Robin Read is President and CEO of the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL), an organization established to provide strategic resources to elected women for leadership development and effective government. Read has worked as a businesswoman, broadcaster, and teacher in the private sector; in the public sector she has worked at the US Department of Agriculture, in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She lives in Washington, D.C.
"Significant changes have taken place within the NFWL over the last eleven or so years. People look to us now, and to our members."
This is Robin Read's take on recent progress within the organization, and the NFWL has the résumé to back her up. Originally begun as the National Order of Women Legislators, which has been around since 1938, the NFWL was established in 1983. And in the last decade the NFWL has been instrumental in making positive changes in government. More than just a support group for women legislators at all levels, the NFWL has played an essential role in everything from getting nominees for public service confirmed to helping break down barriers when policies become stymied because of partisan politics.
"When I became President of the NFWL over a decade ago, the organization didn't even have its own office," Read said. But under Read's direction and leadership, the organization has gained authority and prominence. Today, it fulfills its mission from an office in The Christian Science Monitor's building in Washington, D.C., providing strategic resources to women leaders. "By promoting a spirit of unity among present and former legislators in a nonpartisan way, we hope to encourage greater participation of women in public affairs and to help women move more quickly into positions of leadership," Read explained.
Before this could happen, though, several things had to change. "What we needed to focus on was the best of womanhood, not the worst," Read said, referring to the need to break down negative stereotyping about women and by women themselves. "In spite of the fact that this organization has been around since 1938, the women involved in it were still having a hard time perceiving their power and their strength."
One of the ways Read helped contribute to the effort of awakening this "sleeping giant," as she referred to the NFWL, was by spiritualizing her own conception of womanhood. "When I began to see what Mary Baker Eddy calls 'the "male and female" of God's creating,' " Science and Health, p. 249 . Read said, alluding to a view of womanhood that isn't limited by stereotypes, positive or negative, "I saw these women with whom I was working in an entirely different way. Soon they began to see themselves differently, too."
This new conception of womanhood gave Read an enlightened perspective both on women's leadership and on the qualities it takes to be a strong and effective female legislator. "Meekness is key," Read affirmed. "And I mean meekness in its purest sense, the kind of meekness that heightens the masculine—and for that matter every Godlike quality that women express. Mary Baker Eddy captured this idea perfectly when she wrote in Miscellaneous Writings that 'meekness heightens immortal attributes only by removing the dust that dims them.'" Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 1.
NFWL's surveys show that elected women's strength comes from their natural meekness. Read says that women, on average, are seven years older than their male counterparts because they are found to be more humble in their assessment of themselves. They want to be certain they are prepared to do the job that is needed. NFWL surveys also indicate "ego" rarely pushes women into running for office, issues do. As the Apostle Paul told Roman church members, "I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Rom. 12:3.
Transforming her view of womanhood gave Read the foundation she needed to bring another significant change to the organization. It was essential that the NFWL be taken seriously, and Read set about shepherding it to a position where it could and would be. "The authority this organization has comes from the strength of the women themselves, and the examples they are," she explained. "And we wanted to help women find their natural strengths and their natural voices. Sometimes society gets women to focus on their weaknesses instead of celebrating their womanhood. And they spend time giving attention to any weakness and they lose sight of their fortes."
"Our job is to identify what each individual's strengths naturally are, what they do well. Then we say, 'Do more of that!'" The NFWL has found that this sort of approach has benefits that are twofold. Not only does a strength-based focus enable women legislators to move naturally into leadership, but it also helps women overcome their weaknesses. "Eventually, the weaknesses and any importance attributed to them just drop away," Read explained.
Such tactics have helped cultivate a network of legislators that are making a big difference at all levels of government. "According to the Leadership Survey that NFWL worked on with Gallup, women are considered transformational leaders far more than their male counterparts. They take lemons and make lemonade. They see the most that could be, the potential for change, and then they put all their efforts into making that change."
The public's perception of women as trustworthy and the "moral yardsticks" in government has proved helpful for female candidates. But, as Read cautioned, the public needs to see more than that; women elected leaders need to use their transformation leadership skills effectively.
"One difficulty I've encountered is the tendency to make a judgment based on the visual," Read said. Plain and simple, female candidates are evaluated—to a large degree—based on how they look. And while the NFWL may not be able to change that, what it can and has done under her leadership is to help its members learn how to communicate with their constituents in a way that brings out "the real woman." This method has transformed both the women themselves and their approach to politics.
"We need to help voters see the beauty and the wisdom and the strength and the vitality of a woman. That's our job," she explained.
We identify each individual's strengths and then say, "Do more of that!"
Teaching women legislators to espouse and showcase "the real woman" in themselves and others helps them with self-confidence. It also gives candidates the tools to get elected without running a negative campaign. "The negative campaign never works for a woman," Read asserted. "But standing on principle does." The NFWL's resources and its network of female legislators help those new to the political arena to see this. The real task for NFWL is to provide support to legislators once the campaign is over and the business of leadership begins.
"Once they're on the job, women have to keep their priorities straight in order to perform well," said Read. "I well remember when I took the leadership survey mentioned earlier, which was given by Gallup. They asked, 'How do you stay grounded?' This is such a key question. My answer was that I try to take a portion of every day for some spiritual grounding. And I think that those women who have some spiritual core—no matter what it is—don't get as confused when it comes to priorities."
Having that spiritual foundation has strengthened Read. It's also made her better equipped to deal with gender-based discrimination. "Being confrontational never solves anything," Read asserted, "but expressing love does. I've found this to be true a number of times in my own life. People come around rather than standing their ground (as people often do when they're confronted)."
Indeed, as this type of reasoning shows, an understanding of the transforming power of true womanhood has stood Read in good stead throughout her years both in the private and public sectors. And it's given the NFWL and its members new purpose, direction, and promise. Today, Read continues to lead with just such a vision, trusting that the strengths women bring to their work, particularly to different levels of government, will ultimately bring the type of change that will transform and uplift society.
