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 On April 11th, students from the MSB presented research findings on gender issues in the workplace, as part of the Georgetown University Women's Leadership Initiative's (GUWLI) first annual Gender in the Workplace Research Initiative.
More than 100 MSB students, high-level female executives, and faculty attended the half-day event. Executive sponsors and judges represented a variety of industries; including companies such as Dow Jones
Ventures, Ernst & Young, IBM, Lehman Brothers, NBC, National Journal Group, and XM Satellite.
Angela Mellon, Lisa Silverboard, and Jenny Lee (all MBA '08) studied the effects of popular media sources on voter perceptions of political candidates in the U.S. and how the media portrays female and male politicians. They found that respondents identified a gender-neutral confident headline as a male candidate, while identifying the gender-neutral emotional headline as a female candidate.
Ashley Breed (MBA '08) studied leadership and communication styles of women in professional sports management. She identified the following factors for a successful career in sports managements:
effective communication, the ability to remain emotionally detached, and the ability to keep gender issues at bay. .
"The topic was especially interesting to me," said Breed. "I really found there needed to be some kind of forum to discuss these issues, and the initiative allowed that to happen with great results."
Beth Brooke, #41 on Forbe's Most Powerful Women list provided an inspirational keynote address. "As
business leaders, our responsibilities must extend beyond the bottom line. We must use our power in a responsible way." She encouraged attendees to identify "your own unique set of passions and platforms and think about whether you are using that platform in the right way." Ms. Brooke was honored as GUWLI's Gender in the Workplace 2008 Honoree.
All involved agreed that the first annual Gender in the Research Initiative was a tremendous success.
By Monica Bhanote, MBA '08
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