NEW MONTHLY FEATURE: Presenting the Rhodes Project's First Feminist Reader
/Check out our new feature - every month we collect our favourite articles on gender & feminism.
Read MoreNEWS AND VIEWS
Welcome to the Rhodes Project's blog. Here you will find information about our research, commentary on issues of gender and feminism, guest posts by Rhodes Scholars and others, and the latest news from the Project. To enquire about writing a guest post, please get in touch at info@rhodesproject.com.
BanBossy and Imperative Feminism - by Heather Ure Dunagan (Utah & Jesus 1995)
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What's wrong with 'bossy', asks Heather Ure Dunagan?
Read MoreRhodes Project Director Susan Rudy elected Visiting Scholar, University of Oxford
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We are pleased to announce that the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford has elected Rhodes Project Director Susan Rudy as a Visiting Scholar (see profile here). Her appointment has been granted in recognition of the valuable work she and Dr Kate Blackmon are undertaking on the gender gap in leadership. Since 2012, they have been studying women who have held Rhodes Scholarships at the University of Oxford. Their data are taken from the Rhodes Project, which has conducted over 120 extended interviews with women Rhodes Scholars, and has collected over 300 responses to two different surveys.
Because women and men are selected for the scholarships specifically based on their leadership potential, not just academic achievement, the Rhodes Scholars provide a compelling sample of women who start with equal leadership potential and aspirations to men. Women have made great advances towards the workforce and public life since the 1970s, and now make up nearly half the workforce and hold 40% of managerial positions. Across the board, however, women are less likely to be promoted than equally qualified men, and stereotypes of leadership are still largely male-dominated. Why does this ‘gender gap’ persist in leadership? Blackmon and Rudy are exploring this question in academic papers, executive briefings, presentations and a book under contract to Oxford University Press for 2015.
Kate Blackmon becomes first woman Senior Proctor elected from Merton
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We are delighted to announce that on 19 March 2014 Kate Blackmon was admitted to the post of Senior Proctor at the University of Oxford. To find out more about the post and to read Kate’s views on what taking on the role of Senior Proctor will mean for her in the coming year, click here.
Since Kate is the first woman to have been elected from Merton College in its 750-year history and the first woman to have been elected to the post at all since 1994, we would like to take this opportunity to recognise Kate and the other three women who have served as Senior Proctors at Oxford.
In 1985, Baroness Ruth Deech was elected from St Anne's. She is a former principal of St Anne's College.
In 1990, Ms Joanna Innes was elected from Somerville. She is a Fellow in History, specialising in the history of ideas.
In 1994, Professor Judith Pallot was elected from Christ Church. She is a Professor of Geography, specialising in the geography of post-Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe.
In 2014, Kate Blackmon was elected from Merton College. Kate is the Tutor in Management Studies at Merton College and a University Lecturer at the Said School of Business. She specializes in gender and diversity in organizations as well as operations management.
Since 2012, Kate Blackmon has been providing her expertise to the Rhodes Project and is the co-author (with Susan Rudy) of articles, executive briefings, presentations and a forthcoming book on women Rhodes Scholars.
Paper based on evidence from the Rhodes Project to be presented at the European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS) 2014
/At the July 2014 meetings in Rotterdam of the European Group for Organization Studies, Kate Blackmon and Susan Rudy will present a paper entitled “Balancing personal and professional identities in elite professional careers."
Based on evidence provided by dozens of interviews with and hundreds of responses to surveys from women Rhodes Scholars, the paper investigates individual versus structural explanations for the gender gap in leadership by uncovering how women manage the conflict between professional and personal identities during careers in elite professions such as academia.
In studying the life-history narratives from over 50 women Rhodes Scholars they identify three career patterns: (1) traditional “male” pattern careers, where professional identity is prioritised; (2) traditional “female” pattern careers, where personal identity is prioritised; and (2) contemporary careers, where neither professional nor personal identity is prioritised.
Blackmon and Rudy's paper will contribute to the sub-theme “Beyond the Mainstream: Careers of Special Groups." For more information, visit EGOS at www.egosnet.org
Rhodes Project Research Featured on Oxford Business School Professor's Blog
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The Rhodes Project was featured last week in The Double
X Economy, a blog on globalization and women's
empowerment by Professor Linda Scott, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Scott’s blog opens and closes with quotations from women Rhodes Scholars and notes that the “mixed methods approach [adopted by Rhodes Project researchers] is bound to bring us something more usable, dignified, and interesting than your typical stereotype-banging story from the New York Times.”
Rhodes Reunion: Panel on Women and Success
/Rhodes Project Founder Dr Ann Olivarius appeared alongside former Labour MP Dame Shirley Williams, Australian human-rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, and Michele Warman, General Counsel of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on a panel on Rhodes Women and Success.
Photography by Honza Cervenka
The session was extremely well attended, and a lively discussion followed the formal presentations.
Ann's remarks to the panel are available here.
Rhodes Reunion: Focus Group held at Said Business School
/In collaboration with Dr Kate Blackmon of Saïd Business School, Professor Susan Rudy organised a focus group on the Gender Gap in Leadership with women Rhodes Scholars elected 1977-1982.
Photography by Honza Cervenka
Seven Scholars attended the focus group, which was videotaped for the Rhodes Project archive. A transcription of the Scholars' conversation will also be deposited in the archive and provide additional data for Dr Blackmon and Professor Rudy as they prepare their forthcoming book Leading Women: Rhodes Scholars and the Gender Gap in Leadership for Oxford University Press.
Our thanks to Ramona Doyle, Danielle Fontaine and her two daughters Marie Martelly and Renee McLendon, Charalee Graydon, Barbara Grewe, Annie Haight, Susan Karamanian and Mary Murphy for taking the time to meet with us.
The Rhodes Project in Oxford
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September 2013, researchers and staff from the Rhodes Project attended the
110th Rhodes Anniversary in Oxford. Through our attendance at sessions
and dinners, participation in the official Program, donation of an original part
piece to Rhodes House, collaboration with Said Business School, and base at
Linacre College, we had the opportunity to meet with dozens of Scholars. Thank
you for your support.
Rhodes House to feature the Rhodes Project's commissioned artwork in permanent collection
/We have just received word from Rhodes House that the artwork we commissioned for installation during the 110th Reunion will become part of their permanent collection.
Described as “a wonderful addition to Rhodes House,” the art piece was funded by two Rhodes Scholars: Ann Olivarius, Chair of McAllister Olivarius and Founder of the Rhodes Project, and Dominic Barton, Managing Director at McKinsey & Co., and Chair of the Rhodes Trust's Governance Committee.
Entitled “THEREISNOTACLEARBRIGHTLINE”, the art piece is based on data collected by the Rhodes Project. It celebrates the 1140 women who have held Rhodes Scholarships since 1977 by including their names and professions within a stunning 22-carat gold leaf constellation. The first in a limited edition of six, the piece is the work of London-based, French-Norwegian artist Caroline Bergvall.
Photography by Honza Cervenka
Oxford University Press will publish Blackmon and Rudy’s book on the Gender Gap in Leadership!
/We are delighted to announce that Oxford University Press will publish a book based on the Rhodes Project data by Kate Blackmon and Susan Rudy.
The book will focus on the gender gap in leadership.
Kate Blackmon is University Lecturer at Said Business School and Tutorial Fellow at Merton College, University of Oxford.
Susan Rudy is Director of the Rhodes Project and Professor of English, University of Calgary.
Caroline Bergvall creates art piece for 110th Rhodes Reunion
/THEREISNOTACLEARBRIGHTLINE By Caroline Bergvall
An original art piece by London-based, French-Norwegian artist Caroline Bergwall has just been installed at Rhodes House for the duration of the 110th Rhodes Reunion.
Caroline Bergvall
The piece was commissioned by two Rhodes Scholars - Ann Olivarius, Chair, McAllister Olivarius and Founder, the Rhodes Project, and Dominic Barton, Managing Director, McKinsey & Co., and Chair, Governance Committee, the Rhodes Trust.
Based on data collected by the Rhodes Project, the limited edition art piece celebrates the 1140 women who have held Rhodes Scholarships since 1977.
Caroline Bergvall was the 2012 Judith E. Wilson Fellow in Poetry at the University of Cambridge. Her work has been featured in galleries across North America and Europe including New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Modern.
For more information, please click here.
Maggie Brown, Robin Holloway, and Emefa Agawu join the Rhodes Project team
/The Rhodes Project is delighted to welcome three interns to the team. Maggie Brown, Robin Holloway and Emefa Agawu, rising second and third year university students, will work with us in June and July as we prepare for the Rhodes Reunion in September. We look forward to seeing what their enthusiasm and fresh perspectives will bring to the Project.
Seth Thévoz joins the team as Junior Research Fellow
/We are delighted to announce that Seth Thévoz has just commenced a four-month appointment as a Junior Research Fellow at the Rhodes Project. A PhD candidate at Warwick University, Seth specializes in nineteenth-century history. During the tenure of his award, he will pursue the following questions: How has the Oxford learning environment changed as a result of the presence of women Rhodes Scholars? Did the first wave of women Rhodes Scholars affect the most by way of cultural change, or has that level of transformation to Oxford’s cultural and intellectual life been maintained in the decades since? Based primarily in Oxford, his research will consider materials held at the Bodleian and other University of Oxford archives as well as the transcribed interviews collected by the Rhodes Project.
Blackmon and Rudy present in AOM session on 'Work-Life Conflict and Flexible Work Practices'
/On 12 August 2013, Dr Blackmon and Professor Rudy will deliver a presentation at the Academy of Management alongside scholars from Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, and Simon Fraser University in a session on “Work-Life Conflict and Flexible Workplaces.” Other topics include the ways that partners in dual-career couples react to work-family conflict, the effects of flexible work practices on parents’ career success, and what happens when “balance” means working all of the time. Blackmon and Rudy’s presentation, based on their paper, “’and you think you have it all mapped out: Women Rhodes Scholars’ Work-Life Identity Narratives,” will take place from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the WDW Dolphin Resort in Orlando. Click here for more information about the session.
Professor Rudy and Dr Blackmon to meet with New York literary agent Kathleen Anderson
/Following an initial meeting in New York in December 2012, Professor Rudy has arranged to meet with literary agent Kathleen Anderson in London this weekend to discuss strategy for submitting a book proposal entitled Leading Women: Female Rhodes Scholars on Work and Life to various New York and London publishers. This book will be based on Professor Rudy’s ongoing research collaboration with Dr. Blackmon and include a chapter on the ways that Rhodes women talk about negotiating their personal and professional identifies. But it will attend as well to other themes found in the data, including issues like how, whether and when Rhodes women are mentored, what their childhoods were like, what they thought of their time at Oxford, and what making a difference means to them. The aim of this book, which will be written for a general audience, will be to engage the public to think about issues of gender equality and professional success in the context of female Rhodes scholars’ life stories.
Dr Blackmon and Professor Rudy to present findings from the Rhodes Project at 2013 meeting of the Academy of Management
/We received word today that the first academic paper to have been prepared based on the Rhodes Project data – Dr Blackmon’s and Professor Rudy’s “`and you think you have it all mapped out’: Women Rhodes Scholars’ Work-Life Identity Narratives” – has been accepted for presentation in a Gender and Diversity in Organizations Divisional session at the 2013 Academy of Management meeting in Orlando, Florida, August 9 -13, 2013. Reviewers found that the study was based on “an extremely relevant topic” and had great potential “because of the amazing and interesting sample of women at the center of it.”
The Academy of Management is the preeminent association for management and organizational scholars. Held each year in August, meetings of the Academy of Management provide a forum for sharing research and expertise in all management disciplines. Annual Meeting information may be found at http://aom.org/annualmeeting/. Click here to read the paper in our Working Paper Series. Click here to find out more about the Gender and Diversity in Organizations division of the Academy of Management.
Dr Olivarius interviews Indian Rhodes Scholars in Delhi and Calcutta
/Last week, Dr Ann Olivarius, founder of the Rhodes Project, travelled to Delhi and Calcutta and met with five Rhodes Scholars: Menaka Guruswamy (India & University 1998), Preeti Mann (India & St Cross 1999), Rakhi Mehra (India & Lady Margaret Hall 2001), Anita Mehta (India & St Catherine’s 1978) and Lavanya Rajamani (India & Hertford 1996). The purpose of the meetings was twofold: to carry out anonymous interviews for research purposes and to prepare public profiles for our website (Click here to view existing profiles). In both cases we are delighted to have had the opportunity to diversify our subject pool by including more women living outside of North America and Europe. After a hectic week of travelling, Dr Olivarius is back in London, happy to have met another group of talented, lively and engaging women all of whom she hopes to see again at the Rhodes Reunion in Oxford this September.
Professor Rudy and Dr Blackmon complete and submit paper to the Academy of Management
/Professor Rudy and Dr. Blackmon have just completed a paper entitled “ 'and you think you have it all mapped out’: Women Rhodes Scholars’ Work-Life Identity Narratives,” and submitted it to the Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division of the Academy of Management to be considered for presentation at their annual conference in Florida this August. Feedback from the peer review process is expected the first week in April and if accepted, the paper will presented at the Academy meeting in Florida this August. Click here to read the paper in our Working Paper Series. Click here to find out more about the Gender and Diversity in Organizations division of the Academy of Management.