Disruptors, Innovators, Changemakers: The Global WomenEd Network

Connecting, supporting and empowering women leaders

The WomenEd network inspires and supports women educators and leaders to influence, and to reshape education.  Barriers for women leaders in education lead to inequity and a disproportionate representation of men in senior leadership roles. To address this, we have disrupted how women learn about leadership and put their knowledge into practice. Drawing on this knowledge, our global network disrupts the systemic elements which support inequitable and exclusive practices in education.  We network to learn more, to innovate, and bring about change which supports and empowers women to lead education.

WomenEd was created in May 2015 to connect aspiring and existing women leaders and to give woman a voice in education discussions on Twitter. We saw opportunities for professional and personal learning in such conversations.  We also saw a preponderance of male leaders speaking at conferences, and women being silenced by comments on Twitter:

‘I hadn’t blogged for ages because I’d had sort of criticisms from some of the male voices again …. on Twitter. And you do listen to these voices whether you want to or not (co-founder E).’¹

The synchronous publication of data about women leaders in education in England suggested 1,700 leaders were needed to represent the proportion of female teachers.² Education DataLab ³ published data about the gender pay gap in full time teachers and leaders in 2010 / 2011 in England.  We were astonished to learn there was any gap given a clear pay framework and shocked to see such disparity between women and men.

Galvanised by such inequity, the original seven leaders in England organised an unconference for 200 women to share what we had learned.  We deliberately applied some of the principles of an unconference, notably an informal exchange of information and ideas.  We wanted to remove the hierarchy of formal conferences which can lead to passive participants receiving knowledge from apparent experts. Our aim was to enable women to contribute both as speakers and participants. There were no experts, simply women collaborating to see what we could learn and what was possible to achieve.

Many women at our initial unconference commented on the joy of so many women facilitators and the nature of the learning conversations which focused on sharing experience as well as knowledge.  It was clear there was an appetite for more and we shared ideas to grow networks across England. Alongside this clear desire of women, the small male backlash also had a positive outcome as it pushed us to articulate our vision: ‘We had to very quickly really drill down to, ‘Who are we? What do we stand for? What is our why?’’. ⁴ (Fuller, 2021a:121).  From this, WomenEd’s values were created, (Figure 1).  Our eight values have underpinned and driven our collaborative networks and impact since.

Following our first national unconference in England, and drawing on social network theory, we began to

•  structure our networks for learning and relationships

• create virtual and physical links within and between networks

• agree the functions that network activities serve.

We were encouraged by the description of such networks as ‘sites of participation, sharing, inquiring and discovering where peer-cultures can flourish, interests can develop and expertise can be shared’.⁵

As a network of ‘inquiring’ volunteers, we wanted to create a learning community in which new knowledge gained would result in experimentation, subsequent reflection, and action. Such action would change behaviour, both for our individual members and their organisations.

We worked on a balance between:

• Similarity of purpose and passion: to connect, support and empower women leaders
• Exchange of varied experiences and ideas: through online discourse and events
• Reciprocity: mutual, shared values ⁵ and a desire for impact for women leaders in education.

The grassroots approach of a volunteer network of women enabled us ‘to develop a counter-discourse to the dominant leadership discourse in education.’⁶ We discussed social justice, authenticity, feminism, racism, and intersectionality openly and were clear that we wanted women to have confidence and belief in their ability to lead as a woman. Too much leadership development adopts a one size fits all approach: we have learned how to support and develop women who want to lead in a more flexible, human way.

The growth of the WomenEd community

Europe

Whilst we were clear on our initial vision, purpose and values, our early growth was dependent on women who self-selected to join us, one being Liz Free. Liz is now CEO and Director of International School Rheintal, in Switzerland and supports our European networks as one of the current core team of seven Global Strategic Leaders. Liz describes her WomenEd experience and journey.

 ‘WomenEd travels.  It is a network that lives and breathes with the community. With its origin in the UK, and a vision that resonates with our #GlobalProfession, it continues to spread throughout the world.

I became involved with WomenEd in the winter of 2016 and launched @WomendNL in the Netherlands on International Women’s Day 2017. We brought together people we knew to our launch network event and judged that it was a resounding success with new and old connections. We raised the profile of women in education leadership and began to address key issues for this self-selecting community in the Netherlands.

The idea of self-selection is a key fundamental principle of a grassroots movement.  We drew on the words attributed to Mary Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. [1] We took this approach and set up several people to become regional network leaders.  Like the founding members of WomenEd, it was a small group of people wanting to effect a change.  However, this presented critical challenges that we have subsequently learnt from and are still unpicking today. 

We have 4 campaigns for WomenEd, two of which are focussed around increasing representation and diversity of women in education leadership.  Our founding @WomenEdNL network leads, whilst well intentioned, inadvertently set up an exclusive network. The network was visibly and metaphorically dominated by white women working predominantly in the English-medium and the international sector thus excluding the community the network was intended to represent.

This led to challenging conversations and reflection as we sought to address the lack of representation we had created and had intended to challenge.  As new leaders wanted to set up networks across Europe, we started to think intentionally, and deliberately, about equity and representation resulting in written protocols that underpin the development of all our global networks. Our internal Commitments for network leaders specify each network must:

• Be diverse, accessible, and representative of the education sectors within their context. 
• Ensure that the network serves its community, and all women can belong.

We launched new European networks with increasingly diverse and representative teams in Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Germany as well as inspiring colleagues in Asia, the middle east and north Africa as well as the Americas.

As the movement travels, our networks have a clear mandate for diversity and representation. We want to ensure that WomenEd celebrates our learning journey, travels when our members travel and remains firmly rooted in responding to the professional and personal needs of the network communities themselves.’

As Liz describes, our vision and passion had taken us across the UK and Europe and the speed overtook our opportunity to think about the wider implications of representation and equity.  Now we have learned that it takes time to build a diverse network that reflects the country or regional needs of women educators, and this time is well spent as new network leaders understand the value and knowledge each woman brings to the team building reciprocity and strong connections which enable new learning.

Canada

Our learning is reflected in Lisa Hannay’s account of the development of such networks in Canada. Lisa is a Senior Leader in a secondary school in Calgary and supports our networks in the United States and Canada as one of the current core team of seven Global Strategic Leaders.

‘WomenEd in Canada has recently grown and added 3 new regional networks making a total of 4 regional teams supported by the national @WomenEdCanada network team. Canada’s geography means that much of the networking must occur virtually. The various regional leaders connect women across Canada through slow chats over Twitter, with blog challenges and with the occasional in person event. Our regional leaders also participate in global events, enabling awareness of issues more specific to our country and bringing learning from other global networks back to their region. We know participants relate to each other through the authentic sharing of individual experiences: ‘Stories are huge to bring people together, to show no one is alone.’ ⁷ There is always a palpable excitement at the conclusion of these events with various participants pledging to start their graduate program or enter a mentoring or coaching relationship to elevate their leadership development.

We benefited from the work done in Europe and knew that it was crucial to invite and include as many diverse voices as possible and look at issues specific to our region. We have invited women Indigenous leaders to speak about their journeys and we look to incorporate Indigenous protocols as frequently as possible such as reading an Acknowledgment of the Land and sitting in circle. Whilst each WomenEd network works on our four campaigns set at the global level, it is also important to consider the local challenges and opportunities in each region

At WomenEd’s 2020 global unconference, @WomenEdCanada presented a session on Indigenous ways of teaching and learning and how each leader embedded these teachings in their leadership journey. Our hope is that more First Nations, Metis and Inuit women leaders are represented in leadership and that all women will see that their voices must be at the table. During the global unconference, participants added their voices to the presentation, and it was wonderful to see women connecting to each other and to the material.  One participant voiced perfectly what encapsulates the heart of WomenEd: “I stand on the shoulders of those who came before.” ⁸

Agency creates impact. It is true to say that every time a woman stands up for herself, she does stand up for other women. We have learned that challenge comes when we commit to using our position and privilege to stand up for those whose voices have long gone unheard and unvalued. We must continue being 10% braver, true to our core beliefs and continue creating seats at the table.’

Why we need positive disruption

WomenEd continued to grow through the pandemic and we now have 45,000+ followers on social media, our second book, Being 10% Braver, wasauthored by 35 members of our global community and new networks were created, totalling 37 at the time of writing.  Ironically, the pandemic saw women ‘in the front line’ being celebrated ⁹ whilst also ‘unwinding years of painstaking progress toward gender diversity.’¹⁰

This paradox means the WomenEd global network has adopted a brave new worldview. We continue to share women’s lived experiences, research and are planning our third book; we organise unconferences, webinars, coaching and set up new WomenEd networks.  This networking is liberating women and the nature and purpose of networked learning, especially by women, is being changed.  Dr Kay Fuller, a network leader for WomenEd, sees networking for women leaders as an ‘under-researched field’ ¹¹ and argues that ‘women’s professional networking comprises a cooperative that acts as a partial antidote to the fragmentation and competition’ resulting from education reform. ¹²

We argue that the issues related to women educators and leaders have been ignored for too long. Women dominate the global teaching workforce, yet men dominate as leaders. The moral question is whether is this acceptable in a profession that should be both ethical and equitable? Pragmatically, we cannot afford the rate of attrition we see in women leaders leaving our profession, particularly because of a career break.  In England, for example, ‘one in four teachers who quit the classroom in recent years were women aged between 30 and 39.’¹³ The lack of flexibility and support for women returning from a career break results in gender inequity at leadership levels. Our children see more men as leaders in secondary schools and the inequity continues to the next generation.  We must use our learning to break this cycle to ensure our girls, who make up half of the world’s population, are fully supported to realise their potential.

Through our engagement with women in education globally, women’s personal stories exemplify the significant impact of gender on promotion and retention of female teachers, the large gender pay gap and the lack of flexible working opportunities, particularly in schools. Some stories demonstrate inequality from unconscious bias to overt discrimination. As recounted in 10% Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education, Sameena Choudry highlighted one woman of ethnic heritage was told by a senior male leader ‘there was little point in promoting her, and indeed other women ….as they would just leave to go and have babies.’ ¹⁴ In Being 10% Braver, Hannah Dalton and Kiran Mahil felt that ‘after having children of our own, there was an assumption by management that we were no longer able to educate …anybody’s children.’¹⁵ Jacinta Calzada-Mayronne was unsupported by female colleagues and was told that she ‘had a bravado for being confident’. ¹⁶

Forging strategic partnerships

Through our experiential learning and our global networks, WomenEd applies our knowledge to challenge organisational and systemic issues which hold women back. We have developed a partnership with the National College of Education in England and we work with the College on a Masters / Apprenticeship programme for Senior Leaders in schools. Our contribution focuses on ensuring more women gain Senior Leader posts and that these women are empowered to lead in a way that is authentic to them as a woman. Such leadership often encompasses  

• participatory and inclusive leadership
• clear and strong communication
• learning from others
• transparency
• compassion, empathy, and honesty. 

These attributes do not fully align with the more masculine perceptions of leadership.¹⁷ So maybe it is time to review how we support leadership learning for women?

As part of our collaboration with the National College, we reviewed all elements of the curriculum, including content, readings, and facilitators.  We wanted women authors and speakers to be as prevalent as men, to ensure global majority writers were included and any images represented a range of ethnicities. We also wanted leadership topics representative of women’s concerns. We suggested more writers and readings, supported the College with female speakers and added relevant content such as the Gender Pay Gap ¹⁸ to the Finance module. This meant all learners, both women and men, explored issues of equity and fairness across the whole curriculum and will take their learning into their own organisations.

Championing and empowering women leaders

We also look at leadership through the lens of a woman in monthly sessions only for the leaders in our WomenEd cohort. We had 59 such learners in the first WomenEd cohort in 2020, with many more joining since. We cover topics such as Flexible thinking, Negotiation, Confidence and Positive Language, Representation, Diversity, Women’s Health and Applications and Interviews. In the spirit of WomenEd, the women in this network support, coach, and mentor each other to complete the programme and to address prevalent issues of senior leadership in schools.

Of the first 59 women in a WomenEd cohort, 92% secured new internal roles or promotions to new schools including to headship. We are delighted with this approach to leadership development that sets out to champion and empower women leaders and build a pipeline for the future. Approaching leadership development through the needs and goals of the participants has clearly worked for this initial cohort of women

Moving Forward

WomenEd has also disrupted the traditional model of professional learning. Participation is voluntary and in personal time. We call for submissions to speak and write. We deliberately ask about the learning that will be applied and we celebrate success and small steps forward which motivates more women.  We are disrupting the way professional learning and development supports women leaders and women leaders are voting to opt in. What lessons can be learned for more formal leadership learning?

We challenge individual women to draw on such learning, to share their stories in our joyous community and to be 10% braver by:

• Joining the WomenEd network on Social Media and our website (womened.org)
• Challenging gender stereotyping
• Supporting women in underrepresented groups to become leaders
• Discussing the benefits of diverse teams in your organisation
• Challenging the gender pay gap in your organisation and working to reduce it
• Sharing the benefits of flexible working practices
• Doing leadership differently
• Using your voice to embolden women globally to lead

Our learning about growing grassroots groups is to:

• Have clear and simple values and purpose
• Exemplify your values in clear actions
• Choose what you want to learn and how to share and apply knowledge
• Be clear on the difference you want to achieve
• Achieve and celebrate your impact.

At a system level, we want all countries and organisations to draw on this knowledge. This includes knowing and sharing their gender pay gap and work to reduce it: we share ways forward for individuals, organisations, and the educational system ¹⁹ We also advocate that education systems must have equity and diversity at their core and describe the ways they want to see such values enacted by their stakeholders. This includes gender equity for women leaders and more diverse representation of women and men of an ethnic heritage. Most importantly, ‘The need to consider gender matters as part of the everyday discourse has become essential, not an add-on.’ ²⁰ We ask existing women and men who lead education in every sector and country to scrutinise the ways that they enable women’s voices to be heard and how they develop future women leaders so they can lead education.

A radical change is needed and this change is being enacted by the collective voice and power of our network. Through positive disruptions to the status quo, we want to inspire and support women to rise, to influence, to lead so that education is an equitable profession in which every woman is enabled to achieve her aspirations and ambitions.

Be 10% braver for yourself and for others.

Vivienne Porritt Global Strategic Leader and Leadership Consultant, UK.
viviennept@hotmail.com

Lisa Hannay Global Strategic Leader and Centennial High School, Calgary, Canada
lhannay1@telus.net

Liz Free, Global Strategic Leader and International School Rheintal, Switzerland
lizamfree@aaronfoxworth

Bios

Vivienne Porritt is a Leadership Consultant supporting professional learning, impact evaluation, strategy, and women’s leadership. She is Vice President of the Chartered College of Teaching and a Global Strategic Leader of WomenEd, an organisation that empowers and connects women leaders. She is the co-editor of 10%Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education (Sage, 2019) and Being 10%Braver (Corwin, 2021).

Lisa Hannay is a Global Strategic Leader of WomenEd, and a Senior Leader in a High School in Calgary, Canada. Lisa is also a chapter author in Being 10%Braver (Corwin, 2021).

Liz Free is a Global Strategic Leader of WomenEd. Liz was the Founding Director of the British School in Netherlands Leadership Academy and is CEO and Director of International School, Rheintal. Liz is a Global Board Member of tes and has chapters in 10%Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education (Sage, 2019) and Being 10%Braver (Corwin, 2021).

References

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22. For source see: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1071-never-doubt-that-a-small-group-of-thoughtful-committed-citizens