Women and Leadership at Bettendorf College: An Organization’s Responsibility for Addressing Gender Differences

Abstract

Even though Bettendorf College’s student body consists of a roughly even number of women and men, women have been chronically underrepresented in the Student Council. Bettendorf College has an Advisory Committee, which is a similar student group with similar scope and influence, that has a roughly even number of female and male student members. Prospective Student Council Officers are required to engage in a substantial amount of self-promoting behavior to campaign for election, whereas prospective members of the Advisory Committee are not. Research on stereotypes and gender roles indicates that women and men tend to be expected to behave differently regarding self-promoting behaviors. Many of Bettendorf’s organizational practices pertaining to campaigning and election onto the Student Council were designed to accommodate what was historically an all-male student body and do not consider these gender differences. The Dean of Student Affairs has tasked a staff member in his office with describing the underlying reason(s) for the chronic underrepresentation of women on the Student Council, determining if the underrepresentation has an adverse effect on students, and recommending whether Bettendorf College should implement any changes to address the issue.

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