Ohio First Lady Speaks at Confidence Coalition Event

The following article is reprinted with permission from the Springfield News-Sun.

Frances Strickland: “Women Have to be Courageous if They Want to be Leaders”

By Kelly Mori, Staff Writer

Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland said she hoped to convey a clear message during Wittenberg University’s Confidence Coalition luncheon held Monday, March 22:
“Women have to be courageous if they want to be leaders,” she said.

Strickland was the keynote speaker for the event which celebrated the university’s partnership with The Confidence Coalition, a national organization created by the national sorority Kappa Delta. Ester Mast, class of 2010, introduced the concept to the university this fall. Wittenberg is the first university to join the organization.

“The focus of the coalition is to build women’s confidence so they can be more successful in the business world, in leadership and to live happier and healthier lives,” Mast said. The luncheon [was] the first of a weeks’ worth of events to introduce students to what the coalition has to offer as well as to celebrate the last week of Women’s History Month.

(Ohio First Lady Francis Strickland Photo by Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun)

Strickland chose Katherine Wright — sister to Orville and Wilbur — as an example of a woman who had to balance her personal ambitions, loyalty to family and community activism. The only female in the family [at 14] after her mother died, Katherine was torn between helping her brothers pursue their dreams while pursuing her own teaching career as well as advocate for woman’s rights.

“I picked her life because she showed the complicated life of a woman trying to fit into a leadership role,” Strickland said. “Women fear they will be selfish making decisions because of the roles they play in relationships.”

That fear often holds a woman back professionally, Mast said. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re behind when it comes to pay. We are the least confident around authority leaders and don’t know how to negotiate.” That topic as well as self-image and safety [highlighted] the weeklong events.

“Women’s lives are more complicated because of the roles they play,” Strickland said. “It bears this kind of effort so that women can be mentors to each other, to support each other and to think through their decision with the help of good friends.”

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