Women need to push through their self-doubt in order to rise into leadership positions. They also need help from organizations that commit to fostering their talent, according to Janti Soeripto, the deputy CEO of Save the Children International.
Soeripto spoke to The Huffington Post's Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday about worldwide education, as well as the global lack of women in leadership positions.
She said the best advice she's ever received about leadership can be summed up by a phrase borrowed from Hillary Clinton: For women, leadership is about "daring to compete," Soeripto said. Women should apply for positions they want, even if they don't feel that they are entirely ready.
But the global gender problem isn't solely about women overcoming their impostor syndrome, it's also about organizations committing to make their leadership more diverse.
Soeripto said that at Save the Children, women are 50 percent of the board and 50 percent of the executive team. She still thinks the nonprofit can do better, though.
She said there could be more diversity in nationality and background among the organization's leaders, particularly more people from the Southern Hemisphere, and said only 30 percent of country directors are women.
"It's better than most corporates [sic]," she said, "But it's not 50 percent, which it by and large should be."
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