We think the timing of our special Best Horse Practices Summit Stepping Up sessions couldn’t be better.

2018 is a year when science and society are ripe for parsing out the gender issues in our horse community.

Earlier this month, Alexis Kanda-Olmstead, who will lead the Stepping Up sessions, gave a spectacular TEDx talk at Colorado State University. Titled “The Science of Women’s Leadership,” Kanda-Olmstead mentioned numerous scientific studies in her compelling talk.

Watch it here. 

Sign up for the Stepping Up sessions here. 

Not coincidentally, Shankar Vedantam, the host of the podcast Hidden Brain, featured a great program on the double bind women face when in leadership roles. Listen to it here.

Women are likely to be mistaken for being dangerous, not driven or strong. Women are perceived as either being a shrew or a puppet. If women leaders have certain characteristics that aren’t “ladylike,” how can they step into those roles without being pressured to reinvent themselves?

On top of this unconscious bias, research also shows that women prefer men over women in male-dominated industries (like the horse industry).

Interesting stuff. We hope you join us in October.