Ask What You Can Do

We heard a lot today about the research, the reasons behind, the power dynamics, and the realities of gender gaps in business, in politics, in wealth and across countries. I want to bring us back to Marie Wilson’s point: what are we going to do about it?

We have another day, to be sure. And tomorrow’s panels promise to reveal even more—we may not all aspire to political positions, know much about development, or even have control over financial decision making (although Davia Temin may have us thinking differently about how important this is) but we will all at one point or another, be a part of an organization and a team. Tomorrow’s panels and panelists speak directly to this aspect of our lives.

I want the conference to go on beyond tomorrow, though.

While speaking about this with Julia Dulan of Southern Company and Allison Muehlenbeck, a fellow MPP student, we decided to propose the following idea to the participants of this conference and to readers of this blog…

A pledge to take concrete, specific action within a specified time frame after the conference closes tomorrow. As the variety of panel themes shows, we come from many different industries, so this concrete action will likely take many different forms. However, we need to capitalize on the potential multiplier effect that comes with having an exceptional, smart, motivated group of people use the gendered data and stories discussed here today to turn friends into activists and associates into allies.

Maybe it’s hokey. But it’s one way to move beyond talk. And as someone who worked in the DC advocacy community prior to coming to graduate school, I know you can’t miss the opportunity to make the ask. If every single person in this room commits to take at least one concrete step that works to address one of the gender gaps we talked about today, we move the agenda forward.

I pledge, before October ends, to convene a similar group of young women, from across the graduate schools in the Boston area, to get together and discuss what action steps we will take on each of our own campuses. I see a need for more young(ish) women to take ownership of closing the global gender gap—and I see a lack of collaboration between sectors starting even at these early stages in our careers. I want to do something concrete about it.

In the spirit of John F. Kennedy and the school he inspired: what can you do?

Please feel free to share below!

Quotaahs in the U.S.

Marie Wilson, founder and President of the White House Project, just announced a radical idea: maybe we need to stop conferring at conferences and do more.

Her point: we know why women matter. We have the research to back up why it's a good idea for more women to be represented in corporate and public life. She has personally seen it happen--from an ER nurse in Michigan who passed the first health care plan for the state (before our federal government) to a woman who informed her Colorado community about water-care for houses, which was followed by a 65% drop in the rate of foreclosures. Yet, although conferences like the ones today have been occurring with relatively steady frequency (Ms. Wilson mentioned one from the 1990s and one from 2003)--the U.S. is actually dropping globally in its rate of political representation of women, from 49th in the world, to 58 to 73 today.

What are the prescriptions for change that will truly push us forward? Training, storytelling, old-fashioned organizing, changing voting patterns, and of course, adding money.

And maybe...quotaahs.


**A quick note about numbers: I'm blogging as I listen, so I apologize for any discrepancies.