The Importance of Female Leadership

I have a friend who has a young daughter. The other day, she was learning about United States history and the presidents. After looking through all the presidents, she asked, “Daddy, why don’t any of the presidents look like me?”

How would you respond to that question?

I think it’s important for women and girls to feel freedom to realize their full potential, and not be discouraged or disallowed to pursue any kind of profession or goal—irrespective of whether that goal is to be a stay-at-home mom or CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Part of why female leadership is important is so younger women and girls have role models to look toward as they consider their future goals. If I think about a particular career path, but I don’t see anyone who looks like me, it’s going to be pretty difficult for me to make that happen.

I hope that in the future, if I have daughters, they are able to think creatively and come up with big dreams for who or what they want to become. And I hope they are able to look around at our society, watch the news, go to church, and see strong women pursuing all types of activities and jobs (and being encouraged in that pursuit), irrespective of whether they fit the mold for traditional gender roles.

Discussion: What do you think about the importance of female leadership? How important is it to have role models for various types of careers or professions?