Change it Up What Girls Say About Redefining Leadership

1
Change it Up! What Girls Say About Redefining
Leadership Summary of Research Findings Girl
Scout Research Institute Girl Scouts of the USA
March 18, 2008
2
Research Goal To explore and understand the att
itudes, perceptions, and experiences of girls
ages 8-17 towards leadership

3
Methodology
Qualitative -- 13 focus groups and 6 ethnographi
es in Hackensack, NJ Cincinnati, OH
Atlanta, GA San Diego, CA (165 girls, boys
and mothers) Quantitative -- Nationwide online
survey 2,475 girls and 1,514 boys between ages
8 to 17 -- Mall intercept interviews 640 Afric
an American and Hispanic pre-teen and teen
girls and boys at 15 locations
Expert Interviews -- In-depth interviews 15 ex
perts in leadership, youth development, and
girls Research Advisory Body Girl Scout Coun
cil Advisory Body -- Expert advisors from youth d
evelopment/leadership field and Girl Scout
Councils
4
Insight 1 Girls are Redefining Leadership in Mea
ningful Terms Most common definition Power
Control Least aspirational definition        
       Power Control Most aspirational defin
ition Personal Principles
Social Change
Values  
5

• Change it Up!
•  
• 68 of girls say that they want to be a leader
  who stands up for
  
• their beliefs and values in the future.
• 59 say they want to be like someone who tries
  to change the
  
• world for the better in the future.

6
Leadership Ingredients Setting the Bar High
  Girls highly idealize leadership qualities and
skills responsible, caring, honest,
hard-working, decision-maker, confident, good
listener, team player, organized, motivated
  Only about 21 of girls and boys believe they c
urrently have most of the key qualities required
to be a good leader. Leadership is so highly id
ealized in young peoples minds that most of them
do not believe they can attain this goal.

7

• Leadership Aspirations
• TODAY
• 61 of girls currently think of themselves as
  leaders.
  
• THE FUTURE
• When asked if they want to be leaders, 39 of
  girls say yes.
  
• The majority, 52, say they would not mind being
  a leader, but its
  
• not that important to them.
• 9 say no, they do not want to be leaders.

8

• Insight 1 Girls are Redefining Leadership in
  Meaningful Terms
  
• Insight 1 Implications
• (1) Make clear which aspects of leadership are
  at the core of program
  
  
  activities.
• (2) Define leadership in meaningful terms to
  girls.
  
• Set reasonable and attainable leadership
  development goals so that
  
• girls dont feel they have to
  possess every imaginable skill and
  
• competency.

9

• Insight 2
• Self-Confidence Skills New Girl Leaders
• The factor that most strongly influences a
  girls desire to actively pursue
  
• leadership is confidence in her own skills and
  competencies.
  
• The greatest single barrier to leadership is low
  self-regard around skills
  
• and qualities.
• Very simply put, youth who report high
  self-regard on a number of leadership skills and
  qualities are more likely to aspire to
  leadership.

10

• Additional factors that influence a girls
  desire to actively pursue leadership
  
• Organizational skills
• Extraversion
• Dominant profile/identity
• Experience with leadership roles

11

• African-American, Hispanic and Asian girls and
  boys as well as higher income youth are more
  likely to aspire to leadership.
  
• This is because
• They rate themselves higher on leadership skills
  dimensions.
  
• They are more likely to report having a
  leadership experience.
  
• They are more likely to think of themselves as
  leaders.
  

12

• Age and gender have very little effect on youths
  desire to pursue leadership
  
• The age effect is significant, but small.
  Self-perception as a
  
• leader is highest at younger ages (grades
  2-4) drops in grades 7-10
  
• and rises again slightly in grades 11-12.
• Girls and boys have an equal likelihood of
  aspiring to and thinking of
  
• themselves as leaders.

13

14

• Insight 2 Self-Confidence Skills New Girl
  Leaders
  
• Insight 2 Implications
• Provide opportunities to develop leadership
  skills and experiment with leadership roles in
  supportive environments.
  
• (2) Boost girls self-confidence and skill set.
  This in turn makes them more likely to be
  interested in leadership.
  

15

• Insight 3 Leadership Experiences Support
  System
  
• New Girl Leaders
• Girls past leadership experience and
  extracurricular participation predicts leadership
  aspiration.
  
• Most youth (67) have had a chance to be a
  leader, with non-white youth (75)
  
• significantly more likely than white youth
  (64) to report having a chance to be a
  
• leader.
• Youth experience leadership mostly at school
  (75), home (24), and church
  
• (22), with the most influential support and
  adult role modeling at home.
  

16

• The Girl Scout Effect
• 60 of current Girl Scouts report being
  encouraged to be a leader by Girl Scout
  
• leaders.
• Compared to girls who were never in Girl Scouts,
  a high representation of Girl
  
• Scouts want to be leaders (49 vs. 36), think
  of themselves as leaders
  
• (67vs. 58) and have had the opportunity and
  experience to be a leader
  
• (71 vs. 50).

17
Youth identify family (especially mothers),
teachers, and friends as influencers.
18

• Gender Differences
• Girls are more driven by altruistic motives boys
  are more driven by
  
• power and money.
• Girls are more likely than boys to want to be
  leaders because they want
  
• to help other people (67 vs. 53), share
  their knowledge and skills
  
• with others (53 vs. 47), and change the
  world for the better (45 vs.
  
• 31).
• Boys are more likely than girls to be motivated
  by the desire to be their
  
• own boss (38 vs. 33), make more money (33
  vs. 26), and have
  
• more power (22 vs. 14).
• Girls derive greater satisfaction from learning
  (31 vs. 22) in
  
• leadership experiences boys derive great
  satisfaction from being in
  
• charge (26 vs. 16).

19

• Gender Differences
• While the majority of respondents (82) agree
  that boys and girls are
  
• equally good at being leaders, 56 of girls
  and boys say "in our society,
  
• it is more difficult to become a leader for
  woman than a man.
  
• More than half (52) of girls and boys agree
  that girls have to work
  
• harder than boys in order to gain positions of
  leadership. More girls
  
• (57) than boys (44) feel this way.

20
Insight 3 Leadership Experiences Support
System New Girl Leaders Insight 3 Implicatio
ns To be relevant and successful to girls, a lea
dership program must (1) Teach new skills releva
nt to leadership development. (2) Create mentorin
g relationships (peer-to-peer girl-to-adult).
(3) Provide safe environments for free
expression. (4) Create opportunities to effect ch
ange in communities. (5) Address the gender stere
otypes that boys and girls face.
21

• Insight 4 Girls Have a Range of Leadership
  Identities
  
• Girls cannot be approached as a homogenous group
  in relation to leadership aspiration.
  
• (36) Vanguard Think of selves as
  leaders/Want to be leaders
  
• (25) Ambivalent Think of selves as
  leaders/Wouldnt mind being leaders
  
• (4) Hopefuls Dont think of selves
  as leaders/Want to be leaders
  
• (26) Unmotivated Dont think of selves as
  leaders/Wouldnt mind being leaders
  
• (8) Rejecters Dont think of selves
  as leaders/Dont want to be leaders

22
Insight 4 Girls Have a Range of Leadership
Identities Insight 4 Implications (1) Do
not treat girls like one homogenous block.
(2) Tailor programming, delivery, and activities
to their different identities.
23
The Girl Scout Research Institute
For more information contact the GSRI gsresea
rch_at_girlscouts.org Visit the GSRI web page
http//www.girlscouts.org/Research/