderful accomplishments.  Being a woman in a leadership role is very hard and i admire the roles that these women have taking.  I loved their points about having authencity.  This one thing that i think every leader should have and they touched on it greatly.

Guest Speakers

Robin Gerber and Dean Lucas were great.  They helped me realize that I have to do something that I am passionate about and find the job that fits me.  A couple of years ago I still did not know what my major was going to be.  I was nervous and I felt pressured.  My dad was like why not be a doctor or a lawyer? At the time I was running track and I did not feel like I could balance that and a very hard major.  When I heard that Robin Gerber dropped out of college I was ecstatic.  Look at this woman she has written books and has been a great leader.  I really enjoyed her as a speaker.  She was very funny and down to earth.  Dean Lucas was just as good as Ms. Gerber but I do not think she spoke as much.  Being a Dean is a very big step.  A lot of the times women are principals but when you go to college it always seems to be a male dean.  Also I think that it was a great opportunity to hear from someone who helped write our text.  We were really able to learn about what she think a leader is made of and the necessary skills a leader should have.

Guest Speakers: Robin Gerber & Nance Lucas

I have to say that I really enjoyed our guest speakers Robin Gerber and Dean Nance Lucas. I took so much away from their discussions and I liked how they answered our generated questions. I thought that I learned a lot from them since they emphasized the importance of being authentic and to do what is right for you. There are so many times where I have thought of being a doctor or lawyer, but deep down I knew that I didn't want a career as either of those. Being an educator is what is "right" for me and I know that because I am passionate about it and wouldn't mind doing it for the rest of my life.
I found Robin Gerber to be completely real. We often see our "leaders" as infallable people who always make the right decisions, but, I thought that it was interesting that Robin actually dropped out of college. (Not quite something you hear all the time). I gained a respect for her because of it, too, because she acknowledged in herself that she was afraid, but took control of her fear and knew that she had to go back....to make a difference in the future.
Dean Lucas was amazing as well. I learned so much from her, especially when she talked about balancing family and taking risks. She made a comment, "pay attention to your own happiness." I believe that one statement embodies what it means to be successful. In our text Closing the Leadership Gap, Wilson describes in an entire chapter just how important authenticity is. I liked how all of those underlying themes were presented through what we've been reading this semester and our guest speakers.
:0)

Komives

I personally enjoyed reading about the strengths and weaknesses.  In my other leadership class we took the strengthquest test and my top 5 strengths were communication, relator, restorative, harmony, and activator. When we took the test and came back to class to discuss the resuls the facilitator explained to us why it was strengths and not weaknesses. To often people look at what they are week in instead of what they are strong in.  also with the the strength and weaknesses groups are able to help one another.  Someone maybe strong in one subject and someone else in another subject so it adds a lot of diversity to the group. italso helps the group as a whole become strong.

Blog Eight: Komives part II

While I was reading, the strengths and weaknesses section stuck out to me the most. In the book it says, "The irony is that some of your strengths, if overemphasized, become your weaknesses, and things you consider weaknesses may actually be seen as strengths by others" (Komives, pp122). I couldn't agree more with that statement since I sometimes focus all my energy on what I could improve on, my weaknesses, and so I forget to act on my strengths. I think that strengths and weaknesses are a funny concept since what I could see as my weakness could be someone elses strength, a balance. Continuing my reading, I found that you exercise your leadership skills when you self-aware and can identify what your strengths and weaknesses are but using them both when working, especially with others, towards a common goal.
I have learned that when managing my own weaknesses, it is important to manage them so that I don't continue to hold myself back from what I could achieve with my strengths. I found that to be one of the biggest lessons that I've learned from this section. Too many times have I kept quiet during a group meeting when I knew I had good ideas or picked a job for a group project that wasn't one of my strengths because I was too afraid to speak up. I also learned that by recognizing my strengths I could then use that to manage my weaknesses, like learning to overcome my shyness by picking the presenter job or creating the posters, etc.
I was able to take away a lot from this weeks readings and I look forward to our speakers on Thursday also! :0)

Jerri Bird

Happy Halloween everyone!

I agree with Sable and Kelly. I enjoyed Jerri Bird but it was hard for me to follow her. I did enjoy her talking about her experiences living in the middle east. It is so cool that she has lived in or visited every Middle Eastern country except for 2. My grandparents travel all the time all over the world and it is great to hear their stories. I think its great that Jerry Bird is doing a lot to help the women over there. I found it very interesting the stories she heard from these women, esp their thoughts on American women. Its fun to have these women speakers come in and tell us their stories. This way we can hear experiences women have in leadership and we can learn from them.

Guest Speaker

I agree with Sable about the guest speaker. Although I really liked what she had to talk about, I did feel that it was difficult, even for me, to pay attention. However, I really liked hearing about her accomplishments as a woman because it gave me insight to what I could maybe one day accomplish in my own life.
When it comes to the guest speakers, I'm sure like others in the class, want someone that is upbeat and funny but also gives a strong message across to everyone. I think that maybe in the future of this course that when the professors look at the different women that they bring to speak, maybe have a mixture of presentation styles since I know not everyone is the same when speaking to a class. :0) But I enjoyed all of them none-the-less and I also look forward to the Dean coming to speak this week.

Guest Speaker Jerri Bird

Ms. Jerri Bird has accomplished a lot in her career. As professor Scott mentioned she was a bit different from the other guest speakers. She was really calm and had this mono-tone speaking voice. I did like her points but I feel as though her presentation would of been more effective if she had been more enthusiastic. Also some of the presentations that were presented last week were good. I personally enjoyed the one about the principal. It seems as though the principal was really down to earth and straight forward which I think are great qualities of a leader.

Guest Speakers

I really enjoyed the guest speakers. I thought the first lady was very inspiring and very funny. I enjoyed listening to her talk about how she got where she is and about her experiences. I was surprised that she was able to meet with all those women and I thought it was great that she engaged us in her speech. I enjoyed the next two women who talked together. Even though they have different political views, they still seem to work great together. They both had amazing stories to tell and I was very grateful that they were able to come to speak to us.

Self Awareness

I think Kelly and Sable have good points about knowing yourself before you lead others. I think that is the most important thing about leadership. Sometimes when people are attempting to lead groups they lose what they believe in just so that they can get ahead. As leaders we are all different and unique that is what groups work. You play roles within the group and if you have have a strong sense of who you are to be able to perform your roles well.

This Weeks Reading!!!!

I just want to comment on what Kelly mentioned about knowing yourself first. In my other leadership class we discussed this as a class and we all pretty much agreed that this is really important for anyone. I believe that you should know what is going on within yourself before you try to correct others. Yes we all have our problems but I think that we should try to solve our own problems before we try to solve other peoples problems. Many people are able to keep their problems to themselves but sometimes eventually your problems can interfere with other things. Personal problems can make you lose focus and hender yourself from doing what it is you might want to do. Not all people are like this but I do think that any leader should know about themselves and their problems before they help others.

Also I would just like to say that I really enjoyed all of our guest speakers. They were so posititve and it shows how everyday people can slowly change something in the world. All of the guest speakers were down to earth and had a lot to share with the class. I couldnt believe how many powerful people that our first guest speaker had met with. Everyone was a true inspiration.

Blog Seven: Komives Chap 3

The first sentence in the "Knowing-Being-Doing" section of chapter three states, "Individuals involved in the leadership process (leaders, members, co-creators, and so on) need to know themselves well before they work with others to influence change or achieve common purpose" (Komives. Pp76). I couldn't agree more with that statement since there is no possible way that anyone could contribute to a group or purpose without first knowing themselves and who they are, their beliefs, etc. To be knowledgeable, to be aware of yourself and others, and finally acting on your beliefs is critical in making change, and this is equally important as related to women and leadership.

Komives III

The reading for this week was overwhelming. But I think just made a few points about groups a little bit more clear. I really did not know the difference between the groups working groups vs teams and so on. I feel like the book is re telling us some facts that we already know. It is intereesting to see how it is presented though. Many times leadership is vague and people just want to be put into a leadership position or not. Reading through the step of how the group is formed and the dynamics that make it work make me look back at the groups that did not work out so well.

I have to also think about the types of groups that I have been. This will be the first class that I have taken that I am working in a group that is entirely female. I traditionally to be honest do not go towards all women in a group because it sometimes causes issues. But as i read the text today I realized that it is not that I am in a group with all females that make it tense. It is the enviroment that is created that makes the group. I think that sometimes women forget that it is ok to take each others sides. We neglect to remember that other women can be the best connections. We need to learn to stick together and then we will be able to get more accomplished. This seems to be the trend of why as women we are not able to always get our point accross. Many men will band together for a cause just for the fact that they can.

Group dynamics are an interesting topic and I hope to get down to the core of the issues and find how women can be in mnore productive groups and stop being afraid to turn to one another to ask for help.

Presentations

Sarah Robinson

I enjoyed listening to the presentations. I learned a whole lot not just from the presentations but about my classmates. I'm very excited about presenting my interview however I'm very nervous. Im not a fan of speaking in front of a group of people. But I had a lot of fun doing the interview and putting my presentation together so hopefully that will help me do better at speaking about it. I look forward to see the rest of the classes presentations.

Komives Part III

Komives Part III includes many ideas to help groups develop different leadership skills to help bring different talents within the group. In my other leadership class we discuss group development and I realized that Komives uses the same terms, the four rhyming words forming, storming, norming, performing. With all these qualities in a group it helps brings talent, patience, collaboration, and success. Personally I think that most groups do need all these qualities. I think it brings diversity and strengths. Someone might be strong in communicating and someone else may be strong in writing. With those two strengths your group could easily give a great presentation and write a great essay.
Also in part III I liked the traditional and inverted organizational structures. It is basically a pyramid of how the power is distributed within that certain organization. The models are very interesting because although the manager or president has the most power a lot of the times they don't have the same knowledge as the people under them. I think this is because often the lower people have more to do and complete the task for the higher person and the higher person usually just review it and pass it on to someone even higher. It just seems to me that sometimes they are not as knowledgeable because they do have so much work and they can't do it all themselves.

Blog Six: Presentations

I thought that the presentations from last week were really good. I was kind of nervous to give my presentation since I really don't like speaking in front of the class, but thankfully I didn't pass out. :0) As for the others I really learned a lot and realized how important this assignment has been in comparison to the course and my life. I walked away from the interview learning more about an individual..a woman who has made sacrifices in her own life to have the career she has and is, to me, showing that women are respected in gov't level jobs...at least at the White House. I look forward to the rest of the presentations. :0)

Blog Five: Response to Articles

I have to agree with Janet Napolitano, Arizona Governor, when she says in the article Operation Pipeline, "The minute you say we've arrived, we start going backward. We're still traveling." (Napolitano, 1). Obviously the statistics back that up when you notice that in the fifty governors we have in this nation, only nine of those are in fact women. Yes, we have powerful women in high political offices like Senator Hilary Clinton, who is also running for the presidency, and Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice, but I think that it still isn't enough. I hope that since our country is forever evolving both socially and politically, it would be awesome to see a woman president or even vice president. To have that female side to things will bring a lot of stability to our young nation in my opinion. I'm not saying that because a woman is president that "everyone is going to get along." I'm just excited about the idea of finally switching our views to incorperate another perspective and ideas...that of a woman. I mean, how can a man possibly vote on a law whether or not to legalize abortions?? Do they have a uterus? Can they have babies? I don't think so.

Museum

I was not able to get to the museum on time due to another class so I missed a floor or two I believe. From what I saw when I was at the museum I was not at all empowered either. I think I might would have a different feeling about if our tour guider was more enthused and actually sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Far as the art in the museum, I did like a couple of the paintings. I particularly liked the picture of the naked couple in bed and the pregnant women with the steps coming from inside of her. I felt that the steps symbolized women being walked all over. The other abstracts and creations in the museum didn't really appeal to me. I just think that so much more could of been said and analyzed so that we could of grasped a better understanding of what women were being represented as in that time period.

Museum

I found that I was having the same experience when it comes to walking around and looking at the exhibits. I thought that it would be a different representation of women in the arts. I found that some of the exhibits seemed to be degrading. Such as the diet photos. She was showing her looks after each stage of the diet and I dont really see the real point. I would ave found it more interesting to see her going against the grain.
When discussing the artwork with other class mates we talked about how it is a double standard that men are painting portraits of women but then when they are creating art with them in the portrait not looking realistic. I am interested in seeing the rest of the class' reactions.

Museum and Speaker

I unfortunately was not able to attend the field trip to the museum because I got sick that morning. I was really looking froward to going though. I do plan to go this weekend with my mom and I hope I get a great experience out of it. After reading what Kelly wrote, I'm a little worried about having some of those same feelings but I will have to see for myself.

I enjoyed the guest speaker. She was very nice and very knowledgeable. I enjoyed the activity she gave us; before then i had never really thought about who my role models are now and never really thought of my aunts being true role models for me and my future career of being a teacher. I hope the other guest speakers will be just as fun and interesting.

Blog Four: Womens Art Museum Reflection

To be completely honest about this mornings field trip, I didn't walk away feeling impowered or even prideful to be a woman, something I thought I would experience after this trip. Instead, I felt more exposed since the majority of the artwork represented vagina's and other sexual ideas. Don't get me wrong though, I did understand the thought behind the work, I just personally felt that the "feminist artists" really invaded my personal boundaries. I found it to be a little difficult to see some of the work later in the tour because I wasn't that comfortable looking at another womans, and men for that matter, naked body. I do believe that nudity can be art, but some of the images I saw I thought was more pornographic than art.

I'm not sure how to exactly interpret how I feel so I don't sound like I hated everything that I saw or even the ideas behind the art, but in general what I saw was hard to take in. In my opinion the art was weird to me. There were certain video's I saw that made no sense and even the abstract art pieces I felt didn't represent anything. That hanging red rug? I didn't get any of those images. I think that if I had a better understanding of the time and the feminist revolution, this trip would have been more of an enlightening experience for me.

Mary Jo Larson

I think that most important thing that I will take from Dr. Larson speaking is that she didnt know exactly what she was going to do for the rest of her life but she has still able to go out and do the things that she wanted to. At times I feel that there is to much pressure from society to go to college then go to grad school then straight into a career. Society has made is so that we think that everything has to be distinct way. But after listening to the accomplishments that Dr. Larson has achieved without have a set path is very inspiring.

I enjoyed writing down on paper who inspired me or who was a role model. I have always known who has inspired me. But it was a different way to think about things. We had to put our role model up next to our actually expectations of leadership. I also think that there was a good question raised in class. Asking whether it was important to have a role model or can we be shaped solely by our experiences. During the discussion and the presentation I looked at role models in a different way. Dr. Larson's presentation was very beneficial for me. I hope that I can have such a great experience with all the rest of the speakers.

Guest Speaker

Dr. Mary Jo Larson was a great guest speaker. It was very encouraging to hear about all the things that she has accomplished so far in her lifetime. As a woman I think that hearing another women's success has motivated me to achieve that goal or higher. Dr. Larson has worked with many people and has a great amount of experience in many areas. During the class I particularly liked the exercise that we did with the sheet of paper. I never really thought about values and qualities that my role models have. I always just knew they were my role model and I wanted to be like that person or better. Now that I think about it, it is the values and qualities that my role models have that makes me admire them the most. Something that really stuck out to me that Dr. Larson said was, "Don't ever put someone on a pedal stool, they'll fall off". It just reminds me of the frustration that I had on Mason's Track team. There was so much favoritism showed toward an individual and I always said that if the coach keeps putting her on a pedal stool one day she is going to fail at something and she's not going to know how to deal with it.

Dr. Larson gave a lot of insight on things that we as women can do and how we all can become successful.

Blog Three: Mary Jo Larson Guest Speaker

I honestly enjoyed Mary Jo's presentation today. I found it to be very enlightening to hear about all that she has accomplished and the impact that she has on the people around her. I felt that she gave off such a great vibe and you could tell that she truly enjoys the work that she does. I liked her ideas on "power" and the three branches of it, "material", "social", and "symbolic." I never viewed power in those senses before, so to figure out how interconnected they all are was an interesting revelation.
Also, when we were listing our role models I found it interesting to see that it wasn't necessarily the person themselves but the characteristics that they embody that make them such role models. It was funny for me to notice that the only person that I put was my mother. It made me disect her a little more and to look deeper into why I viewed her as a role model. I hope that she comes back soon. :0)

Blog 2

It is very interesting thinking about the point that kelly brought up about the reading and saying that boys didnt see the advantages of being a woman. I think that society has created men to be pessimistic about females. I was driving with my with a male one day and the car in front of us was not paying any attention and when the light turned green did proceed with the rest of traffic. We were behind this car and the first thing that he said was it must be a woman behind the wheel. We are being attacked down to the simplest level.

It is hard to believe that women have fought so hard for the rights that we have but will likely see no benefits from it. Being a mother, or cooking dinner is the traditional view. What will it take to change? I think about the television experiment where they were able to have two groups live in the other places. They did this by changing the colors of those families skin. Each family had to walk in the shoes of their opposites and realize the challenges that they face. I wish sometimes that men were able to do the same thing. That we could switch spots and for them to realize what is like to be the other sex.

It is hard to figure out whether we will be truly equal. We will just have to continue to make the stand and create the image of ourselves that we want projected on the world.

Blog 2

Culture is a huge part of America, both positively and negatively. American culture is high on sports, entertainment and great food. However, a strong part of our culture is the media. TV and radio both include advertisements, which try to manipulate us to buy their products. As Wilson shows in the book, 83% of the purchases made in America are by women. In a way that surprises me but at the same time it doesn't. It seems the biggest target audience today is kids and teenagers. They are more willing to want things based on commercials and on what is popular. Lots of kids and teenagers listen to the radio or watch TV, and the shows they watch have commercials that target that age group. Music, celebrities, bold colors, and lots of action attract kids and companies use those in their commercials. Some of these methods are used in stores to attract kids to the products. These days the majority of a families budget goes towards the kids: toys, clothes, food, electronics, etc. Girls especially when it comes to clothing. Once they reach a certain age, they start to worry about their appearance. Clothing commercials tend to use skinny girls to model their products and sometimes in turn girls who are not as skinny look down on themselves. Even though the amount of people in America who are overweight and obese is high, it seems like America is telling us that we should be a certain weight or have a certain body type. These commercials are starting to tell this to people at a young age. Younger people should not have to worry so much about their appearance and should love themselves for who they are. Of course this is true for adults as well but I think it's more of a problem for younger people because they are still learning and growing.

Blog #2

In response to Kelly's blog I would agree that there isn't any equality when it comes down to men vs women in the working world. Women have the same responsibilities as men so why is it fair that men men get paid $30,000 more with the same job description and duties? Women have bills to pay and children to take care of just like men. It is very sad but true that some work places do not see them equally.
The results conducted amongst the students were not at all suprising to me. The percentage of females that said they saw advantages in being a male are right. The results from the males are just the opposite of the females, the males see the disadvatages to being a female and who would want the short end of the stick? The percentage does not shock me because I see it as if the survey was about race it would be the same. Many people of color would probably say that they wouldn't mind being caucasian because of the advantages and many caucasians may say that they wouldn't want to be a person of color because of the disadvantages. To me there is no difference in the two. I personally would have not choosen to be a male, although there would be advantages. I believe that the things that i grow through as a female is only making me stronger.
I do not think that in our lifetime we will see equality in gender or race. I hope oneday that there will be equal opportunities for everyone. Until that day comes we can't dwell on the things that we do not have, but we can make the best of things that we do have and take every opprotunity towards success that we can.

Blog Two: Chapter 6- Authenticity

There was one idea that stuck with me as I was reading chapter six titled authenticity. This idea was the interesting note when a study was taken of children who were asked, “what if you suddenly woke up as the opposite sex. How would your lives be different?” I was surprised to see that 50% of the girls saw advantages in being male and only 7% of the boys saw advantages in being female. (Many students writing that they would commit suicide if they woke up as a girl). Many of the girls found it interesting to think about life as a boy, however, 20% of the boys gave hostile and derogatory responses to being female. I couldn’t believe the words I was reading. Seriously, what is so bad about being a female? We have survived this long.

There is also that pressure of boys vs. girls and it has been there forever, it seems. Constantly pushing yourself to be somehow better than the other, but if you look at it closer, the fight girls deal with is just to be noticed as equal. The number of girls who enrolled in colleges is significantly higher than boys these days, but interestingly enough; men with college degrees are paid about $30,000 dollars more than women with college degrees. Where is the equality now?

After reading this chapter in particular, I felt as though the inequalities that women face in regards to how other men view them, I feel as though not much has changed. The roles are slightly modified, but are we truly anywhere close to being “equal?”

First Post

I honestly don't know what to write here. I didn't get the invite till this morning and I slept at most 2 hours last night. I've had a really bad week and honestly this whole blog thing made it so much worse. I almost had an anxiety attack yesterday over another class. Im going to try and get to class early to talk to the teachers this morning. See you guys in class :-\

Blog # 1

So far this book is very interesting. I feel like I am learning about a lot of the things that we as women may probably go through in the working world especially if we are leaders. The point that Wilson bought up about women not supporting one another in opinion is a very true statement. I can tell anyone from my own personal experiences with Mason's Women Track Team. We were suppose to be a team and it felt like there were three different sections of the team. At meets some teammates wouldn't cheer for one another and everyone would put one another down. As a women I do believe that we look for encouragement from one another. My teammates were like my best friends on campus at one point and it is sad to see us all going after the same thing and not helping each other to obtain it. If we don't support one another then who will? It must start with us first if we really want to get rid of all the stereotypes about women. I must say that the typical stay at home mom and cooking and cleaning mom is not half as popular as it use to be. We have a lot of women out here who take leadership roles and are making a difference in society for future women who would like to be a leader.
I am ready to read more of this book and see what other leadership roles we can take on as women. I hope this book gives me a lot of answers that I have been seeking for.

Authority, Ambition, Ability

"Do women need to soft-shell their ambition with self depreciation and a nurturing style?" (Wilson pg 56). This quote resonated with me as I was reading these chapters. Women have been fighting for the right to be equal with men for a very long time and when I read this quote I began to think that it was completely true. That many times women are wearing a mask that is not truly doing them justice. Why are women willing to let this mask be the permanent mask that they wear?
I found that reading this book I am learning more about the actually facts of the workforce that facts that I would otherwise not have known. The authors bring up good points that make me wonder what type of woman I will be in leadership. Will I fall to the same status and thinking that I do no deserve a position due to being a woman? Or will I be able to be the ambitious one and go the extra mile to get to the position that I deserve?
The author says that ambition in men is disregarded and thought to be natural but when shown by women it is many times misconceived as aggressive or demanding behavior. The traditional view of women is slowly changing but it seems to be one extreme or the other. We are either recognized for the work that we do or we are not view in the correct light. I found it very interested that authors stress that motherhood is not actually a woman’s downfall, but the source of power. A woman is the one that reproduce and that gives her power of the male counterpart. I found other interesting thoughts in the book and look forward to reading more into depth.

Blog One

Kelly Williams
September 12, 2007
Prof. Bernard, Prof. Scott

BLOG ONE

I have become excited about the topic of women and their importance in leadership roles. The readings from Marie C. Wilson is giving me the opportunity to look deeper into what has become an issue that even today, women face both at home and especially in the workplace from a society who’s authority has been predominately male for centuries. Reading the statistics that has been provided astounded me at first; to have that realization that women, in general, had to wait many years to hold the leadership positions they do, but still not equal to their male counterparts. Wilson’s book, “Closing the Leadership Gap” has brought to my attention those statistics as well as bringing to light an argument based on historical fact but also for once sharing it with the public in a logical way.
One particular section that interested me as I was reading was the part in chapter four is called, “Appropriate Ambitions.” The quote that began this section of the chapter stood out to me, for I have heard this saying before, “Show me a woman without guilt and I will show you a man.” (Wilson, 56). Immediately after I read those thirteen words I felt a little offended. Why? I felt offended because, in my opinion, the sentence itself places an image onto a woman when being compared to a man, it saying that any woman who didn’t feel guilt was referenced to a man, who are believed to share that quality. However my understanding of this sentence in the context that Wilson used it, became clear after reading the chapter. It fueled my idea that just because women, who are married and raise their children, who are educated, etc, lets not forget they are also capable of having an opinion. What I dislike the most is seeing society place the same hindering stereotypes on women, especially in high positions. The example that Wilson uses is Hilary Rodham Clinton. She was studying law during her husband’s run for the presidential office and already was well educated. People viewed her more political herself than what a politicians wife should be. That stereotype of being a wife obviously didn’t fit to her mold with the public.
For the end of this week, I thoroughly enjoyed the readings from Wilson. She gave me insight to the real life struggle that women have gone through in the past, but continue to go through even today. For the first time in our country’s history we have a woman running for president. Hasn’t it been too long? That’s question I have found myself asking each week. I hope that next week my understanding of this issue with become more concrete as we get to explore deeper into women and their leadership roles.

Ambition and Authority

I love this book, but it frustrates me at times because I can identify with the books theories from personal experience, mainly from Student Government (which is a male dominating environment). There were a few things that hit home. First - on the subject that women like to be supported and mentored, encouraged. I definitely agree with that, i turn to my sisters for support on the actions I make in my leadership positions. Second- The fact that women need support and that women don't support women I believe is true. There have been too many times when I call men out when they are being sexist and I have had my girl friends get embarrassed and turn the other way or ask me why I make a big fuss out of every silly thing, yet they don't call out our male friends when they make a fuss about unfair stereo types. Also it bothers me when women stand back and just say "oh, its a guy thing", i feel like its a character thing which explains why women still stick to female stereo types. If the battle that women are fighting today is the stereo types then how can we do that if we are not supported by our fellow females. The book mentions that we do need to change the perception of our sisters in order to change the pereception of society, but I think that we need more direction so that we can change the stereo types of women in a more efficient way.... but the question is, how can we set a direction to change these stereo types of women, that feel tangible through personal and every day experiences when other women dont argue these stereo types (as well as men) and claim it to be just a figment of my imagination (aka - crazy feminist) which they say just to help them sleep at night?