On Friday, November 3rd, the George Mason University Honors College, Women and Gender Studies, the LEAD Office, and Roosevelt at Mason hosted the GMU Women’s Leadership Conference at the MIX at Fenwick. The conference went from 10-2:30 and included speakers, activities, and small group discussions.
The speakers included Jennifer Wagner Davis, the GMU Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance, Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott, a GMU professor of history and former Director of African and African American Studies, and Mason alumna Dr. Bethany Hall-Long, the Lieutenant Governor of Delaware. Dr. Hall-Long and Jennifer Wagner Davis both spoke about their process as they got to where they are now, the challenges they faces as women in their fields, and the importance of having women represented as leaders. Dr. Manuel-Scott spoke about the necessity of having an intersectional framework when discussing women in leadership, including finding your identity as a leader while navigating multiple stereotypes. Dr. Manuel-Scott also shared some powerful examples of leadership among women in Black communities during the Civil Rights Movement, and how their contributions made it possible for the more widely recognized leaders of the movement to accomplish what they did. Each of the speakers brought their unique perspective on how to thrive as women in a patriarchal society.
Break out discussions covered a broad range of topics. Nancy Xiong, the Associate Director of Women and Gender Studies, facilitated a discussion on different dimensions of identity and their impact on leadership. Students shared (as they were comfortable doing so) their different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, ability-related, religious, citizenship, and other social identities and explored the ways that they influenced leadership styles.
Near the end of the day, Women and Gender Studies and the LEAD Office led discussions about different leadership styles, shared information on what research shows to be valued leadership skills, and explored the gaps the exist in terms of race and gender and leadership positions. A four-corners activity also helped create dialogue about what students felt a good leader looks like and what are considered to be effective leadership styles.