May 2, 2008

Power to the women

All-girls Castilleja School holds female leadership symposium

By Julia Prodis Sulek / Bay Area News Group

At the elite Castilleja School for girls, just a few blocks from Stanford University, in a place where success is often defined by entrepreneurialism, CEO status and wealth, the daughters of some of the valley's best-known moguls are defining leadership and power in their own terms.

This weekend, a leadership symposium at the school gym will bring the likes of HP CEO Mark Hurd, Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, Google Vice President Marissa Mayer and a special videotaped presentation by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's secretary of state.

But when a group of seniors were asked who they are looking forward to seeing, they didn't choose the most famous speakers or the ones with their parents' occupations.

One of the top picks? Kavita Ramdas - head of the nonprofit Global Fund for Women that supports women's rights around the world. She rents her Palo Alto house and sends her daughter to the prestigious school on scholarship.

"I feel like I could be Kavita Ramdas," said senior Elizabeth Harmon, who is heading to Stanford in the fall, "or hopefully Condoleezza Rice."

The roster of speakers says as much about the cachet of the century-old school as the power of the parents there. This is a school that has a revolving door of notables who have included Madeleine Albright, Al Gore and Queen Noor of Jordan.

"It's a given that power and leadership are part of our future," said Emily Davis, 18, who will be studying international relations and economics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland next year. "They instill that in us since sixth grade."

The college preparatory, teaching grades six through 12, was founded in 1907 specifically to make girls ready for the rigors of Stanford. About 20 percent of each graduating class enrolls there. Tuition is $29,000. Alumni have gone on to become CEOs, Olympians and artists. Singer Grace Slick graduated from here.

"Our expectation of girls here is that they find the best in themselves, they follow their passion, try new things, not be afraid to fail," said Joan Lonergan, the head of school.

Mayer said that while the Castilleja students are "admirable" to respect Ramdas' global work for women, she wants them to take a broader, more creative view of technology as well.

"I don't think of myself as a woman in technology. I see myself as a geek in technology, but it doesn't have to have all the stereotypes that come with it," Mayer said. "People are surprised I'm interested in art and fashion."

Wikipedia, Wales said, is a prime example of how power is becoming decentralized between men and women on the Web. The traditional, male-dominated corporate structure doesn't necessarily apply, he said.

But gender inequality is still an issue, Kavita Ramdas said, both in Silicon Valley and around the world. Because Castilleja girls have spent their teenage years in an all-girls environment, Ramdas said they may not see themselves as a group that is still suffering gender inequality.

"A part of me wonders what it will be like when they go out and discover the struggle for equality is so far from done in the real world," Ramdas said.

Inequality is not something the students seem worried about. When asked whether they are turned off by technology because it is a field dominated by men, Rebecca Mazonson quipped: "It makes me want to take them on!"