Silver School Events Aim to Help Non-Profit Women Executives Break the Glass Ceiling

By Barbara Jester

       Women CEOs, COOs, and executive directors in the not-for-profit sector—many of whom are social workers—make an average of 28 percent less than their male counterparts. In New York City area social service agencies, women account for 75 percent of the workforce, but only 21 percent of the executive leadership.
       The Silver School of Social Work, through a series of workshops, courses, and conferences, is trying to break that trend, working with female leaders to address the challenges and make recommendations that will assist the next generation of non-profit executives.
       In late May, over 100 women agency executives and emerging leaders gathered for the conference, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in Leadership in the Not-for-Profit Sector.” The event was sponsored by the Silver School’s Division of Lifelong Learning and Professional Development, under the direction of Eileen Wolkstein, the division’s director, and Philip Coltoff, Aibel Visiting Professor and executive-in-residence at the School, former executive director of The Children’s Aid Society, and director of the school’s Post Master’s Certificate in Executive Leadership in the Not-for-Profit Sector.
       The challenges facing women who seek leadership positions in non-profit agencies are multiple, according to Shifra Bronznick, principal with Bronznick & Co. LLC, the change management firm. Providing an overview of women in leadership, she said that women’s perception of themselves and of how they view leaders is one of the biggest challenges. “Women lead from the foot of the table,” she said. “They are busy making other people shine.”
       Her advice, and that of other conference speakers including Jennifer Jones Austin, executive vice president, United Way of New York, and Tanya Ramos, executive director, Literacy Inc., is to learn how to negotiate and be assertive on issues such as promotions, work assignments, and even salaries and compensation. Ramos encouraged younger women to find a mentor and to seek out professional development. She also echoed what all the speakers agreed upon: Women have a harder time finding a balance between their professional and personal lives; they are still the primary caregivers in families.
       Also speaking at the conference were Ariel Zwang, executive director, Safe Horizons, and Robin Bernstein, president and CEO of the Educational Alliance. Bernstein, who began at the Educational Alliance 21 years ago as a union employee and has been its senior executive for the past 10 years, believes that women need to be authentic.
       “Be comfortable with who you are,” Bernstein advised. “Don’t look at some vision of what you think a CEO is.”