According to statistics, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions. The co-founders of Lean In, are on a mission to change that with their new program, Lean In Girls.
Per a 2022 report, commissioned by Lean In and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, findings state that women make up 48% of entry-level jobs and only 26% of them are in leadership roles. A separate USA TODAY study yielded findings that stated that women in leadership positions were outnumbered 5 to 1 in the 100 top publicly traded companies in the United States.
“We’re just not making progress quickly enough. We really need to start earlier,” Lean In, co-founded by CEO Rachel Thomas, said in an interview with USA TODAY. “We think women and girls are the leaders the world needs, and we think a program like this is more likely to get girls on the path to leadership.”
To help accomplish this mission, a decade after they launched Lean In, Thomas and and her co-founder, former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, started Lean In Girls. a program geared towards girls aged 11-15-years-old. According to Lean In Girls’ official website, here is a brief overview of how they are going to help even the playing field.
Lean In Girls is a leadership program that helps girls see themselves as leaders in a world that often tells them they’re not. It’s never been more important that we empower our girls. That’s where Lean In Girls comes in. We want to equip girls to be self-assured, resilient, and inclusive everyday leaders and inspire them to lead boldly. And we want the world to remove the obstacles in girls’ way and encourage them to lead on their own terms.
At the heart of Lean In Girls is a leadership curriculum for girls and young teens who identify with the girlhood experience (ages 11 to 15). With a balance of strength-building activities and real talk on important topics like bias and allyship, participants learn to embrace their leadership superpowers and reject limiting stereotypes about what girls can’t do.
Thomas continued the interview stating that, “We really want to equip girls to lead on their own terms. And we really want the world to clear a path for them to lead. This is a program for girls to help them avoid a lot of the pitfalls that we women fall into.”
Sandberg echoed her partner’s sentiment, concluding their interview by summing up their main goal…creating female leaders.
“Our goal is to really tell girls that they can lead, and tell all the people around them to encourage them. But really to bring a new form of leadership that is so attractive to girls right to the forefront.”
With programs like this in place, female representation in c-suites will unquestionably increase exponentially.
Photo Credit(s)/Featured Image: Pexels.com; @leaninorg Instagram
