After my last post (Twelve O'Clock High), one of my co-workers pointed out the fact that not a single movie on my list of great leadership movies had a female lead. I quickly thanked my co-worker for calling me out, apologized, and admitted my male centric view of leadership. As my co-worker pointed out, there has been a "women's leadership gap" throughout history. Despite the fact that women account for 50.8% of the U.S. population, they make up only 24% of the members of Congress, 18% of governors, and only 23% of the mayors of the 100 largest American cities. And there still has yet to be a female President (even though a female won the majority of the popular vote in the last Presidential election).
Perhaps more disturbing is Hollywood's treatment of women in leadership positions. Female characters in positions of leadership in the movies are four times more likely to appear nude compared to their male counterparts. Men are twice as likely to be portrayed in leadership roles compared to women, and even when male characters have twice as many lines as female characters. The simple fact is that top grossing films are distorting our views of women as leaders.
As my family knows all too well, my movie selections are fairly limited to those about military history or sports. Regardless, I want to correct my mistake and list some of the female leaders that have inspired me the most.
1. Mother Teresa:
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
Mother Teresa was honored in the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. She was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation that to this day manages homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis. The congregation also runs orphanages, schools, mobile health care clinics, and soup kitchens all around the world. The members of the congregation take vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and a fourth vow - to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor."
"The most dangerous phrase in the language is, "We've always done it this way."
Admiral Hopper was an American computer scientist who is perhaps best known for popularizing the concept of machine-independent programming languages, and her work led directly to the development of COBOL, an early programming language that is still used today (for the record, it was never one of my favorite languages to use). She remained on active duty in the Navy well beyond the mandatory age of retirement by special approval of Congress. When she retired (at age 79 years), she was the oldest active duty commissioned officer in the Navy, and her retirement ceremony was held on board the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy.
3. Marie Curie:
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
Marie Curie was one of the first scientists that I learned about when I was a young boy. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity), the first person (and only woman) to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields (1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the elements, polonium and radium). She was the matriarch of perhaps the greatest scientific family ever known. In addition to her two Nobel Prizes, her husband Pierre was also awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize, her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie, and the husband of her second daughter, Henry Labouisse, was the director of UNICEF and accepted the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize on the organization's behalf.
4. Mary Edwards Walker :
“You must come to terms with the reality that nothing outside ourselves, be it people or things is actually responsible for our happiness.”
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, and one of the first female surgeons in the United States. She is the only woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, for her efforts to treat the wounded during the Civil War.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
Eleanor Roosevelt served as the First Lady of the United States from 1933-1945. She later served as the U.S. Delegate to the United Nations, leading President Harry Truman to call her, the "First Lady of the World." She was a passionate advocate for human rights and a great leader during one of the most difficult periods in American history.
These five women were great leaders that inspire all of us to this day. I have heard that there is a new movie on the life of Marie Curie - I am planning to watch it so I can diversify my list!
Stay tuned for some more greatest leaders in American history in my next post.
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