Abstract
Society recognizes the need to progress towards equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of political and economic decision-making for women and requires that companies work to reach that goal. Nevertheless, leadership education should begin in the educational stages. This research presents a collaborative model of leadership education for high-potential female undergraduate students carried out at the university level between 2017 and 2020, with 75 students. To be successful at improving student leadership skills, self-esteem, self-confidence, and personal inner transformation, this women’s leadership development program was based on four lines of innovation: (a) attracting external stakeholders to develop training jointly; (b) making an open program with multidisciplinary students in social sciences and STEM subjects tailored to the professional environment; (c) measuring the learning with all the participants: trainers, directors, managers, program staff and students, using a 360-degree evaluation; and (d) designing an ongoing research process to incorporate improvements from multiple stakeholder perspectives. A multi-source program assessment was used. The results not only show a positive impact on the students’ acquisition of leadership skills but also, on the increase in self-confidence and ambition. The study provides a pioneering model for women’s leadership education that could be used in other similar programs.
Highlights
Encouraging women leaders is important to reduce the huge gap in female representation in executive positions
In this work, we present a program for undergraduate female leadership training, with the intention of responding to the two main questions posed, applying a model with an open innovation’ (OI) focus
The program was launched by Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in collaboration with an association of women entrepreneurs and managers, the Women CEO Association (WCA), whose objective is to promote women to managerial positions and boards of directors, insisting on parity and diversity
Summary
Encouraging women leaders is important to reduce the huge gap in female representation in executive positions. Promoting female leadership in the academic context requires external stakeholders, managers, and leaders of companies and other organizations, to develop training jointly. They are a key element in identifying the shortcomings of female graduates when they enter the labor market and in training them in leadership skills using different methodologies [9]. The program was launched by Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in collaboration with an association of women entrepreneurs and managers, the Women CEO Association (WCA), whose objective is to promote women to managerial positions and boards of directors, insisting on parity and diversity With this pioneering initiative of high social value, the WCA seeks to position itself as an innovative institution. The joint initiative arose in part as a consequence of the shared concern between both institutions about the growing setback that was noticed among young women in matters of gender equality
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