Not better, but different: the challenge of gender leadership – osservatoreromano.va

Report on a Pedagogical Leadership Initiative and its Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Executive Summary

An international online training course, “Liderazgo Pedagógico y Género,” has been established to advance pedagogical leadership with a specific focus on gender perspectives within educational communities. A collaboration between the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium in Rome and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile, the program targets educational leaders across South America. This initiative directly supports the achievement of several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), most notably SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality), by fostering inclusive and effective leadership in schools.

Program Overview

• Course Title: Liderazgo Pedagógico y Género
• Organizing Institutions: Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium (Rome) and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile).
• Target Audience: Male and female educational leaders, both religious and lay, within the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians school network.
• Geographic Scope: Participants from nine countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay.
• Primary Objective: To equip leaders with concrete tools to promote pedagogical leadership that is sensitive to gender perspectives and effectively values the competencies of women within the educational community.

Contribution to SDG 5: Gender Equality

The program is a direct implementation of the principles outlined in SDG 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Its contributions include:

1. Promoting Equal Leadership Opportunities: By training and empowering educational leaders with a focus on valuing women’s competencies, the course directly addresses SDG Target 5.5, which calls for ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership in all levels of decision-making.
2. Challenging Gender Stereotypes: A key finding from the course is that effective leadership is not inherently gender-specific. It emphasizes that the value of diverse leadership lies in introducing different perspectives, thereby challenging traditional stereotypes and promoting a more nuanced understanding of leadership capabilities.
3. Fostering Gender-Sensitive Environments: The training encourages leaders to reflect on their own attitudes and management challenges, fostering the creation of inclusive and equitable school environments where all individuals are valued.

Contribution to SDG 4: Quality Education

The initiative makes a significant contribution to SDG 4 by enhancing the quality and inclusivity of education through improved leadership.

• The program strengthens the institutional capacity of schools by developing effective and conscious leadership, a critical component of a high-quality educational system.
• By focusing on forming persons, building relationships, and promoting inclusion, the course content is in direct alignment with SDG Target 4.7, which seeks to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for human rights and gender equality.

Broader Impact on Sustainable Development

The program’s impact extends to other interconnected SDGs:

• SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): By promoting an inclusive leadership model that values different perspectives, the initiative works to reduce gender-based and other inequalities within educational institutions.
• SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions): The course’s emphasis on leadership that promotes justice and inclusion contributes to building stronger, more effective, and more accountable educational institutions.
• SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): The collaboration between a European and a South American university to serve a network across multiple countries exemplifies the international partnerships essential for achieving the SDGs.

Key Findings and Conclusion

The initial outcomes of the program highlight several critical aspects of effective leadership in the context of sustainable development.

1. Leadership effectiveness is not determined by gender but by an individual’s ability to integrate diverse perspectives and approaches with self-awareness.
2. The primary value of gender-diverse leadership is its capacity to enrich organizational dynamics by introducing different viewpoints and methodologies.
3. Conscious leadership requires a balance of intuition and rigor, sensitivity and authority, and is ultimately defined by the capacity to place one’s potential at the service of the community.

In conclusion, the “Liderazgo Pedagógico y Género” program serves as a model for how targeted training can advance gender equality and quality education. By developing conscious leaders, it contributes to building more just, inclusive, and sustainable futures for both the Church and society, in full alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

1. SDG 4: Quality Education
   • The article focuses on an online training course for leadership in an educational context. It discusses “pedagogical leadership,” “educational community,” and how conscious leadership “contributes to forming persons.” This directly relates to improving the quality and nature of education.
2. SDG 5: Gender Equality
   • The central theme is “female leadership” and the course’s aim to provide tools to promote leadership “sensitive to gender perspectives, with particular emphasis on valuing women’s competencies.” The article explicitly discusses the increasing prominence of women in leadership roles, which is the core of SDG 5.
3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
   • The course promotes “justice and inclusion” within the educational community. By training leaders to be sensitive to gender perspectives and to value everyone, it aims to reduce inequalities within these institutions, ensuring that opportunities are not limited by gender.
4. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
   • The article highlights that the training course is a collaborative effort between two distinct institutions: the “Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium in Rome and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile).” This international partnership is a clear example of collaboration to achieve educational and gender equality goals.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. Target 4.7 (under SDG 4): “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for… human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence…”
   • The training program’s goal to “promote pedagogical leadership sensitive to gender perspectives” and “promoting justice and inclusion” directly contributes to equipping educational leaders with the skills to foster gender equality and social justice within their schools.
2. Target 5.5 (under SDG 5): “Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.”
   • The article’s entire focus on a training course for “female leadership” and “valuing women’s competencies” within ecclesial and educational structures is a direct effort to achieve this target by empowering women to take on and succeed in leadership roles.
3. Target 10.2 (under SDG 10): “By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of… sex…”
   • The course aims to build leadership that is inclusive and values different perspectives, thereby promoting the inclusion of women in leadership and decision-making processes within the educational communities mentioned.
4. Target 17.17 (under SDG 17): “Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.”
   • The collaboration between a university in Rome (Europe) and a university in Valparaíso (South America) to deliver a course to participants across nine countries in the Americas is a model of a multi-stakeholder, international partnership for education and development.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

1. Indicator for Target 4.7: The article implies a qualitative indicator: the existence and content of the training program itself. The curriculum, which focuses on “gender perspectives,” “justice,” and “inclusion,” serves as a measure of the extent to which education for sustainable development and gender equality is being mainstreamed in the training of educational leaders.
2. Indicator for Target 5.5: The article provides a quantitative indicator: the number of participants in the leadership program (“currently attended by 22 participants from Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay”). An implied future indicator would be the proportion of women in leadership positions within the schools of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in South America after completing the course.
3. Indicator for Target 10.2: An implied indicator is the adoption of inclusive management practices by the course participants. The article notes that the course encourages reflection on “daily challenges of school management” to promote “justice and inclusion,” suggesting that progress would be measured by changes in how these educational communities are run.
4. Indicator for Target 17.17: A clear indicator is the existence of the international partnership between the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso for the specific purpose of delivering this training course.

4. Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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