Women’s Leadership Expands Across Fields

Across healthcare, academia, local government, education and community service, women are taking on leadership roles and challenging expectations about who leads. Indiana’s 2026 honorees include healthcare executives Lesley Raskin and Dr. DaWana Stubbs, whose careers span health strategy, clinical leadership and medical education. In Denmark, researchers Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner found that sharing leadership of a research project could support strong scholarship while fostering a healthier, more collaborative workplace and recovering women’s contributions to architectural history. Janesville’s appointments of Rebecca Houseman as its first female city manager and Allison DeGraaf as school superintendent are being seen as a way to encourage future leaders, while Montana educator Baldwin is pursuing school administration after two decades teaching music and participating in a women’s leadership program. In Vietnam, young neighborhood leader Thảo is helping residents navigate digital government services and administrative tasks, bridging generational and technology gaps in her expanded community.