Motivation, communication skills and optimism are the requirements for a good leader, according to Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center.
As part of the Fox Lessons in Leadership Program, Greenberger spoke yesterday in the former fraternity house at 3619 Locust Walk to more than 40 Penn students -- the majority of them female -- about leadership and her career.
Most notably, she spearheaded a drawn-out lawsuit against institutions that failed to enforce Title IX, which prohibits discrimination against women in education -- including athletics programs.
"I never thought of myself as a leader at Penn," Greenberger admitted, adding that when she graduated from the separate women's college at the University in 1967, she had not encountered one female professor.
She returned to a changed school yesterday.
Greenberger focused more on the changing leadership role of women rather than stories of her own career.
"Leadership comes in many forms and asserts itself at different times in people's lives," whether it is in the public or private sphere, she said.
While at Penn, Greenberger never even considered law school. Only when her female friends convinced her to take the LSATs did she think to apply to Penn Law, where she was one of 10 girls in a class of 200.
Nor did she think she would find herself starting a center advocating women's rights in 1972, when the very definition of "women's rights" was still vague.
Today, Greenberger presses the government to interpret very general laws and pass proposed laws that will improve women's health, education and employment.
However, Greenberger is still surprised "at how much there is left to do... when you look at who's running universities... corporations, it's not women." Instead, there is "one woman in a sea of man-making decisions."
Greenberger calls it "good fortune" that she has been able "to work on important issues for women and children that will affect their lives for a while."
Most female students in the audience said Greenberger's speech was a good guide.
College junior Courtney Statfeld said the lecture was "inspiring and educational at the same time," adding that it "thrust [her] more into the field [she] is interested in."
On the other hand, College senior Jonathan Petts "wasn't very impressed" by Greenberger, saying "it wasn't anything you hadn't heard before."
Petts said he came only because he is applying to law school and he admires Greenberger's "tremendous career."
Greenberger will return for Homecoming weekend on Nov. 2 to talk about women and the media for the 125th Celebration of Women at Penn.
