Leadership Foundation

Toni Pearce

Men outnumber women four to one in parliament. 50% of career academics are women, yet only 17% of vice-chancellors are women. Over 60% of students in further and higher education are women but only a third of students’ union presidents are women. The plain fact is that there are too few women in leadership positions.

Last September, I became only the second NUS president to speak at a TUC congress. It was an amazing moment for me but also one that made me remember why I have made women in leadership a key priority for my presidency: it was the same day that a trade union general secretary asked the man sitting next to me at dinner if I was his daughter. It was the same week that a (female) government official told me that my body language revealed my nervousness and to make an impact I should learn to look more confident.

I want leadership to look different and diverse. I want to do away with a "one size fits all" style of leading. I refuse to change myself to meet some masculine ideal of leadership and other women shouldn’t have to do so either.

I will never accept that there are so few female leaders because there aren’t enough talented women. The reality is that far too often women simply don’t run for those positions. We need to root out the causes of those fears. We can work together to inspire and mentor women to be leaders in the student movement, the trade union movement and wider society.