Survey identifies women's leadership issues

Sayles Belton

unable to attend women's forum

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A recent survey by the University of Minnesota finds that many area women, among other things, feel a need to develop more leadership skills.

The results of the survey were shared at a Bridging Brown County function at the New Ulm Country Club Wednesday night.

Many came from towns and cities in the area to hear a speech by former Minneapolis mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, but the mayor was unable to attend because of car trouble.

Instead, Sayles Belton shared some words of wisdom to the small crowd through her cell phone, which was held up to the microphone behind the podium in the county club's banquet room.

Sayles Belton began her remarks by apologizing for not being able to speak in person but asked those who attended to perform one simple task. She asked everyone in the room to get out a sheet of paper and write down three things about themselves, their communities and their world that they would like to change and then asked them "What would you do about it?"

She also gave three pieces of advice: "Don't let a lack of knowledge or experience stop you from achieving your goals," "Simply show up," and "Speak up and speak out."

The survey found that skills like listening, communicating well, being organized, having confidence and being honest were what the women who responded felt were the most important leadership traits.

A lack of confidence, social conditioning, balancing work and family, stereotypes of women, being taken seriously and a lack of respect for women leaders from both men and other women were the most often-named challenges for women taking leadership roles in the survey.

The women who responded to the survey though competence in leadership skills and knowledge of issues and confidence in one's ability to lead were deemed the most important factors for encouraging women to take on leadership roles.

About 80 percent of the women who took the survey agreed that there is a need in the area to develop the leadership skills of women.

Time, balancing work and family, cost and self-concepts were identified as the biggest barriers keeping women from participating in a leadership program.

The implications of those responses, according to Donna Rae Scheffert, a University of Minnesota researcher, are that gender matters, power counts and that self-perception empowers.

Gender was a key theme of the study because many of the women who took part in the study identified obstacles that were seen as being outside their influence. "Leadership styles seen as being more appropriate for one's gender usually translate into more acceptance and the opposite is also true -- women who have dominant behavior many be stereotyped negatively along with men who have feminine behaviors," the survey found.

Power was another key theme of the survey because many women perceive leadership as power. The concept is one that "attracts some but repels others....Defining leadership as multi-faceted can maximize the number of women who see themselves as leaders or offer their talents for various roles or tasks", the survey found.

Finally, self-perception was the third key issue raised in the survey because the long list of skills the women in the survey often named as essential "might contribute to the self-perception that women don't have what it takes for leadership."

"The more I kept doing this, the more it kept sounding like my own challenges," Scheffert said.

Extension educator Katie Rassmussen said the surveys were sent randomly to 325 women, some who where identified as having a past position of leadership. About 34 percent of the surveys came back. Scheffert said she wants to get 300 surveys back so the study will be a more accurate representation of women's views in the area.