More Opportunities for Women Students at HKS
by Lena Benson on November 14, 2009 in HKS News, News
HKS students are witnessing an increase in the number of gender-related opportunities this year.
The Women and Gender Caucus was launched this fall by four MPP’10s: Molly Byrne, Carl Allen, Joni Angel, and Liz Terry. The Caucus was formed to engage both male and female students on gender issues as they relate to policy making, and to promote the presence of women speakers and fellows at HKS.
They have been working to ensure that female perspectives are represented on the faculty and in the curriculum. A flurry of female-led study groups have also been offered. They include Gina Ganz’s “Organizing for Power,” Peggy Noonan’s “Creativity in Journalism, in Politics, and in Life,” Stephanie Cutter’s “Eye of the Storm,”Kim Gandy’s “Winning Across Progressive Movements,” and Swanee Hunt’s “The Advocate’s Craft.”
“HKS seems to have a burgeoning support network for women,” said Jeannine Torres, MPA ’11. “Unfortunately, I have been unable to participate in a lot of them because of my schedule, but I appreciate their presence. It’s nice to know that I have the support if I need it.”
In addition, the HKS Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) has been continuing weekly seminars on topics ranging from salary negotiation to microfinance to The Oval Office Program, a selective one-of-a-kind yearlong series designed to encourage female students to run for public office and to prepare them for the various challenges of running a campaign.
Still, many students expressed concern that most of these programs either conflicted with required classes or failed to provide adequate social opportunities where they could regularly meet and learn from the career paths and life experiences of their female colleagues.
To address this deficit, some informal groups arose. Several African and African American female students created an email listserve to disseminate articles of interest. They also took a break from graduate school stress during monthly “Black Women’s Dinners” where they discussed issues that impacted them and provided academic and personal support to each other.
Some students also took advantage of summer internship opportunities working with women leaders. When Yordanos Eyoel, an MPP2 from Florida, was asked why she opted to take a summer internship in South Africa through the Council of Women World Leaders Program, she responded, “I felt that with my training at HKS, I didn’t have exposure to a lot of women leaders, and such an internship would afford me the opportunity to network with female professionals as well as equip me with skills to be an effective leader in male dominated spheres.”
But is this enough? Some voiced concerns that much of the positive changes may not roll over into next year. The burden should not be left on the female students to develop their own projects and community, they said, pointing out the need for more administrative support.
Allison Shapira, a Mid-Career MPA from Massachusetts, said she was optimistic that students’ initiatives will make these changes lasting. “These efforts should come from the ground up. It’s our leadership challenge as female students to create the kind of environment we want to see. We take responsibility for our own development, and the Kennedy School provides the opportunity.”
Only time will tell if this year’s opportunities will be as prevalent in the future, especially when students only have one or two years at HKS and take much of the institutional memory of their organizing efforts with them when they leave.
Nevertheless, this past month and a half have shown us that now is a good time to be a female student at HKS, and if these efforts do yield results, next year will be an even better time.
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