Female to Female Mentorship... Doing it right or wrong? The following came across a facebook page I watch today, about a F2F mentorship event at Fort Stewart. "Today on Fort Stewart, every single female Soldier attended a mandatory "female to female mentorship" program. During the introductory speech, a full-bird colonel referenced the female Soldier population as "Diva's in boots" and talked about how males don't take us seriously and we have to band together. Then they released us to attend 2 0 min "classes" set up by 3rd party groups. Those classes included the proper application of makeup and sterilization of brushes, the importance of sports bras and other supportive workout gear, and couponing, to name a few. Seriously, you can't make this shit up. This actually happened. There was also a class on "performance enhancement"… we were half expecting them to be issuing out kneepads." Good idea or bad? Could it have been better thought through? Suggestions?

Posted on Jan 10, 2014

Female to Female Mentorship... Doing it right or wrong?

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The following came across a facebook page I watch today, about a F2F mentorship event at Fort Stewart.<div><br></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">"Today on Fort Stewart, every single female Soldier attended a mandatory "female to female mentorship" program. During the introductory speech, a full-bird colonel referenced the female Soldier population as "Diva's in boots" and talked about how males don't take us seriously and we have to band together.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Then they released us to attend 2</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">0 min "classes" set up by 3rd party groups. Those classes included the proper application of makeup and sterilization of brushes, the importance of sports bras and other supportive workout gear, and couponing, to name a few.<br><br>Seriously, you can't make this shit up. This actually happened.<br>There was also a class on "performance enhancement"… we were half expecting them to be issuing out kneepads."</span><br></div><div><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br></span></div><div><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Good idea or bad? Could it have been better thought through? Suggestions?</span></div>

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Edited >1 y ago

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Responses: 22

CW3 Kim B.

Posted >1 y ago

Mentoring your Soldiers is the responsibility of all leaders. In 1979, women supposedly needed women mentors; in 1989 we needed them again; in 1999 ..... things should have changed by now! Women have proven themselves as Soldiers! Please stop looking a women as new to the armed forces. Continuing to make women a special group in the military only serves to hold them back. As far as conduct towards females, you should conduct yourself as you would with any other Soldier!

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SFC Lamont Womack

Posted >1 y ago

I agree with the majority of the responses to the post. I just wanted to address the terms "reverse sexism" and "reverse discrimination". There are no such things. Sexism towards ANY sex is sexism. Discrimination towards ANY group is discrimination. There is no such thing as "reverse". Please avoid using these terms. These terms indirectly create an "us" versus "them" type of thinking and are counterproductive to addressing any issues of discrimination or sexism.

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Lt Col (Join to see)

>1 y

Great point, and very insightful!

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1SG Steven Stankovich

Posted >1 y ago

I read that today Chief. Almost posted it like you did. Glad you did. At my last unit, the leadership had a "female only sensing session." It did not go over too well by the number of female Soldiers that spoke to me about it afterward. I believe that there is absolutely lessons learned that should be shared from current female service members to new generation female service members. While we as a nation and as an Army have come a long way over the past 20-30 years, there is still a long way to go. Lessons learned passed down is a great way to ensure forward motion is maintained. I believe that mentorship is a must.

I am also curious how female Soldiers feel about this topic.

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Lt Col (Join to see)

>1 y

Yes, mentorship is a must.  But required mentorship only achieves the exercise, not the result.  Organic mentorship should be the goal.

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CH (CPT) Heather Davis

>1 y

LT COL Cashin:

Respectfully, when I was deployed, I had an outstanding COL, and she went through the ranks. She insisted before we went on deployment she sat down and discussed the cross roads in her life and the impact of conveying to leadership and addressing high-risk-behavior.

The transparency of the lessons learned from her military experiences created cohesion in the unit. The transformation and development of sacred trust due to her vulnerability and trust that she bestowed in her subordinates.

I concur, organic mentorship should be the goal. Basically she addressed the elephant in the room.

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Lt Col (Join to see)

>1 y

CPT Davis - I can definitley see your point. It sounds like there might be two different types of 'mentoring' addressed in your comment versus the original post. I could be wrong, but your example seems to be a positive coaching situation, where she addressed how to be profssional military member, within the service. In contrast, the sitution presented in the original post was stated as 1 - less positive (driving a gap between genders) and 2 - not related to military service (make-up, etc) In my initial read it almost seemed to pander to the female stereotype. Almost like a mandatory course for men on how to create a winning fantasy football team. That may be a little extreme, but just trying to explain my personal first impression. Thanks!

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CH (CPT) Heather Davis

>1 y

LT COL Cashin:

Absolutely, as a Chaplain, I had to advise CDR's on creating cohesiveness by ensuring that respect for all Soldiers are implemented. This is by ensuring that professionalism in mannerisms and how Superiors and Juniors communicate.

I have found that due to the operation tempo there has been a breakdown on protocol and professional development training.

Ma'am you are on point, understanding each member of your team and what position they play and coaching them by building on their strengths.

My COL advised me on the importance on timing. It is vital as Leaders that we create cohesiveness and deter factors that minimize the cohesion of the unit.

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Female to Female Mentorship... Doing it right or wrong?

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