Mission
GirlsWho: is a platform that empowers all girls to unlock their leadership potential. We strive to provide you with all the tools you will need to challenge and tackle the female leadership gap. We know that free access to these tools will help you on your way to understanding what it takes for you to become a leader, shatter the glass ceiling, and get a seat at the table - wherever that table is and whatever that table may look like.
Why GirlsWho:?
The Big Problem:
There’s a leadership gap — women are far less likely to serve in leadership positions than their male counterparts. The leadership gap occurs DESPITE the fact that women earn more bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in the U.S. than men and perform better in their undergraduate studies.
Need Proof? Let’s talk jobs:
Women hold 52% of all management jobs. However, they lag behind men when it comes to representation within leadership positions.
In law firms, women fall behind men in associate and partner positions.
In medicine, women lag behind in terms of academic leadership. Although they constitute 40% of all physicians and surgeons, they only make up 16% of permanent medical school deans.
This is a problem in academia overall.
In Congress, women only comprise about a quarter of the House of Representatives and a quarter of the Senate.
And, in the tech and finance industries, women lag behind in terms of leadership roles and opportunities.
Why is this gap a major problem?
Including women in a company is good for business. For example, a Harvard Business School report on the male-dominated venture capital industry found that “the more similar the investment partners, the lower their investments’ performance”. In fact, firms that increased their proportion of female partner hires by 10% saw, on average, a 1.5% spike in overall fund returns each year and had 9.7% more profitable exits.
And even though these numbers are important, the problem for us is more fundamental: Women deserve equality and representation.
Where does the female leadership gap come from?
Though there are structural problems that create disparities in female education from young ages, studies assert that the female leadership gap begins in college. This is a time during which women are constantly told that they need to be perfect. This is reinforced by female friends and peers but also by society at large. There is a standard of effortless perfection and the demand for women to do it all, happily and with a smile.
And of course, our society still grapples with straight-up gender stereotypes/roles and the ways they’re perpetuated.
Why (!!??) does this gap still exist?
Although there are resources, such as mentors, educational training, or even clubs designed to educate young women, there is a huge lack of accessible and/or affordable resources to do this. Young women, for reasons largely out of their control, are far too often blocked from learning about harnessing their talents and skills to become strong and confident leaders.
Not convinced that these resources are lacking?
Let’s talk accessibility:
A typical college class centered around female leadership is capped at around 20 students.
Most on-campus female organizations require extensive application and/or interview processes.
These resources are difficult to find and not well-advertised.
Our research has shown us that even if girls know about resources that can empower them to become leaders, most of these resources are poorly advertised or exclusive.
Let's talk cost:
Female-only professional development courses have price tags in the thousands.
Colleges that offer female leadership classes are expensive to attend.
In short, current resources are exclusive and expensive.
That’s where we come in…
At GirlsWho:, we are working to fill in this gap and provide the resources that colleges and other institutions are lacking. We are a destination for women to take charge of their own futures and use our resources to empower themselves rather than struggle with access and affordability in order to achieve their potentials.
We recognize that this is an expansive problem that doesn’t have just one catch-all solution. At the same time, the different types of resources that begin to address this problem are difficult to find, inaccessible due to financial, academic, and other barriers, and are scattered across various mediums and sites.
GirlsWho: tackles these challenges in a few different ways:
Our resources are free. All young women ought to be able to access the gender-specific mentorship and education that is integral to their development of leadership abilities. Our educational programs and resources are free of cost and can be customized for any campus group, school, or workshop
Our materials exist in one easily navigable site. These include different types of resources too -- ranging from blog posts written by young women to a multitude of professional and social mentorship networks. We understand that not everyone learns/engages the same way, so we prioritized being able to communicate these gender-specific resources in different formats.
Our site is relatable. You aren’t learning from a textbook; you aren’t just listening to a serial lecturer or motivational speaker. You are learning from the hundreds of accounts and advice that we have collected from direct and personal communication with women of all ages, from industry professionals to recent college graduates.
So, that’s us: We are a group of women, a group of girls. We are GirlsWho: lift up other women. We are GirlsWho: tackle the female leadership gap. We are GirlsWho: provide resources in affordable and accessible ways. We are GirlsWho: are rooting for you to be your best self.
And, most importantly, we are GirlsWho: want you to know you can be anyone you strive to be.
Come join us.