The White House Project

There’s been discussion on the Huffington Post lately about the lack of central (Gloria Steinem-esque) figures in the women’s equality movement. My main resulting question is, do we even need one?  

Pat Mitchell, CEO of The Paley Center for Media, called for all U.S. female leaders to be involved in gender justice movements because those women earned those top spots, they wouldn’t be maxing out the full potential of their positions if they didn’t specifically address the status of women today.  Surely every movement benefits from having influential supporters, but the movement for gender parity and women’s (read: human) rights seems like it would gain the most momentum simply from everyone who’s interested getting involved.

Birute Regine of IronButterflies.com eyed the topic more critically by saying that the women’s movement will benefit more from collective power, and citing Gloria Steinem herself as espousing those same values of shared leadership. Regine draws analogies between the direction in which the business world is heading and the leadership of social movements: the blueprint for successful business no longer requires a dominant powerful figure with a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. Instead, emphasis is placed on networking, the sharing of ideas, and mentorship (not coincidentally, many of the admirable qualities being talked about in female-owned businesses).

Most recently (and ongoing) in the United States, this type of collective leadership can be seen in the Occupy Wall Street movements. A significant amount of people had the same frustration with the same issues, and got together as a collective voice to enact change. The fact that there is no concrete leader perhaps gives the participants more agency in what they dedicate their daily lives toward changing. It’s a bit of a stretch, but imagine if the gender parity movement in the U.S. had one umbrella organization and everyone who was interested worked only for that, and followed the philosophies of one leader toward success. We’d miss out on a lot of fantastic organizations and their respective leaders’ visions for the future.

Right now we have one goal, with many different, creative routes being taken – nobody has to wait for one specific leader to get the ball rolling. Don’t hang around lamenting the fact that there’s no one knightess in shining armor for all of us – look around you at all the great people already working for change, and more importantly, be your own leader right now!

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April DeJarlais is a Communications Intern with The White House Project.  

Stereotypes are the characters that provide our world with background noise, in that we take them for granted as true unless they’re brought to our conscious attention.  I’ve encountered my fair share of gender-based discriminatory language, and it’s always difficult to find a way to address it without being written off as overreacting or hypersensitive.

I’ve been involved with drumline in Minnesota for eight years, and nation-wide it’s a male-dominated activity. That scene is where I’ve heard most stereotypical language being used, but also where I’ve seen stereotypes being actively broken. I play with both girls and boys, with more or less experience than I do, but a boy still might get told they’re playing “like a girl” if they’re not playing confidently – when I’m right next to him playing with more confidence than he is.

To give my instructors credit, they’ll usually catch themselves on this, but often can’t seem to find a better way to say it.  Concrete instances like these, when stereotypes are used but are clearly nonsensical, are cropping up more and more in patriarchal societies around the world. We need to get the cycle moving faster, though – even if some young girls around the world don’t accept stereotypical language, that background noise is still bound to be limiting. 

Girl Scouts of America is launching campaigns called “Year of the Girl” and “To Get Her There,” which are geared toward providing more opportunities for girls to excel in fields that they might not have many role models in (i.e. politics, math, science, etc. – all areas that the United States is lagging in internationally). Girls need to be able find and see these women acting out non-traditional roles – change doesn’t need to wait a generation.

Women in leadership positions today are sometimes a chicken-and-egg conundrum – which needs to come first, the role model or the barrier-busting pioneer? And where are girls looking to now to learn about influential women? National Public Radio recently feature a book series for ages 9-13 called The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames, which highlights historical female rulers such as Cleopatra or Mary Tudor (known respectively as “The Serpent of the Nile” and “Bloody Mary”).

The series challenges young readers to think critically about female leaders and why they aren’t profiled more often, as well as why they get violent nicknames for doing the same things that many male rulers did in obscurity. Children’s nonfiction is a genre that needs to capture interest, since it doesn’t have the luxury of creating the story. Featuring women in history and encouraging conversation is another valuable step in showing both girls and boys today that there are women who deserve to talked about, admired, and critiqued on the same level as men.

So here we have a smattering of personal evidence of the stereotype problem, and several pieces of action that are happening to boost the position of women in the United States. As the Girl Scouts “Year of The Girl” campaign states, the US Congress is only 17% women, and women make up 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs (which means women are in charge of less money than men – which indeed translates into power). Many “developing” countries have more female representation, which I would say makes them more developed in that respect. The women for the jobs are out there in every country, and it’s far past the time to recognize the language we hear in everyday life that convinces us of gender stereotypes. 

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April DeJarlais is a Communications Intern with The White House Project  

In My Opinion is a weekly segment in which Interns and Staff at The White House Project comment on recent issues and articles important to their individual leadership.

1.) “Women’s Colleges Tap Underutilized Leadership Talent”

Written By Helen Drinan, President Simmons College

In this article, Author Helen Drinan explains how women’s colleges offer a safe place for young women to explore leadership development in ways that co-ed institutions can not. As a women’s college graduate myself, learning to adapt to all the ways in which women could pursue leadership roles in college was a challenge, albeit a welcomed challenge. After finishing my first year of college at a co-ed university, I knew I wasn’t putting forth my best effort and work. I knew I wasn’t comfortable in the co-ed setting as I was afraid to fail in front of my male peers. I was afraid my peers would see me as inadequate for the academics I was in; therefore, I performed inadequately. I decided to transfer to a women’s college. It was the best decision I ever made. Having the opportunity to attend a women’s college, opened my eyes to how important and necessary women are as leaders, and how well women work together. Most importantly, it showed me how I was just as likely as the next student to become a writer for the school newspaper and even become editor. The opportunities women are given in women’s colleges are limitless. The leadership positions are no less covetable, but perhaps more accessible. And that is important for young women to learn at that increasingly independent stage in their lives. This article helps young women understand that women are powerful leaders, powerful enough to lead colleges and universities. 

3.)  “Turning the Tide for Women: Vaginal Americans Rejoice?”
Written By Morra Aarons-Mele, Huffington Post

The recent discussion revolving around the globally bashed photo of the all male Congressional panel deciding the fate of women’s fertility has once again produced the question- where are the women? But this time women have taken their outcry online and to the media, leaving author Aarons-Mele wondering, can women now “rejoice”? Is the women’s health debate taking a turn? From what the media has to say about recent hearings on the debate, it seems as though women are now taking the stand, and It has been a long time coming. In the article, Aarons-Mele cites Nancy Pelosi’s past tweet of a recent hearing, “Today’s hearing on women’s health looks a little different than GOP’s hearing last week.” This has lead many to wonder, could things be changing fast? With many hopefuls keeping their ears and eyes “akimbo,” the women’s health debate may finally hear women’s voices. This has been a crucially important debate in the last few months as things get heated in Congress and as the 2012 Presidential Election comes near. The public outcry for women’s voices to be heard - alongside men’s - has had a positive effect on the direction the debate is turning. And young women, like myself, are becoming more and more aware of how possible it is for history to repeat itself; they are realizing that women need to be at the forefront of the issue, not sitting behind the panel.

 4.) “Afghan Men Get Schooled in Women’s Rights”

Written By Eliza Griswold

An uplifting article about a group of Afghan men who called on one woman to train them on respecting women’s equality. I was so impressed with the leadership of Jean Kissell, a woman who has selflessly dedicated over ten years of her life toward establishing women’s rights under Islam rule in Afghanistan, and who inspired the men in Afghanistan to recognize women’s equality. Not only was she helping women establish a leadership presence in their country, but she also engaged Afghans in how they would like to see their country run. This is an inspiring story about female leadership as it presents a story in which women are able to forge new paths and create networks, relationships and, ultimately, peace within a village under much duress. Kissell and her former student, Mohammad Nasib, helped to launch the nonprofit called the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan (WADAN). As the article explains, the work of WADAN is crucial in these last few years before American troops pullout. Kissell has established an Afghan community founded on trust, relationships, and leadership.

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About Sara:

I grew up in Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis, MN. After graduation I attended the University of St. Thomas for my freshman year. During which I decided that it just wasn’t the right fit for me. I transferred to its sister school, St. Catherine University, an all women’s college, where I flourished in English literature, poetry, theological studies, and women’s studies. I spent the summer of my junior year at New York University where I immersed myself in poetry, history and culture…and shopping of course. I have been with The White House Project for the past six months and I am enjoying every minute of it. I have had the great fortune of learning from some truly inspiring women. 

Jenny Choi, Intern

I am a young immigrant woman. Around the third grade, my father decided to move our family to the United States so that he could make use of his American law degree and my sister and I could eventually go to college here. I, like many other young immigrant women living here, carry with me the experience of walking through the airport with my family, pushing a cart of a dozen mega-sized bags stuffed with our lives. I remember the initially broken English that gradually killed the self-confidence in my sister and me and the homesickness that I suffered from especially in the first few months. Most importantly though, I remember how all hardship made me a more hard-shelled individual. Hard work and diligence would eventually pay off as the obstacles slowly disappear. I called this “success.”

Success. It is a beautiful, yet strangely scary word. The idea of success gives us the motivation to move on with our lives and bear through the difficulties. More often than not, it is the beacon of light shining at the end of the road that inspires and motivates us. But from an immigrant woman’s perspective, the concept of success may also play a damaging role. As I went through my battles with the obstacles, I increasingly began to define success in terms of myself. At the end of the day, success was eventually making a better, more comfortable, and sounder life for me, regardless of the contribution, or lack thereof, that I was making to the larger community.

Many immigrants come to the United States in search of a new life, both educationally and financially. A lot of the time, this search for a higher-quality life often blinds us from the whole picture: the picture where we are members of a larger community and society. Our gradually deepening self-importance causes us to zoom in on the self just a little too much and ignore the potential – and the obligation – that we have to make our community a better place.

From a woman’s perspective, I eventually began to think about it this way: there I was, complaining about the difficulties of having to overcome language barriers and make new friends to get a better education, while other girls my age then were being sold off as child brides and denied education. I realized that compared to those girls, I was, by pure luck, born as a girl that was lucky enough to immigrate just to study in a better environment. The least I would be able to do in order to pay back to society would be to work for the greater good of the world, to step into public service, to take on community leadership.

In a country where women are already a far minority in political and corporate leadership, the statistics for minority women are even worse. It will already take years and years and years to set the leadership ratios equal to the gender and ethnic ratios, but it will never happen if the ambitious and young newcomers to this country never exit the self and step up to lead their communities.

With this, I call all immigrant women to think deeply in the New Year about the goal that they study and work towards, and if not already done so, to reset that goal to something that can put them out as a resource for the larger world to take advantage of and benefit from. What will you do to encourage participation in social progress in 2012?

Jenny Choi is the Communications and IT intern at The White House Project. She is currently a senior at Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side. She runs an organization called Civis Femina dedicated to calling young women to pay back for their educations here in the United States by working for the greater good of the community or their less privileged counterparts in others parts of the globe. 

Are you an immigrant woman, or do you have a related experience you’d like to share? Please tell us your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Kathleen Ponze, Guest Blogger

I grew up the daughter of a career army officer and attended fourteen schools before I graduated from high school.  Public, parochial, Department of Defense schools, coed…yet an all-girls environment was where I always felt valued and nurtured.

Fast forward almost forty years and I land my dream job: principal of an all girls’ secondary school.  But not just any school…The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem or TYWLS as we like to say!

It just doesn’t get any better than this: Working with girls from age 11 to high school graduation and sending them off to college…the greatest girls you will ever meet… The Young Women’s Leadership Network work with inner city girls who for the most part will be the first in their families to go to college. We have seen tremendous success since the school opened in 1996!  Our girls are graduating from college at triple the rate of their peers.  They are now out in the world and blazing trails and bringing their wisdom back to their little sisters who are following in their footsteps. 

The YWLN motto is Changing Public Education, Changing Lives!  How lucky am I to experience the joy of watching a student grow up before my very eyes – from the shy and awkward 6^th grader to the assertive and confident 12^th grader.  The model which creates a safe, nurturing, personalized, and rigorous educational environment for students who would otherwise be shortchanged is proof that no obstacle is too great where there is the will to succeed! 

I was the principal of The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem from ‘01 to ‘06.  Founded in 1996 by Ann Rubenstein Tisch who passionately believed in bringing this choice to inner city families,  YWLN now has four schools in New York City and affiliate schools in Chicago, Texas, Baltimore, and one that will open in Rochester in 2012. One school has become a movement!  There are over 100 single gender public schools across the country today. 

Ann’s other brainchild was the CollegeBound Initiative which places a full time college guidance counselor in New York City high schools, both coed and single gender.  The success of both of the programs is very gratifying in a time of turmoil for public education (www.ywln.org).

Get out your handkerchiefs and check out some of our videos and I guarantee you will become a fan!

“Our Teachers, Our Heroes” http://youtu.be/rsThLJWnSdo

“By The Numbers” http://youtu.be/SWQTMGdx6AU

“Oh, The Places We’ll Go” http://youtu.be/Rff_7nvTegY

“Better Than Ever” http://youtu.be/uUTHPY_loTs

“We Have A Dream” http://youtu.be/uKOgoNaVlM4

At this stage in my career, I am very excited to be working in partnership with the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) on a very special project:  NCGE: The National Conference on Girls’ Education, February 10-12, 2012 at the Renaissance Marriott in downtown Washington D.C..   We are bringing together all of the girls’ schools, all of the girls’ programs, and all of the luminaries in all girls’ education and research for a weekend of networking, learning, and growing.  Our keynote Friday February 10, 2012 is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a friend and fierce advocate for developing the next generation of leadership.

I know many of our alums will be in attendance and you are welcome to attend as well.

At an open house for incoming students, I showed a video about our schools and saw a young Latina girl in tears. I asked her why she was crying and she said, “I feel like I am worth something now.”  That’s what it is all about.  Valuing each precious student and going the distance, whatever it takes, to help them reach their goals.

Kathleen Ponze holds  a BA in French,  a Master’s in French and Romance Philology, and an MA Philosophy all from Columbia University where she taught French and  was the first managing editor of Semiotext(e).  In 1985 she became a teacher of  French and Spanish in NYC.  She was selected as the Principal of The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem in 2001 where she created   an exemplary learning community.   She was recognized in 2005 by NASSP as one of 10 national Breakthrough High School Principals.  She is the recipient of the Harlem Children’s Storefront School Educator of the Year Award.  She has presented on the YWL model at numerous conferences.  She is working with NCGS  on the Advisory Board for the National Conference on Girls’ Education(NCGE) to be held in Washington DC in February 2012. 

Rebecca Liu, Intern

Germany, Brazil, India, Argentina, and Australia—five of the world’s major players—have at least one thing in common: Each has a head-of-state who is female. Why, then, hasn’t the United States been able to elect a female President in its 235 years as a country?                                             

According to a political study conducted by researchers at both Stanford University and the University of Chicago, the statistics alone show that women outperform men as legislators on Capitol Hill. On average, women in Congress “introduce more bills, attract more co-sponsors and bring home more money for their districts than their male counterparts do,” as stated in a Politico article in which the study was cited. Women tend to compromise more and are more willing to “reach across party lines” in order to pass crucial legislation. Voters also tend to trust women candidates more, which is fitting, since women are often willing to work harder for their constituents. Women make up 17 percentage of Congress, but are 51 percent of the U.S. population and 54 percent of voters. Why, then, are there so few women in Congress?

For whatever reasons – be they psychological, personal, or social – women need more encouragement to enter politics. “Women in both parties are often more reluctant candidates, said several female senators, and those who advise them,” according to a recent New York Times article concerning the topic. Men and women also seem to run for office for different reasons, the article points out: “unlike men, who tend to be attracted to public office because of their interest in politics, women often run because their interest is sparked by a single policy issue, often quite local.” Men who have even the “slightest relevant experience” will jump at the chance to run for office “without a second thought.” Women, however, “need to be recruited and asked multiple times by multiple people in order to consider running” says the Times article.

In other parts of the world with different political systems, women are much more equally represented in government when compared to their percentage in the population. In Scandinavian countries in particular, women constitute almost half of the members of parliament. Functioning under a multi-party system, countries like Sweden, Denmark and Iceland not only foster women’s participation in politics, but make it much easier for women to enter the political sphere by providing quotas for the ratio of males to females vying for party membership. The Norwegian Labour Party, for example, implemented a rule in 1983 that stipulated all elections and nominations must represent both sexes by at least 40 percent.

The idea of quotas for diversity may raise a few eyebrows, but what is most important to consider in these cases is that the political structures of these countries, at the very least, encourage women’s political ambitions. Such quotas allow both genders equal access to active political participation. The same cannot be said for the American political system, and as a result, our democratic process often grinds to a full-fledged halt as the traditionally male members of Congress refuse to overcome stubborn partisan politics. While the whole point of democracy is to create enough friction among parties to prevent one branch of government or a single party from assuming absolute power, the entire democratic process is rendered pointless if nothing can be accomplished and bills cannot be passed in Congress.

What’s ultimately needed is a concerted, nonpartisan collaboration with both major political parties to encourage and train women to enter politics. What would have happened to the deficit bill if lawmakers weren’t hindered by stubborn, partisan refusal to cooperate? Working with the major parties to ensure both Republicans and Democrats understand how important women are to the democratic process will not only allow the parties to encourage and train women for party leadership, but also result in the active recruitment of women for political leadership—and ultimately a more productive Congress.

The bottom line: we need more women in office, regardless of political affiliation.

Our next step should be to consider the best ways to approach the major political parties – with research and statistics in hand – in order to encourage the parties themselves to seek out, encourage, and train qualified women for office. What do you think? Be part of the conversation on our Facebook page. 

Tracy Lenzini is knocking on doors and knocking doors down in Kingsley, Michigan. As a strong believer in helping those who help others, Tracy is devoted to motivating citizens to make their voices heard. She understand the daily struggles of families across the country—she’s been living with rheumatoid arthritis for ten years, and has since experienced the devastation of the recession.

But the challenges in her life have strengthened her resolve. “I have personal connection the important issues and problems of today, and because of that, I have a stronger desire to find a permanent solution.”

Tracy is currently seeking solutions for two main issues: healthcare, because her arthritis diagnosis woke her up to the severe lack in healthcare affordability for many families, and education, because she has always believed that investing in children is the only way to secure a successful future.

Yet Tracy knew that passion alone is not enough to make an impact. That’s when she applied for Go Run in Chicago. Tracy, alongside 98 aspiring business leaders and political candidates, learned how to turn her personal experiences, passion for change, and policy focus into a working campaign strategy.

“I was so impressed with how many eager and passionate women participants were there,” said Tracy, “I walked away with lifelong connections… Go Run gave me the confidence boost I needed to get the ball rolling, and pushed me to make decisions I never thought I was ready for.”

Invigorated with support and a working action plan, Tracy is pushing forward in her political leadership, planning to run in 2012. 

Catherine Emmanuelle, Guest Blogger

My parents often tell the story of my bout with community organizing at the age of five, when I convened my fellow siblings around my parents’ bedroom door. With my hand on my hip and my foot tapping:

Knock knock knock. It’s Catherine and the children, and we’re here to talk to you about the rules in this house.

My parents giggled at my requests for democratic conversation, but the spirit of gathering people who care about an issue is something that I continue to carry in my roles as a woman, student, mother, partner, citizen, and community member.

I am still a student. I don’t have a formal degree behind my name, I don’t have a lot of extra money in my bank account, but I am a woman whose main resource is passion, and it fuels my leadership participation. The purpose of this article is to share practical tips on implementing your experience with women’s leadership trainings in your roles within the classroom and your community.

1.    At the beginning of the semester, read your course syllabus. Then re-read it, and specifically look for opportunities to develop your passions. For example, I took a Women and Gender-Based Violence course. I knew there would be a fifteen-page research paper due at the end of the semester. I also knew that I was attending The White House Project’s START Now Summit 2010: Women Leaders for Nuclear Security during the semester. I talked with my professor and asked if I could examine gender-based violence within nuclear security issues for my assignment. She enthusiastically encouraged me to go for it! I was able to weave my reflections of meeting such inspirational women, like Valerie Plame Wilson, Rose Gottemoeller, Ellen Tauscher, and the theories from my course within my research paper. I’m excited to tell you I got a solid A on the assignment too! Don’t be shy to let your professors know your passions and see if you can pursue them while you are doing your coursework.

2.    Internships and service-learning projects are requirements for many programs. Avoid the doldrums of pursuing obligatory hours; rather search for meaningful ways to explore your possible post-graduation leadership paths. First, I suggest that you look at the any of your personal skills that might be underdeveloped. In other words, what could you use more experience in? For example, perhaps you want to run for public office, but don’t know how local policy is made. Maybe you could seek out an internship at a local government office or with an elected official. Don’t forget to check with your financial aid office or career services regarding paid internships. During my sophomore year, I was able to get a scholarship that paid for me to work as an intern in a United States Senator’s regional office, just two blocks from my house! Other possibilities include looking for vacant seats on civic boards and local bodies of government. Time served on these boards and commissions will most likely count towards service-learning hour requirements (of course, check with your advisor to make sure this is the case). Use these opportunities, which are often requirements, to increase your capacity as a budding leader.

3.    Don’t wait until you are a world-renowned women’s leader to be a famous speaker—start sharing your story and your passions now! Take stock at your passions and your identities to help you find audiences that are waiting to hear from you (yes, I am presuming that they are waiting to hear from you—trust me, they are). For example, I worked with my campus’s women’s center during Women’s History Month and shared about women and activism as part of their speakers’ series. I have been invited back next year to speak about women’s leadership and practical steps on developing passions towards activism (hmmmm, is there a correlation here?). Another place to share is in classrooms. Perhaps you have a favorite professor who has encouraged you in your leadership pursuits. You could approach this professor and ask if there might be a place during the semester where you could join a class for a period of time as a speaker to share about an issue you are dedicated to working on (i.e. local food movements, immigration issues, voter registration—you get the picture). If the professor you ask says “no,” I encourage you to say something like, “thank you for your consideration—might you be able to recommend another faculty member or community leader that would have an audience for what I would like to present on?” As a student myself, there is nothing like peer-to-peer enthusiasm and leadership regarding community issues. Even if you speak for five minutes, you will inspire your audience—so go for it!

Look around—what can you do today? What can you do now? Don’t wait for the future to be your playground of opportunity. Make today your future because our world is waiting for you. I’m not waiting until I have a college degree before I make a difference in my world—and neither should you. 

Catherine Emmanuelle is an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she is majoring Women’s Studies & with a minor in Economics. Her undergraduate writings on teaching women’s leadership in the feminist classroom, and a  book review on Gender and International Security: Feminist Perspectives have been accepted for publication in the journal Feminist Teacher. In her community, Catherine helps to lead diversity initiatives as a director of the Clear Vision Eau Claire board, a local civic engagement organization. She is currently an intern for The White House Project and is excited to help towards the advancement of women’s leadership in all phases of women’s lives. Catherine looks forward to hearing your leadership passions and plans and can be reached at catherineemmanuelle@gmail.com.

Jenny Choi, Intern    

“Hi ladies,” reads my computer screen every Sunday afternoon. The message that I’m writing is to the members of my club, which aims to instill a sense of duty and a call to leadership in young women by opening their eyes to the resources and privileges (especially education) available to them. I haven’t seen a male student at 11:50AM on Mondays for a while, probably ever since I founded the club.

Three times a week, I walk into the New York City office of The White House Project, where it’s a similar situation. We have one male working for the organization in our office. It’s women, women, women all around, fighting for more women’s leadership. I actually can’t remember a time when the fight for women wasn’t literally a women’s fight. Well, I probably haven’t lived long enough, but I don’t see male “feminists” in history textbooks either.

In school these days, I am taking a class dedicated to James Joyce’s Ulysses, and I think I might see some there, although Joyce was probably far from “feminist” in the style that most people define the term today. Ulysses does clearly draw a line between the two genders as any early 20^th century Western literature would. But its treatment of human nature, sexual attractions and frustrations, and the human relationship to language starts to haze the line a little, showing that we are all humans together before we go our separate ways in terms of gender.

This has really led me to question more and more the absence of males in the women’s movement of leadership. The one male student that came by my booth at my school’s club open house, attracted by my colorful website, turned around immediately when he saw what it was all about. I haven’t seen a single male intern at The White House Project during my almost-five months here.

Of course, it is harder to see yourself dedicated to a cause that doesn’t directly and noticeable impact you and your life. That’s part of human nature, and that’s totally understandable.

But how much can you do with 50% of the country when you’re trying to change the way that 50% of the country thinks? Not much. And that’s why persuading the general populace, not just women, about why bringing women into leadership is important for everyone should be on the to-do-lists of every person that’s fighting for the cause.

There’s a lot to work from. Working together with women has been proven to produce more effective results faster and more efficiently. Women are known to have the upper hand when it comes to negotiating and cooperating. There have been studies time and time again that show that having women in more decision-making seats will create real change.

Bringing women to leadership doesn’t do a favor for women only. The argument that women should be in more positions of leadership in government and the corporate world just because they constitute half the country perhaps still applies, but certainly no longer stands alone. Bringing women to leadership is good for 100% of the country. I call the 100% to step up and join their voice to the movement. 

Megan MacInnes

My mother is a great woman. She raised me to believe that I could do anything a man could do except maybe pee standing up, which she assured me was not worth the effort. She raised my brother to believe that he could do anything a woman could do except give birth, but he had best make sure he was holding the mother’s hand if he had anything to do with it. My mother started telling me about the feminist movement and the glass ceiling long before I could completely understand what they were. It didn’t seem relevant. It wasn’t that I couldn’t appreciate the history of a fight for human rights, but this is America. This is now. We are equal. In my family, there was never any doubt about whether Mom or Dad was in charge; they were a team. I never thought that I would have to deal with the prejudices my mom warned me existed.

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher told my parents that I was “too bossy.” This was probably true, but my father fired back that if I had been a boy, she would have praised my leadership qualities. At the age of seven, the same amount of little boys and girls want to be President when they grow up, but by the time they reach the age of 15, far fewer young women than young men want to be the Chief Executive. There is nothing in the Constitution today about equal rights regardless of gender. My generation wants to believe that the feminist movement is over. We take equal opportunities for granted, but the fight isn’t over. It has barely begun.

In high schools across the country, it has been clearly shown that the girls are beating the boys. Yet girls are less likely to speak out in class, and outside of academics, most leadership positions are held by men. In the New Hampshire Youth and Government Program I was the only woman out of over 400 students to run for the position of Governor at the state level during my senior year, and I lost. At the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security, over seventy percent of the participants were men. In my focus group of thirty, I was the only woman to hold an elected position of power in our National Security simulation exercise. I was in the position of President. In over 20 other focus groups, only one other woman was elected President. The United States Senate Youth Program is an incredible program sponsored by the Senate and funded by the Hearst Foundation, which selects two students, male and female, for the additional honor of being the keynote speakers for the closing ceremony. Although nearly every single man in the program tried out for the speech, only 20 or 30 women tried out. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we still need to fight for our place at the table. And too many women are throwing in the towel.

We must send a strong message to our young people: do not be satisfied with the achievements of your mothers and grandmothers. Get angry when media outlets always comment on the clothing choices of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, and yet say nothing about what Barack Obama or Mitt Romney chooses to wear. Fight back when it seems to be acceptable for women to be judged by appearance rather than intelligence. Fight harder when women in leadership are said to be “bitchy” or “intimidating” or “too emotional.” On paper and in the courts we have the right to reach for the same goals as men. But we can’t reach those goals until society respects women in leadership as equals. Achieving that respect begins with relighting the fire of the feminist movement, and recognizing that we are not done yet. 

Megan MacInnes is a first year student at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a ConVal Regional High School graduate from Francestown, New Hampshire. During high school, she participated and held leadership roles in a wide variety of activities, including New Hampshire Youth and Government, theater, and the Peterborough Children’s Choir. During her senior year of high school, she was President of the National Honor Society and was selected as one of New Hampshire’s two delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program. At the University of Pennsylvania, she is a member of Penn Democrats, Dischord A Cappella, and the Kite and Key Service Organization.