How were women treated through history?
Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives. The most important duties for a city-dwelling woman were to bear children--preferably male--and to run the household. Duties of a rural woman included some of the agricultural work: the harvesting of olives and fruit was their responsibility, as may have been the gathering of vegetables. Throughout the Medieval period, women were viewed as second class citizens, and their needs always were an afterthought. They were either held to be completely deceitful, sexual, innocent, or incompetent. Therefore, women were mostly withheld from positions of power or speaking their voice; males made decisions for them, and their lives were dictated by the men that ran the society. Women in ancient Rome were largely expected to raise children and tend to the house. Women in ancient Rome were not allowed in the military, but it is now thought that they took part in the triumphal ceremonies. The social life of women in ancient Rome was limited as they could not vote or hold office and were expected to spend most of their time in the house tending to the needs of the husband and children. However, while at the market they were very social. In the 19th century, women had many duties in the home, church and community, they had few political and legal rights. That is the period when changes started to happen. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first convention for women’s rights in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Under the leadership of Stanton, Mott and Susan B. Anthony, the convention demanded improved laws regarding child custody, divorce and property rights. They argued that women deserved equal wages and career opportunities in law, medicine, education and the ministry. Their biggest demand was the right to vote. |
As of women leadership in the 21st century, we spoke with Rebecca Blatt, who is a senior associate dean and a director for master's program recruitment at the Walter Cronkite School Of Journalism and Mass Communication. She also oversees some of the school's signature capstone programs, including Cronkite News, Carnegie-Knight News21 and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism.
She told us about her love towards the creative process of the journalism and her thoughts of what a leader is.
She think that moving the organization forward is the most important thing that the leader does.
Luca: Please tell me more about your job just to know what kind of activities do you
have as a senior news editor at WAMU?
Rebecca: My current role as a senior associate Dean at the Cronkite school is that
I oversee master programs and I get to work with out student service teams and
career service teams and I get to teach undergraduate and graduate students. I
also work on a variety of other project as a senior news editor at WAMU. For a
period of time I oversaw production and local content during the morning
program edition and all thing considered for the DC area, Maryland and Virginia
for some time. I was also focused on special project and events like election
coverage presidential inauguration.
Luca: What was your biggest inspiration to become a journalist and an expert of
leadership?
Rebecca: That’s a great question! I genuinely love the work of journalism so I love
being able to talk with people and learn about new things everyday. I love putting
together our stories and trying to be creative. I really fell in love with the creative
process at the same time as a moved through a variety news organizations. I
really came to appreciate the importance and the need for strong leadership in
such organizations.
Luca: Okay, could you please tell me the definition of leadership and what kind of
skills are needed to be a great leader?
Rebecca: Well, I think people use the word in different ways so typically when we
talk about leadership we’re talking about moving an organization forward in a
strategic way. So basically, a leader is a person working individually or working as
a part of a team who is moving the whole organization and process forward. In
order to move an organization forward you have to be able to manage people
right so you have to make the people who work for you are doing some impact
for the process. Being a leader requires communication skills with some degree of
emotional intelligence and being able to think strategically.
Luca: What do you think, is there a difference between a woman and a man
leader at this field?
Rebecca: I think it is really individualized, you know, every leader brings their own
personal experience and their own way of working. I think it’s really hard to make
a big generalization about how that manifests itself at the workplace. There are
clear differences on how women are perceived rather than man in my job, but I
will say it again, it is really individualized. There is a book called “There’s No Crying
in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned about What It Takes to Lead” by Julia
Wallace and Kristin Grady Gilger, which focuses on a stoic access to the work
which means not being emotional during doing your and just objectively focus on
your goals.
Luca: How do you manage your personal and professional life?
Rebecca: That can be quite different. It depends if you chose to have or not to
have a family. If you have kids who need to be picked up at a certain time or a
spouse with whom you interact in a various ways. The balance between family
and career requires making decisions on a daily or even on a hourly basis and you
have to choose what will be your priority at that moment. After all, none of this
thing are rigid and none of these things are permanent so you have to adapt with
your details and aspirations at work and at home and continuously try to balance
those things.
Luca: Do you have any advice for future women leader?
Rebecca: You have to do what feels right and I think it’s really important to see
leadership and management as disciplines and skill that require focus and
attention in work. So, you don’t just become a leader, you continue to learn
leadership skills and refine those as a part of the process. You have so seek all the
learning opportunities and see what has been most helpful and focus on it.
She told us about her love towards the creative process of the journalism and her thoughts of what a leader is.
She think that moving the organization forward is the most important thing that the leader does.
Luca: Please tell me more about your job just to know what kind of activities do you
have as a senior news editor at WAMU?
Rebecca: My current role as a senior associate Dean at the Cronkite school is that
I oversee master programs and I get to work with out student service teams and
career service teams and I get to teach undergraduate and graduate students. I
also work on a variety of other project as a senior news editor at WAMU. For a
period of time I oversaw production and local content during the morning
program edition and all thing considered for the DC area, Maryland and Virginia
for some time. I was also focused on special project and events like election
coverage presidential inauguration.
Luca: What was your biggest inspiration to become a journalist and an expert of
leadership?
Rebecca: That’s a great question! I genuinely love the work of journalism so I love
being able to talk with people and learn about new things everyday. I love putting
together our stories and trying to be creative. I really fell in love with the creative
process at the same time as a moved through a variety news organizations. I
really came to appreciate the importance and the need for strong leadership in
such organizations.
Luca: Okay, could you please tell me the definition of leadership and what kind of
skills are needed to be a great leader?
Rebecca: Well, I think people use the word in different ways so typically when we
talk about leadership we’re talking about moving an organization forward in a
strategic way. So basically, a leader is a person working individually or working as
a part of a team who is moving the whole organization and process forward. In
order to move an organization forward you have to be able to manage people
right so you have to make the people who work for you are doing some impact
for the process. Being a leader requires communication skills with some degree of
emotional intelligence and being able to think strategically.
Luca: What do you think, is there a difference between a woman and a man
leader at this field?
Rebecca: I think it is really individualized, you know, every leader brings their own
personal experience and their own way of working. I think it’s really hard to make
a big generalization about how that manifests itself at the workplace. There are
clear differences on how women are perceived rather than man in my job, but I
will say it again, it is really individualized. There is a book called “There’s No Crying
in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned about What It Takes to Lead” by Julia
Wallace and Kristin Grady Gilger, which focuses on a stoic access to the work
which means not being emotional during doing your and just objectively focus on
your goals.
Luca: How do you manage your personal and professional life?
Rebecca: That can be quite different. It depends if you chose to have or not to
have a family. If you have kids who need to be picked up at a certain time or a
spouse with whom you interact in a various ways. The balance between family
and career requires making decisions on a daily or even on a hourly basis and you
have to choose what will be your priority at that moment. After all, none of this
thing are rigid and none of these things are permanent so you have to adapt with
your details and aspirations at work and at home and continuously try to balance
those things.
Luca: Do you have any advice for future women leader?
Rebecca: You have to do what feels right and I think it’s really important to see
leadership and management as disciplines and skill that require focus and
attention in work. So, you don’t just become a leader, you continue to learn
leadership skills and refine those as a part of the process. You have so seek all the
learning opportunities and see what has been most helpful and focus on it.
"EMPATHY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP SKILL"
says Dr. Reka Vacsicsan, the leader of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Phoenix. We talked to her and she told us about her organization, how it is to be a woman leader in a foreign country and some advices for upcoming women leaders.
Representation of women in the media sector
Increasing the skills and leadership of women journalists is essential to increase
the participation of women in media sector. There are many ways to support
women in journalism.
For an example, in Indonesia and Bangladesh, Free Press Unlimited contributed to
successful fellowship programs for young and marginalized women to train as
professional community media journalists. These women attended a training and
mentoring program at a local radio station. After the training course, they
produced stories related to topic that were important to them, such as education,
living standards, child marriage, female leaders and role models.
In Iraq there was a training program for woman photographers which goal was to
promote equality in the male – dominated profession and boost the support for
women shown in the media. The photographers had a month to work on their
stories and they were supported by Metrography, Iraq’s first photo agency. The
photography projects covered topic like freedom of speech, violence against
women, women’s rights, women’s empowerment and climate change.
Speaking of Nigeria, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism runs a
Female Reporters Leadership Program. Over the course of six months, women
journalists receive training and mentoring. They are expected to develop both
their leadership and reporting skills. Since the start of the project a few years ago,
WSCIJ has trained more than 130 reporters across the country, produces 53
leadership projects and enabled the production of 65 girls and women – focused
stories
Worldwide, women are underrepresented in leadership positions in the media
sector. Some studies have showed that women hold just over a quarter (about
27%) of top management positions. This means that most decisions and policies
within media organizations are made by men. Increasing the number of women in
leadership positions creates more gender equality in the sector and provides role
models for young women.
Increasing the skills and leadership of women journalists is essential to increase
the participation of women in media sector. There are many ways to support
women in journalism.
For an example, in Indonesia and Bangladesh, Free Press Unlimited contributed to
successful fellowship programs for young and marginalized women to train as
professional community media journalists. These women attended a training and
mentoring program at a local radio station. After the training course, they
produced stories related to topic that were important to them, such as education,
living standards, child marriage, female leaders and role models.
In Iraq there was a training program for woman photographers which goal was to
promote equality in the male – dominated profession and boost the support for
women shown in the media. The photographers had a month to work on their
stories and they were supported by Metrography, Iraq’s first photo agency. The
photography projects covered topic like freedom of speech, violence against
women, women’s rights, women’s empowerment and climate change.
Speaking of Nigeria, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism runs a
Female Reporters Leadership Program. Over the course of six months, women
journalists receive training and mentoring. They are expected to develop both
their leadership and reporting skills. Since the start of the project a few years ago,
WSCIJ has trained more than 130 reporters across the country, produces 53
leadership projects and enabled the production of 65 girls and women – focused
stories
Worldwide, women are underrepresented in leadership positions in the media
sector. Some studies have showed that women hold just over a quarter (about
27%) of top management positions. This means that most decisions and policies
within media organizations are made by men. Increasing the number of women in
leadership positions creates more gender equality in the sector and provides role
models for young women.