What School Counselors Can Do to Strengthen the Impact of Utah Girls and Women

Utah is full of engaged, passionate individuals who frequently ask the question, “What can I personally and/or professionally do to strengthen the impact of Utah girls and women?” To provide specific answers to that question, the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) team hosted a series of “think tank” gatherings to collect best practices for various stakeholders interested in supporting and empowering Utah girls and women. This idea sheet is based on a 2018 gathering of 25 school counselors from Utah junior high and high schools to discuss ways they can support young women in Utah, particularly in terms of educational aspirations and success. Their insights focus on influencing culture, advocacy, capacity building, and external engagement, as well as ideas for professional development to improve counselors’ ability to engage and support young women in the state.

Culture

School counselors recognize they can influence the culture within their schools and even beyond. But first, they must be aware of the cultural pressures and messages reaching female students. For example, they can:

• Recognize how confidence and low self-esteem may affect educational success or aspirations.
• Explore the impact of social media.
• Identify external factors and attitudes that may influence girls’ decisions in various ways (friends, family, church leaders, social norms).
• Examine and address additional layers of identity that may be in play (race, ethnicity, class).

Advocacy

As counselors recognize their role as leaders, they become uniquely empowered to advocate for young women both inside and outside of school. They can:

• Maximize the benefits of career and college readiness meetings by encouraging parental attendance and engagement, ensuring students have space to speak for themselves, and using developmental language to enable ongoing growth and progress.
• Celebrate women’s achievement by bringing female role models to school and highlighting successful women in history or in the public sphere.
• Support field trips to college campuses.

Capacity Building

One of the greatest ways counselors can strengthen the impact of their female students is through providing opportunities for learning and growth. They can:

• Sponsor a Women in Leadership club. This could include conferences, highlighting historical contributions of women, presentations and competitions with other schools, and workshops on resilience, confidence, boundaries, and more.
• Promote AP/IB/concurrent enrollment and other challenging classes.
• Encourage young women to explore business, STEM, and other high-potential fields.
• Support the participation of more young women in student council, club leadership, sports, and other extracurriculars where they can lead.

External Engagement

Counselors’ engagement and influence can extend beyond the boundaries of their schools. They can:

• Gather and share relevant research and resources focused on education issues that give young people the tools they need to succeed (see these snapshots, for example).
• Identify key information that all students need to understand about their likely participation in the labor force and the economic challenges of adulthood (many of which are gender specific), and ensure young women understand the urgency of preparing for their own futures.
• Educate young women to find and secure external funding sources for college (a major hurdle).

Professional Development

School counselors recognize that in order to best serve their students, ongoing professional development is critical, and it will be most effective when teachers and administrators join in as well. To address the challenges facing young women, counselors can:

• Receive training on gender differences in learning styles, confidence, aspirations, societal pressures and norms, and other elements.
• Undergo training in unconscious bias and learn how to minimize and manage such biases.
• Recognize and learn how to use their own voices to advocate for their students.

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To learn more about What School Counselors Can Do to Strengthen the Impact of Utah Girls and Women read the entire brief.