This whole month, I have been blogging about how different women could and should be used to teach negotiation under the theory that, if we normalized women as negotiation role models, we would all be socialized to expect that this is part of general human behavior rather than something masculine.

To end Women’s History Month, I thought I would reflect on other role models that I have not yet highlighted and to encourage us all to find our own examples.  For me, my favorite woman to read about when I was growing up was Marie Curie.  I loved the stories of her family life and her voracious reading habits.  I admired her brains and will power to succeed in the face of skepticism.  And I appreciated that she was happily married with children while winning a Nobel Prize.  I mean, how is that not a goal for everyone!  I hope that the movie Radioactive  (on Amazon Prime) creates another generation of fans.

For my RA Casey Campos who has been great support on these blogs for the month, she looked up to Amelia Earhart.  Earhart’s feminism, determination and perseverance was  admirable.  She was aware she would have to balance her pursuit of “masculine” activities with “feminine” ones in order to be tolerated in society and wrote a monthly advice column for Cosmopolitan.  Who knew?  Or in researching other female leaders, Casey loved the story of the Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic who used her soccer team’s performance in the World Cup to win fans at home (standing in the rain to shake every team member’s hand below) while improving relations with Vladimir Putin.

You likely have other role models…  Your mom or grandmother?  A mentor at work?  And there was a whole host of options at the presidential inauguration in January from Michelle Obama to Jennifer Lopez to Amanda Gorman to, of course, our first female Vice President Kamala Harris.

The point is that we each have own examples.  By publicizing these, using them in class, and writing about them more explicitly, we can each do our part to add women to the canon of negotiation experts and make Negotiating While Female commonplace while putting to bed any myth that women don’t negotiate.  And, again, please feel free to share and let me know your role models!!