On this page, you'll find the steps of my Girl Scout Gold Award Project. If you scroll to the bottom, I've listed some of the key statistics and pieces of research that prove why this project is so necessary and why I am so passionate about this issue. There are also some helpful resources for your research! Happy reading!
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The Beginning
This all started when I was a 15 year old Senior Girl Scout brainstorming for my Gold Award. Having completed my Bronze and Silver Awards, I wanted to complete the final step in the Girl Scouting journey by earning the highest award in Girl Scouting. The Gold Award is a solo project that must make a permanent or sustainable impact on a community, be action rather than service, and take a minimum of 80 hours to complete.

The First Step

In the Gold Award Process, the first step is to decide on your target issue. I knew that female leadership was a pressing issue that affected me as well as my community, so I began to brainstorm sustainable ways to combat it. I finally decided to host a conference (that would become annual) for girls my age about the societal barriers that women face in leadership positions. 
Me with my approved paperwork after completing my interview. 

Paperwork + Interview

When you decide on your issue, you then need to plan a project to fight that issue. There is a packet of paperwork that you must complete, outlining your plan, costs, time frame, advisors, and tools. It is imperative that you are as detailed as possible, because once you submit the paperwork, you have to complete an interview with your local Highest Awards council outlining your plan and fixing any flaws in it. I ensured that my paperwork was specific and well thought out, and I rehearsed many times for my interview, so it went smoothly and my project was officially approved in May of 2019. 

Organizing

Once I was approved, I started organizing. I began contacting possible speakers, I set a date and location, I sent out invitations, and I looked for possible group activities. I also started making this website! This process took lots of time, energy, and patience.

Holding the Conference

The time finally came! I arrived an hour early to set everything up, and everything went smoothly from there! Check out the "What I Did" page for details!

Final Paperwork + Award

After holding the first conference, I finished my paperwork and submitted it! I heard back later, and I officially became a Gold Award recipient in November 2019.

Now!

Now, I've expanded my network to create a network of girls leading conferences and educating each other across the world! Due to the current pandemic, we've had to cancel 4 conferences, but I've compiled online resources and coordinated many online events. We've held virtual conferences using Zoom, launched virtual projects, a podcast, and a video series, and so much more! Check out the Resources Page for a sampling of the educational materials, and check out our social media for weekly read/watch/listen recommendations related to female leadership in this country! Now that you're here, I hope you'll reach out and get involved!

For Your Information

Resources

Lean In Education 
  • Many great activities and resources to learn more.
American Association for University Women (AAUW)
  • They focus on helping women reach positions of power in academics and their careers.
Gates Foundation 
  • Their gender equality section has many great resources.
  • The “Equality Can’t Wait” campaign is my favorite part!
She Should Run
  • They’re a wonderful organization that focuses on helping women run for office!
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media 
  • They’re an organization “working collaboratively within the entertainment industry to engage, educate and influence the creation of gender balanced onscreen portrayals, reducing harmful stereotypes and creating an abundance of unique and intersectional female characters in entertainment targeting children 11 and under.”
Progressive Women’s Leadership 
  • Many resources to learn about yourself as a leader!
Center for Creative Leadership - Women’s Leadership
  • They have an incredible collection of articles and other resources to help women break the glass ceiling,
Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab
  • Their website has an array of videos, articles, and papers discussing aspects of gender inequality.
Center for American Women and Politics
  • Their website includes a large number of state by state resources, focusing mainly on the makeup of women in our government, as well as a section that lists programs to help young girls lead. 

Statistics

  • There are fewer women in major leadership positions than there are men named John (in major leadership positions).
  • Congress is currently 23.2% female
  • Out of all the Fortune 500 CEOs, only 37 are women, and this is an all time high.​
  • Globally, women hold 24% of senior leadership positions.
  • The USA lags behind this global average at only 21%.
  • A study of 22,00 publicly traded organizations found that
    60% have no female board members. 
  • Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15% more likely to outperform competition. 
  • Women make up less than 30% of executives.
  • In the legal profession, women make up 45% of associates but only 22.7% of partners.
  • Women accounted for 18% of all the
    directors, executive producers, producers,
    writers, cinematographers, and editors who
    worked on the top-grossing 250 domestic
    films of 2017.
  • Females accounted for fewer than
    one third of speaking characters in 1,100
    films released during 11 consecutive
    years ending in 2017.
  • Women make up 47% of the American labor force but only about 30% of the manager positions.
  • Women make up 11% of the highest paying jobs in the American work force.
  • In a study by the Harvard Business Review, women outscored men in 17 of 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor ones. When women assessed themselves, however, they were less generous!
  • There are 25 women serving in the US Senate, which is an all time high.​
  • 44 women have served as governor of 30 states. 
  • As of 2015, 30.1% of university presidents were women. 

Cool Links

“The Totally Destructive yet Oddly Instructive Speech Patterns of Young Women”
https://daily.jstor.org/totally-destructive-yet-oddly-instructive-speech-patterns-young-women/

“Women and Leadership 2018”
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/09/20/women-and-leadership-2018/

The AAUW Implicit Bias Test
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Study?tid=-1

The Women’s Leadership Gap: Women’s Leadership by the Numbers
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2017/05/21/432758/womens-leadership-gap/

McKinsey & Company: Women in the Workplace 2019
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2019

Harvard Business Review Study
https://hbr.org/2019/06/research-women-score-higher-than-men-in-most-leadership-skills

https://hbr.org/2013/09/women-rising-the-unseen-barriers

AAUW Research
​https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/barrier-bias/

Forbes
​https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/02/26/15-biggest-challenges-women-leaders-face-and-how-to-overcome-them/#6076e22c4162
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