Celebrating Women’s History Month

A Letter from President Rogers

Last fall, Fielding launched the Building Inclusion Collaborative to shape and strengthen our work towards a more inclusive culture. As part of this effort, we want to take time to acknowledge annual celebrations of heritage and diversity on the national calendar. March is Women’s History Month, corresponding with International Women’s Day on March 8^th.

President Katrina Rogers

This past year will always be remembered as the launch of the #metoo and #timesup movements, which seek to ensure women are treated with respect and dignity in the workplace and beyond. In the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report, research shows that, while progress has been made globally — particularly in the areas of education and politics — inequalities persist. This is especially true in the for-profit sector and with wages more generally.

Other social science research, some of it conducted by our own faculty, students, and alumni, reveals that gender balanced teams are more productive, make more inclusive decisions, and contribute to greater employee engagement. For a summary of some of these ideas, see Michel Landel’s Why Gender Balance Can’t Wait, which is from the perspective of a corporate executive. For a more scholarly treatment about gender as a segment of intersectionality and implications for organization studies, see Evangelina Holvino’s article Intersections: The Simultaneity of Race, Gender and Class in Organization Studies.

What all these perspectives have in common is the recognition that patriarchy is alive and well, restricts 50% of the global population — and diminishes us all.

Over the years, many of our community members have made significant contributions in understanding the changing roles of women in the workplace, family life, and society. Below are just a few dissertation examples:

• 2000: Meet Me Under the Glass Ceiling at the Corner of Class and Gender: The workplace experience of executive women with non -managerial spouses
• 2003: Reflections on the Small Screen: The changing role of women in American society as portrayed by prime-time television
• 2005: Experiencing Isolation: Professional African American women in corporate America
• 2006: Seen But Not Heard: A study of the implemented strategies and the situational factors that executive women use to be heard by their male colleagues
• 2008: Shadow and Light: A study of patterns of relationship among women in the workplace
• 2015: How Women Experience Gender when Working with Men in a Female-Concentrated Occupation

I hope and trust that the Fielding community will continue to investigate barriers to inclusion in all aspects of life. This month, let’s join the nation in doing so with women’s equity, especially, in mind.

Katrina S. Rogers

President

Fielding Graduate University