I Am My Story

Trudy T. Arriaga, Stacie L. Stanley & Delores B. Lindsey LEADING WHILE FEMALE—A Culturally Proficient Response for Gender Equity

I read Leading While Female by Arriaga, Stanley, and Lindsey with a group of women leaders from all over the county. They offered personal takeaways from the book, including their work and life experiences that propelled them forward in their careers as educators. Each of their diverse educational pathways was an excellent reminder of, “My story is myself, and I am my story.”

The authors shared their educational journeys in the book. “Our intention is to tell stories of women educators who have confronted barriers and are continuing to confront and overcome them today to fill the talent and gender gap created by systemwide inequities” (p. 21). “Discovering and exposing inequities must be the critical first steps in devising equitable educational practices...Rather than responding with anger or defensiveness, we must realize that although we educators today didn’t cause the inequities, the historical societal and educational forces deliver these inequities to our doorsteps to be addressed now. (Lindsey, 2018, p. 36). Remember, our children are watching and learning from us as leaders.

The authors offer a Conceptual Framework for Culturally Proficient Practices for Gender Equity,  “To ensure equitable opportunities, access, and inclusion for all demographic groups into an education environment” (p. 38). The framework was developed as a tool to “provide an equity lens for examining the work of female and male education leaders within the educational environment they work” (p. 40) to inform and improve teaching and learning practices. 

The framework includes identifying and assessing Cultural Proficiency barriers or negative social constructs and institutional impediments to inform guiding principles or positive core values of equity. To manage the continuum of unhealthy and healthy practices and adapt essential elements of cultural competence or professional values and behaviors towards cultural proficiency as we institutionalize develop our organization’s equity plans.

It was helpful for me to study intersectionality as a way to “understand that women as a group are not monocultural” (p. 83). We all hold multiple identities, and woven together makes us who we are and essential in our story. “Yet intersectionality serves to impede the attainment and success of women of color and all women in executive leadership roles due to intersectionality of race and gender as well as aspects of language, social class, and faith” (p. 84). 

The authors offer questions for women in education with leadership positions. Do my actions reflect my values? Am I responsive to stereotypes? Am I mentoring other women for leadership positions? Am I stepping on or holding up their ‘crowns’? Leading While Female is a wealth of “resources for breaking down the barriers and leading the way for future generations of women leaders” (back cover). “Let’s invite one another in” (Michele Obama).