From the Principal

The Power of an All-Girls Education

Last Friday I was on drop off duty in the Junior School, doing my part to keep the traffic moving by meeting the cars, opening the doors for the students, and helping them out. I opened the car door for one of our kindergarten students said ‘good morning’ and helped her with her bag and hat; she looked at me and said ‘You’re the boss of the whole school, you’re even the boss of Mr Sandral’ and we had a little chat about what ‘being the boss meant’.

I’ve thought a lot about that conversation and why what could be considered a seemly insignificant comment speaks volumes about the ‘why’ of MLC School. Even at five years old, that student knows that she can be the boss if she wants to, that women can lead men and by association that there is nothing that she can’t do. Growing up alongside females who ‘are the boss’ is far more powerful than any leadership program or workshop that she may attend in the future.

I shared this story with those attending our School Tour this week and following the presentation I received this message:

‘Can you please also pass on a message to Ms Moloney from me – we attended the School open day today, and her presentation was brilliant. Her story today about the child she spoke to in the car really hit home for me – I am a female CFO in a very male dominated industry. Like Ms Moloney, I have gone through so many people and so many barriers telling you that you can’t, hearing her this morning was very inspirational.’ 

So why does this matter? According to the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools, representation of women in leadership is still far from equal:

  • The proportion of Chief Executive Officers who are women, according to a survey of enterprises by the World Bank, is 18%. Among Fortune 500 corporations, women make up only 7% of the Chief Executive Officers, which is 37 out of 500.
  • An analysis of more than 8,600 companies in 49 countries showed women held 17% of all global board seats. Only 5% of board chair positions were held by women.
  • The proportion of managerial positions globally held by women is 28%.
  • Among the largest non-profit charities in the world, a slim 18% are led by women, though they make up 75% of the nonprofit workforce.
  • In the US, women make up an estimated 75% of all K-12 teachers, but are only 30% of the total number of school board members, principals, superintendents, and chief state education officers.

Girls cannot be what they do not see. We, as their educators and parents, have a critical responsibility to ensure that they see what is possible and have opportunities to take the lead.

Girls’ schools play an essential part in helping to address this imbalance:

All-girls learning environments empower students to become bold leaders:

  • 93% of girls’ school graduates say they were offered greater leadership opportunities than peers at co-educational schools and 80% have held leadership positions since graduating from high school.

– Goodman Research Group, The Girls’ School Experience: A Survey of Young Alumnae of Single-Sex Schools

  • Programs at girls’ schools focus on the development of teamwork over other qualities of leadership, while the qualities of confidence, compassion, and resilience also ranked prominently.

– D. Nicole Archard, Student Leadership Development in Australian and New Zealand Secondary Girls’ Schools: A Staff Perspective

  • At all girls’ schools, girls demonstrate great confidence in female leadership and become increasingly interested in leadership positions themselves. Preliminary data from co-educational schools suggests that girls become less interested in leadership positions with age.

– Dr Katherine Kinzler, Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago and Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University

As well as modelling leadership, we also explicitly develop leadership, as evidenced by the Year 8 program which you can read more about here and initiatives for Year 10 students here.

As MLC School approaches its 140th year of excellence in girls’ education, it’s timely to reflect on the value of an all-girls school and the power it affords girls to flourish and shape their future without constraints or gendered limitations.

You can read more here.

– Lisa Moloney
Principal