In the student counterpart to the World Leaders Forum Tuesday night, panelists discussed the challenges of amplifying women’s voices in the media and redefining feminist movements.
The Student Leaders Forum is a recent addition to Columbia’s World Leaders Forum tradition, which brings international figures to Morningside for speeches and panels.
University President Lee Bollinger moderated “Women and Leadership in the 21st Century” with guest speaker Jehmu Greene and four student panelists from the University.
Greene is president of the Women’s Media Center, a women’s advocacy organization, and also helmed Rock the Vote.
The four student panelists were Jia Ahmed, CC ’11, Janna Metzler, Mailman ’11, Maisah Rashid, BC ’10, and Jose Robledo, GS.
Emily Kenison, BC ’11 and a Columbia University Senator from Barnard’s Student Government Association, chaired the forum and said that the students were chosen because they are “some of the best and brightest and most passionate students at Columbia University.”
Bollinger said that the Student Leaders Forum is a key component of the larger goals of the World Leaders Forum. “We wanted to make sure that part of the World Leaders Forum involved the opportunity for students to think about who they would like—you would like—to have as part of the ongoing array of speakers and subjects.”
Bollinger said of the chosen topic of discussion, “It is very clear that we face as a society and as a world a very important set of questions around women in leadership roles.”
Greene, during the discussion, spoke about the importance of increasing women’s voices in the media and as experts in their fields. Issues branded as specific to women also need to be universalized, she said. “If women are the only ones talking on an issue, the national conversation suffers.”
Panelists debated the importance of redefining the language of feminism—which Greene argued is ancillary to the woman’s rights movement, saying that “re-branding” the discussion isn’t as important as engaging in activism.
This resonated with audience member Leah Petit, a student in the Mailman School of Public Health, who said she appreciated Greene’s empowering speech. “‘It’s time to do something and not to say something.’”
But Gabrielle Sarpy, BC ’11, said she thought the discussion could have benefited from more time and a greater emphasis on action. “I felt like we touched on a lot of issues but didn’t get to really dive in depth into any of them,” Sarpy said, adding, “I would have liked to learn more about ... concrete activism because I think the women and men of our generation don’t really know how to deal with it.”
Throughout the evening, panelists offered statistics that showed many disparities in the equality of men and women in settings like the work place and representative democracies. For some, this means there is a long way to go. Ahmed said it is important to exercise caution when praising the success of past feats in women’s rights, “because there’s this idea that the feminist movement has succeeded,” which panelists argued may produce a dangerous complacency.
Kenison said events like this are important because there needs to be greater awareness. “People think everyone’s on an equal playing field—but that’s not the case.”
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