Women in leadership topic of discussion

Among the  events featured on the SUNYIT campus for Women’s History Month in the spring semester was a discussion group of students, staff and faculty that came together to talk about women in leadership and the workforce, their experiences on the past, and their thoughts on the future.

Kate Alcott, program director in the Office of Continuing Professional Education, led the discussion, talking about her own experiences, before coming to SUNYIT, in a male-dominated workforce and the obstacles that she faced in such an environment.

“I thought that if I went to a good school, studied hard and worked hard, things would happen,” Alcott said. “But there were certainly speed bumps.”

Those in attendance read quotes from Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” as the springboard for their discussion. The group discussed the media image often shown of a working woman – frantic, running in multiple directions, with a baby on the hip. According to Sandberg, these portrayals of a working woman need to be replaced by a new image:  a woman in relative control of her life. With the proliferation of technology, new and ever-expanding methods of media delivery, young women are exposed to more images that are often unrealistic. Media portrayals of strong women, Sandberg says, would show girls and young women what they are capable of.

“I think we often don’t give ourselves enough credit,” Alcott said. “Women are being taught to be too dependent on others.”

Lack of confidence and a societal image that more often than not makes that confidence a negative attribute can lead to “perfection paralysis,” holding women back from doing things they don’t feel they can do perfectly. It was an issue that many in the group grapple with, in the classroom and in the workplace.

Separately each of those in attendance hoped to discuss the challenges and hurdles continuously faced by women in the workforce, but together aimed to turn those discussions into positive change, so that, as Sandberg puts it, “In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”