AUTS Stories | Women’s Empowerment
Website Resources
Videos
- Stanford Center for Women’s Leadership Voice & Influence: This site contains videos and discussion guides from faculty from leading universities. The aim of the videos is to “empower women and men to realize their professional potential, and help them create organizations where workers can excel and thrive.”
- 50/50 video by Tiffany Schlain: This 20-minute documentary chronicles the history of women’s leadership and highlights the work needed to truly shifting the gender balance for the betterment of all.
Books
- Helgesen, S. & Johnson, J. (2010). The female vision: Women’s real power at work. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
- In this book, researchers Helgesen and Johnson identify what women notice and value and how they create connections within the professional setting. Readers will gain an understanding of the strategies for recruiting and retaining talented women.
- Helgesen, S. (1990). The female advantage: Women’s way of leadership. New York, New York: Doublrday.
- In this foundational women’s leadership book, Sally Helgesen studied how men and women lead organizations. Her research discovered distinct differences, noting that women’s leadership contains advantages in moving organizations forward. Helgesen found that organizations run by women do not take the traditional hierarchical pyramid, but rather they form a “web of inclusion” where leaders reach out, not down, to form an interrelating matrix built around a central purpose.
- Many of these differences hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at running organizations that foster creativity, cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power, necessities for companies of the twenty-first century. Helgesen’s findings reveal that organizations run by women do not take the form of the traditional hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an interrelating matrix built around a central purpose. The strategy of the web concentrates power at the center by drawing others closer and by creating communities where information sharing is essential. She presents her findings through unique, closely detailed accounts of four successful women business leaders — Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company’s Executive Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings, listens to their phone calls and conferences, and reads their correspondence. Her “diary studies” document how women leaders make decisions, schedule their days, gather and disperse information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how their experiences as women — wives, mothers, friends, sisters, daughters — contribute to their leadership style.
- SEE MORE
- Many of these differences hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at running organizations that foster creativity, cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power, necessities for companies of the twenty-first century. Helgesen’s findings reveal that organizations run by women do not take the form of the traditional hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an interrelating matrix built around a central purpose. The strategy of the web concentrates power at the center by drawing others closer and by creating communities where information sharing is essential. She presents her findings through unique, closely detailed accounts of four successful women business leaders — Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company’s Executive Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings, listens to their phone calls and conferences, and reads their correspondence. Her “diary studies” document how women leaders make decisions, schedule their days, gather and disperse information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how their experiences as women — wives, mothers, friends, sisters, daughters — contribute to their leadership style.
- SEE MORE
- Many of these differences hold distinct advantages for women, who excel at running organizations that foster creativity, cooperation, and intuitive decision-making power, necessities for companies of the twenty-first century. Helgesen’s findings reveal that organizations run by women do not take the form of the traditional hierarchical pyranaid, but more closely resemble a web, where leaders reach out, not down, to form an interrelating matrix built around a central purpose. The strategy of the web concentrates power at the center by drawing others closer and by creating communities where information sharing is essential. She presents her findings through unique, closely detailed accounts of four successful women business leaders — Frances Hesselbein of Girl Scouts USA, Barbara Grogan of Western Industrial Contractors, Nancy Badore of Ford Motor Company’s Executive Development Center, and Dorothy Brunson of Brunson Communications. Helgesen observes their meetings, listens to their phone calls and conferences, and reads their correspondence. Her “diary studies” document how women leaders make decisions, schedule their days, gather and disperse information, motivate others, delegate tasks, structure their companies, hire, and fire. She chronicles how their experiences as women — wives, mothers, friends, sisters, daughters — contribute to their leadership style.
- SEE MORE
- Eagly, A. & Carli, L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
- Within this book, Eagly and Carli’s research examines the barriers to women’s assent to top leadership positions and strategies for navigating the labyrinth.
- Mason, M. & Mason Ekman, E. (2007). Mothers on the fast track: How a new generation can balance family and careers. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
- In this book, researcher Mason and journalist Ekman examine why the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been increasing, while the number of women attaining top executive level positions has remained stagnant. Authors provide a guide for young women who face the decision of when, and if, to start a family.
- Miller, J. (Ed.). (1998). Legends: Women who have changed the world through the eyes of great women writers. Novato, CA: New World Library.
- Through stunning portraits and essays, prominent women writers highlight the significant and influential women of the 20th
Reports
- The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap (2018). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from AAUW website: https://www.aauw.org/aauw_check/pdf_download/show_pdf.php?file=The-Simple-Truth.
- This report defines the pay gap, examines the pay gap effect on women of different demographics and highlights the structural and historical causes of the pay gap. In addition, this report contains strategies for addressing and eliminating the pay gap on the individual, employer and government levels.
