Girls just don’t seem to want to go there; as my hosts in Brisbane said, the press is vicious and girls don’t want to expose themselves to it. The parties here don’t promote women’s leadership either, so it’s a double hit. Women here are twenty-eight percent of Parliament, which isn’t a bad number, but very few of them are in positions that will lead to power.
Here in Brisbane, I had a fascinating breakfast with women in business, politics, and other areas, in association with St. Aidan’s School, my gracious host here. They are well aware of the issues facing their well-educated daughters, as they themselves faced them. While their girls have more choices today than these women had at a similar age, any choice demands sacrifice it is the choiceless choice described my Mary Catherine Bateson. Girls still have issues around voice and confidence, around saying what they think and acting on it, and around discrimination in jobs. Women are only three percent of CEOs in Australia, which is a very narrow window in which to succeed.
The Alliance of Girls School is truly trying to change this dynamic, aiming to give girls the knowledge, confidence, and ability to overcome deficits in this society. The White House Project’s messages about the importance of women in positions of power being seen and heard are resonating powerfully here. In fact, I suggested the schools conduct research similar to our own; perhaps they could do a survey of women leaders who appear on television shows and they could analyze how women are covered in the press. Here, it seems to be very much about hair, hemlines, and husbands. Much change is needed before girls can see and be seen.
I gave the keynote address at the annual Alliance of Girls’ Schools conference in Melbourne, where the principals met to talk primarily about leadership. As a part of their process, they invited a dozen girls from six different schools across the city to participate in their sessions. They had the girls read the book Closing the Leadership Gap and meet throughout the weekend to discuss what they’d heard and to figure out ways to act on the messages. Their recommendations to the adult leaders were pointed and interesting.
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