Equity and Gender-Based Education- Elizabeth Wolfson at TEDxMileHighWomen

I know who I am, I know that I matter, and I know what matters to me. And thank you for allowing me to share that with you tonight. Five years ago, I started on a journey to build girls' schools based on the brain science of movement and how it readily boosts cognitive achievement and the best practices in gender-based learning. I was determined and still believe that if I could convince the general public, you, that if you have a body, you are an athlete, then the rest, traveling to cities around the country and building schools, would be a piece of cake. I came up against three major obstacles. The first was my own story in history. The second, the phenomenal animal called public education. And the third being the current discourse around whether women can or cannot have it all. So, first, this is my story. I am the product of a successful first-generation American 70s household, where my mother's advice centered around smiling and looking pretty. The second, my father's advice and diligent support of my success was based on doing it the way men did it, the way he did it, and simultaneously acting like a lady. This was confusing, but appropriate for the Mary Tyler Moore times. After a privileged upbringing, including an Ivy League education and a Division I athletic experience, I made many a good and bad decision on my way into adulthood. Trust me, there are some doozies, and I have the scars to prove it. But one weekend, about 15 years ago, while I was living overseas, I found myself at a spa weekend with three friends, three women I deeply admired, and they were all deeply immersed in feminist activity. One night, we were sitting at the pool, and under the stars, we did share those scars of our lives, and like scars do, theirs had propelled them to proclaim and work diligently in the feminist arena. But at that point in my life, I was not ready to declare myself a feminist. I'm pretty sure my biggest fear was that if I did, poof, there would be like this big bushel of hair growing under my arms and on my legs. But giving in to peer pressure as we do, the next morning, even at the age of 30, I declared, I am a feminist, and they cheered. But honestly, until now, I really don't think I knew what that meant to me. Okay, public education. As late as 2011, last year in September, Salon Magazine and the Huffington Post reported on how boring the schools continued to be and its devastating effect on our kids. In the last few years, cutting edge and new schools have developed, and I submit to you that the public high school in Naperville, Illinois, the Namaste School in Chicago, and the Girls Athletic Leadership School in Denver are anything but boring places to be. These schools are pushing the edge on active pedagogy and teaching content through movement. They invite new forms of movement and health curricula in order to ensure the nourishment, stimulation, and engagement of our students' minds and bodies. And all three of these schools are showing positive achievement results. And then, when we're all paying attention as parents, there's this obsession with high-stakes testing, teaching to the test, rigor upon rigor, where education reform is narrowly defined and mostly experienced as ultra-traditional models. So where does that leave the rest of us who want a creative, compassionate education for our children, one where the schools truly know our kids well from the inside out, and our kids are taught to know themselves well? And then in the middle of all this bureaucracy and chaos remains the question, do gender-based schools, do girls' schools give their students an edge? So here's the research that grabs me. UCLA came to the conclusion in the latest social research in 2010 that, simply put, girls' schools teach girls there is enormous power and potential in being a girl. The research also shows that the biggest difference between girls' school graduates and their co-ed counterparts is the confidence and aspiration that girls have. This is exactly what I want for my two daughters. Now the discourse that's going on in the world. Like many men and women, I have been tangled up inside by Anne-Marie Slaughter's article in the Atlantic magazine entitled, Women Can't Have It All. And then to make it more confusing, a friend told me that nearly every third article in the Atlantic magazine publishes some angle on the mommy wars. Should I be an executive? Should I stay home? Must I be an executive? Must I stay home? And then two years ago, Sheryl Sandberg gave this amazing, rousing graduation speech to the sitting graduates at Barnard College, saying to them, you must lean into your lives and own the responsibility of becoming leaders of industry. And while you can be sure that I deeply appreciate leaning into our lives, the tunnel vision of this is what our girl graduates must be didn't make me feel so good either. And then one year ago, my colleague Rachel Simmons was at the TEDx Washington DC event and she shared her research on that today's girls' school graduates absolutely have 21st century leadership external resumes, but their internal resumes, their sense of self and that they can be who they want to be and their ability to navigate relationships is lagging behind. So where does this all leave us? Here's my conclusion I want you to take away with tonight. We need to stop the bickering about whether women can or cannot have it all because the next generation of equal opportunity is here. It is not about equal opportunity. It is about every opportunity. Our girls can break barriers in poetry, science, nature, art, rugby, and dance. They can solve hunger, write books, build buildings, fly into outer space. They can choose to have children or not have children. They can stay home and take care of anybody's children. They can volunteer in organizations, protect the environment, and teach yoga on the side. And you know what? We are allowed to toggle back and forth between two, three, or four of these at any time we want. It is perfectly American, perfectly feminist, and I love it. Isn't this the definition of feminism our foremothers have been fighting for? The one where our girls know that it is absolutely possible to have it all and that having it all is their inherent right as American citizens to make their own decisions at all times. But this right must be backed by an education system that embraces an educational path to most successfully find their way to fulfillment. As we've said all night, it's not just good for girls, it's good for humanity. After school programming and summer institutes, they've taken us really far. And opting in based on scars of your lives has worked for so many, and thank goodness for that. And women's colleges and women's programs are a terrific resource, but here we are. In the last decade, it was reported that 82% of female executives played sports in school. Combine this with the latest social research that shows girls school graduates have higher aspirations and higher confidence. We can't allow this generation to miss it. Gender-based schooling may not be the final choice for all, but it must be taken seriously. Our schools have adopted a pledge, it goes like this. I know who I am, I know that I matter, I know what matters to me. And we end with the line, I know I can make a difference in the world in my own unique way. Wonder Woman knows it, Eileen Fisher knows it, U.S. Senator Kristin Gillibrand and pop star Katy Perry knows it, and surely our own Missy Franklin knows it. But now you know it. So you and I together must take what we now know and lean into gender-based schooling with our whole bodies, our time, energy, money, and participation of our daughters. Let's make sure that the glass ceilings of this generation and the next come crashing down. Thank you.