The Evaluation of a Women's Leadership Development Training for Girls Rock! Roanoke

Men and masculine qualities stereotypically define leadership. Role Congruity Theory explains that women leaders may experience a double discrimination. First, because leadership roles are stereotypically male, a woman may not have the necessary qualities. Second, because leadership qualities are stereotypically masculine, when women do exhibit agentic qualities, they are perceived negatively and not feminine (Eagly & Karau, 2002). Further, adopting a masculine style is perceived as an inauthentic leadership style. However, an androgynous style can blend feminine expectations with corporate needs, creating advantage and perceptions of authenticity (Tzinerr & Barsheshet-Picke, 2014). The leadership development training described in this thesis was held for female volunteer counselors of Girls Rock! Roanoke, an empowerment camp for young girls. The appreciative pedagogy included individual reflections, group discussions, and working through simulations. The evaluation of the training sought to identify: if discussion of leadership increased awareness of feminine and masculine leadership; if discussion of personal leadership experiences increased empowerment to self-identify as leaders; and what impact the experience had on participants’ ability to improve and employ leadership. After participants completed the training, awareness of feminine and androgynous leadership increased; whereas, it is unclear if awareness of masculine leadership increased. Challenging participants to reflect on their leadership increased their self-identification as leaders, while those who already identified did so in androgynous terms. The training impacted participants’ knowledge of themselves as leaders, how they planned to use leadership in camp and in real life, but it is unclear to what degree it impacted their ability to improve and employ leadership beyond the training. Acknowledgements: I wish to acknowledge the following people with whom without this work could not be possible. I would first like to thank Emma Jones for continually supporting me through this process. For making me laugh, for feeding me, doing more than your share of dishes, and helping me maintain balance. Thank you for encouraging me to pursue my dreams, for sharing in my love and excitement of evaluation, and for understanding that I needed to take this journey. To my family for understanding when I was stressed and overwhelmed. To my mother and Paul for always listening and encouraging me to pursue my dreams. To my father and Graciela for encouraging me and being proud of me. To Dr. James Anderson, for empowering me. For guiding me through the difficult times, and for showing me the light at the end. Thank you for championing me and my work. To Dr. Tom Archibald, for realizing my love of evaluation. I did not expect to love program evaluation, but after one working session I was hooked. Thank you for nurturing my interest. To Dr. Eric Kaufman, your attention to detail and thoughtful revisions have been very helpful. Thank you for being supportive and dedicated to my work. To Dr. Susan Short, for pushing me, supporting me, and mentoring me. Thank you for telling me to look into ALCE as a department. Thank you for always believing in me, lifting me up when I need a boost, and sharing your love of all things Virginia Tech. To Dr. LeeRay Costa, who founded Girls Rock! Roanoke and enabled me to conduct this research. You gave me the opportunity to develop this workshop and then evaluate it. Without your efforts, this work would not be possible.