Center for Women's Leadership By Dr. Brandy Havens |
At the UAGC May 2023 graduation in Phoenix, Arizona, representatives
of the CWL surveyed more than 100 women graduates, 68.6% of whom identified as
parents, and were graduating with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. These
graduates responded to ten prompts, originally developed by Angela Duckworth and
published in her 2016 book, GRIT, the Power of Passion and Perseverance, designed
to measure their GRIT based on the level to which they agreed with or
identified with each prompt.
The results showed that parent graduates were slightly
“grittier” than nonparent graduates in both passion and perseverance. Younger
parents, those between 25 and 34 years of age, scored highest on the
perseverance scale, while older parents, those between 55 and 64 years of age,
scored highest on the passion scale. Perhaps the most interesting result
occurred in a specific perseverance prompt: “Setbacks don’t discourage me.” Both
parents and nonparents scored notably lower on this prompt compared with the
other perseverance prompts, with parents scoring 37.3% lower and nonparents
scoring 31.1% lower.
Understanding how passion and perseverance influence the success of women students places the CWL in a much better position to offer the resources, development opportunities, and community support that will be most beneficial for women students at UAGC.