When it comes to motivating young women, lead by example. A recent study co-authored by MIT economist Esther Duflo, underscores just how important female leaders are for the attitudes and ambitions of young women.
As reported in Huffington Post Women, Researchers focused on the West Bengal region of India, where quotas for female politicians in local governments have been in place since 1993. Families with children ages 11-15 in 495 villages were surveyed for attitudes on education and achievement and then compared against villages without any female political leadership, only men.
The results were astounding. In areas with long-serving female leaders in local government, the gender gap in teen education goals disappeared, due to the fact that girls had set higher goals for themselves. Parents were also 25% more likely to report having more ambitious education goals for their daughters, significantly narrowing the gender gap.
“We think this is due to a role-model effect: Seeing women in charge persuaded parents and teens that women can run things, and increased their ambitions. Changing perceptions and giving hope can have an impact on reality,” says Duflo.
Conversely, in villages with only men leaders, they found a huge divide in expectations for girls and boys. Parents were 45% less likely to want their girls to graduate from school compared to their boys. Teens were also divided by gender on the issue of educational goals, with girls 32% less likely to want to complete school.
In a broader context, this study speaks to the powerful and inspirational effect of women leaders everywhere, and makes a compelling case for enforcing female quotas on corporate boards and in politics. As of today, 10 European countries, including Norway, France and Spain, have already approved quotas for female representation on corporate boards. Yet the issue remains a contentious one in the U.S., where many view it as anti-meritocratic. Closing the gender gap on corporate boards and in politics has proven difficult and change has been excruciatingly slow. American women are still largely under-represented in leadership positions, holding just over 15% of board seats at the top 500 companies and just over 16% of seats in Congress.
In light of this report’s findings, the under-representation of female leadership is hurting young women. Perhaps gender quotas are needed to speed up change and stoke the ambitions of the next generation, making the unlikely finally seem possible.