Women dominate leadership roles around the school

As StuCo sponsor Erica Crist pulls up a copy of the agenda for the morning’s meeting, senior student body president Hannah Barnes goes over StuCo’s goals for the month, delegating tasks to members of each board. Barnes is one of many female leaders, as males are often the minority when it comes to leadership positions at the school.  

For senior Zach Bossert, who is both an NHS officer and section leader in band, male leadership, as opposed to female leadership, could bring differences in perspective and group dynamics.

“If all the drum majors were girls, it might discourage some boys, [and] having a male as a drum major could bring different viewpoints, which would be helpful,” Bossert said. “Maybe having a male as a drum major would help younger kids, [if] they’re afraid to talk to a girl … they would have the option to talk to a male if they’re new to band. [Male leaders] may be easier to approach to some people.”

On the other hand, an all-female leadership has changed how StuCo works together, according to senior student body president Hannah Barnes,

“When we had male presidents, [StuCo] was less based on relationships and more based on checking stuff off,” Barnes said. “I didn’t really feel that much of a connection with them, and that could have just been because I was an underclassman. With [former StuCo president Bella Hadden] and I, I feel like student council has been more bonded and more based on relationships. I feel like we’ve been more approachable.”

Part of the reason for the difference in band leadership and higher leadership roles, according to Bossert, may lie in the level of effort involved for each position.

“I believe that typically the males tend to be a little bit lazier when it comes to this sort of stuff,” Bossert said. “[For example,] section leaders [in band] are more assigned based off of skill … [putting students] out there as a leader and an upperclassman. Whereas as a drum major, you have to apply for that and sometimes I feel that males get lazy and they don’t really care about it that much.”

For NHS sponsor Sarah Sides, the gap in the genders of those leading may be due to the personalities and qualities required in school leadership as opposed to the genders.

“I think it’s more about the personalities of the leaders, not necessarily the gender. I think the club could be very similar with the right male leaders,” Sides said. “I feel like the guys who are officers … are organized, they have those qualities that makes them a good officer, the same qualities of most of the girls who apply. There’s not a lot of differences in our male officers versus our female officers, they have a lot of the same qualities. I just don’t think there are as many males who have those qualities, which is why we don’t have as many male officers.”

However, the differences in how these leaders are perceived can change how students get engaged and involved, according to Barnes.

“I definitely think that having the face being a boy gets a different crowd into it, so I think when you have a well liked guy it helps bring in the guys to the school spirit,” Barnes said. “I think my approach to leadership is a lot different from years past … I don’t know if it’s because I am a female, but mine is based more on connections. In years past, we did not have a great relationship with freshman, so this year we made it a real goal to get them involved and make them feel welcomed.”