On Feb. 16, sophomore Cecelia Deiter hosted a presentation called Women Breaking Barriers at Work and in the Community. She invited four women from the Arlington Heights area to speak about their experiences in male dominating fields.
The women were Beth Nabros, who is a CEO of Journeys, an organization meant to help homeless individuals, Lindsay Anastacio, who is the principal at Windsor Elementary School, Wendy Dunnington, who is a trustee in the Arlington Heights Village Board, and Mary Kay Baldino, a human resources leader.
The four women were given seven key principals of woman empowerment by Deiter and they were able to share experiences and advice to the audience.
Principle One: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
“There are a lot of questions that come your way as a woman like ‘oh you’re a mother, how are you planning on working with that’ while men may not face these questions.” -Nabros
“Human resources seem to be a more women dominant field. The systems are really set up for men. To get ahead [ a woman] may have to work harder.” -Baldino
Principle Two: Treat all women and men fairly at work- respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination
“I think it is very frustrating when you have an idea and people ignore it, then someone who is not a female suggests the same idea and it gets treated differently,” -Dunnington
“I think from the time I popped out of the womb I’ve been treated differently because of my gender.” -Nabros
Principle Three: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers
“I don’t like to call it burnout because that means your flame has ended. I like to call it moral injury because that means you’ve been dimmed. Your mental health is your number one thing to worry and take care of, because if your mental health is okay so will you.” -Nabros
Principle Four: Promote education, training and professional development for women
“I had the realization that I was going to be taking care of two children alone and I had the motivation of that.” -Anastacio
“If you are coming from a family who supports your education, you are already ten steps ahead of the game.” -Nabros
Principle Five: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women
“One of my passion projects has been to recruit more women to run for power positions. I think a superpower that women have is a deep connection in the community.” -Baldino
“A statistic: it takes seven times of asking a woman to run for office. I’ve never had to ask a man more than once. The women I’ve recruited to run for office are some of the best elected officials in your local area.” -Baldino
“I always try to keep the environment in mind when making policies because that is a strong value of mine.” -Dunnington
Principle Six: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy
Skipped due to shortage on time.
Principle Seven: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality
“There have been a slew of things happening here in the U.S.. The laws that have changed around abortions have devastated women’s health. [Furthermore] all of the attacks on transgener people is deeply rooted in misogyny.” -Baldino
“The people who felt that they don’t have a voice are connecting with other people who felt they don’t have a voice have joined together and the voices are getting louder and louder and louder.” -Nabros
“Working with children I would encourage other high schools to take that risk and work with women, join events, and encourage people to communicate and talk. We need to work on having more female voices. I think we can make a big difference at a local level. There are lots of opportunities.” -Anastacio
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