A Worthy Strategy Group Project
AMERICAN
LEADERSHIP
PROJECT
AMERICAN
LEADERSHIP PROJECT
We researched the kinds of leaders Americans are
looking for. We wanted to see where and how
women showed up.
And the results were shocking.
We researched the kinds of leaders Americans are looking for. We wanted to see where and how women showed up. And the results were shocking.
Our Challenge and Our Opportunity
We spent the last 2 years asking progressive to moderately conservative voters to show us images representing the type of leaders they sought for political leaders, including the president. We found that women were considered as ideal leaders only 22% of the time.
This illuminated both a challenge and an opportunity for women seeking or holding higher office and for those who support them. And it let us know that it was time to act.
Who We Are
The American Leadership Project was created after years of research by the Worthy Strategy team to uncover what Americans are looking for in their leaders, beyond the conventional wisdom. Our findings showed that women were often completely missing from key categories considered essential for leadership at the highest level.
The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media analyzed top films and revealed female characters are significantly underrepresented as leaders (27% vs. 42% for men) and male leaders at the national level are portrayed as more effective (57% compared to 44% for female leaders.) We believe it is possible to shift how often and in what way women are portrayed and that will begin to bend the arc of history to enable more Americans to imagine a woman as president.
What Makes Us Different
This project represents a different kind of approach to advancing women’s leadership. While a significant effort has been made over recent years to push women forward by encouraging them to run and offering them resources, it simply hasn’t been enough. We realized we needed to look at the issue in a whole new way.
We need to work directly with culture makers to shape the stories we tell about women in order to change American audiences’ perceptions of women as leaders.
We are determined to double the associations of ideal leadership with women by 2028, by changing how we talk about women leaders in our culture. We will:
Uncover new ways to tell the stories that positively shift perceptions of women and associate them with leadership
Push our findings into our cultural storytelling including games, movies, television, journalism, and social media.
Why Now
History doesn’t just happen – it’s made. And to help more women reach higher levels of leadership, we must take an active role in changing the game. Women’s freedom is under attack. From religious institutions to the halls of government – men are making decisions about women’s bodies, their ability to speak, and their ability to lead. There is an underrepresentation of women in the halls of power across all spheres.
We don’t want to wait for a unicorn to fall out of the sky — we want to give women and girls the wings to lead, and even better, a runway for them to take off and fly. We have a broken runway of stereotypes and missing narratives that leave women unheard, unseen, and disregarded for leadership. And for too long, there’s been a focus on looking for a unicorn candidate when the problem lies beneath our feet.
Why Us
The Team behind the American Leadership Project is made up of seasoned collaborators who’ve worked on some of the biggest movements today – from global nuclear disarmament to working on messaging regarding Ukraine, gender equity and reproductive rights, marriage equality, advancing healthcare for marginalized populations, pushing for gun safety laws, and more. The team, led by Worthy Strategy Group in partnership with the Geena Davis Institute and Movement Advancement Project, represents decades of work to move the needle on the issues that count.
We’re looking for partners to help us build a pathway to get more women in leadership positions across the country and in The White House. We hope you’ll consider joining us.
When you support our work financially, you’ll be helping us research and identify the kinds of stories which will change perceptions of women for the better, ensure their candidacy wins, and work with current women leaders to help position themselves for critical higher offices, all the way to the White House.
WEB TEAM _ FOR ACCORDIAN
ADVISORY COUNCIL & KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Madeline DiNonno
Advisor
President & CEO at Geena Davis
Institute on Gender in Media
Billy Ray
Advisor/Board Member
Screenwriter & Director (Captain
Phillips, Hunger Games, Shattered Glass), Academy Award Nominee
Laeta Kalogridis
Advisor
Screenwriter
Nell Scovell
Advisor
Author of Lean In, American television and magazine writer, and producer.
Julie Hermelin
Advisor & Media Creator
Founder @ Gutsy Media
Emily’s List
Friend of the Project
Disinfo Strategy for Women
Candidates; Female Tropes and How
Cultural Centers/ Newsmakers push
back
Anne Wedner
Advisor/Board Member
Board Member – University of Chicago – CPOST – Chicago Project on Security and Threat; DCI Fellow, Grassroots Strategist, Screenwriter
Jackie Payne
Advisor/Board Member
Founder @ Galvanize
Dr. Leah Aldridge
Advisor
Assistant Professor, Dodge College of Film & Media Arts, Chapman University; Valor Special Projects Director
Sanjyot Dunung
Advisor/Board Member
Serial Entrepreneur, Author, Board Member Truman Center for National Policy; NSBA; and Advisory Board Thunderbird-ASU; and, currently CEO
& founder of Atma Global, an
award-winning developer of
innovative learning solutions, focusing on countries, cultures, business and global topics for the corporate, government, education, and travel
markets.
John Neffinger
Advisor
Co-Author Compelling People; Debate Prep/Media Training & Message Development, HRC Advisor, Harvard Leadership Work; President Franklin Forum, Former DNC Comms
Dr. Riki Conrey
Research Contributor
Director of Science @ Harmony Labs, Media Narrative Work
Stephen Clermont
Research Contributor
Director of Polling @ Change Research
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Anne Wedner
Whiteboard Partner
Stanford DCI Fellow, Grassroots
Strategist, Screenwriter; Board
Member at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy; Commissioner on the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
Billy Ray
Advisor
Screenwriter & Director (Captain
Phillips, Hunger Games, Shattered Glass), Academy Award Nominee
Jackie Payne
Advisor
Founder @ Galvanize; Trustee of the Patsy Takemoto Mink Foundation;
Board Member of the Women and Justice Project
Dr. Leah Aldridge
Advisor
Assistant Professor, Dodge College of
Film & Media Arts, Chapman
University; Valor Special Projects
Director
Laeta Kalogridis
Advisor
Screenwriter, TV & Film Producer (Terminator Genisys, Alexander, Shutter Island, Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, Altered Carbon)
Sanjyot P. Dunung
Advisor
Serial Entrepreneur, Author, Board
Member Truman Center for National
Policy; NSBA; and Advisory Board
Thunderbird-ASU; and, currently CEO & founder of Atma Global, an award-winning developer of
innovative learning solutions, focusing on countries, cultures, business and global topics for the corporate,
government, education, and travel markets