A call to action for increased female representation

On Sept. 18, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. While she lived a long life with an incredible career, it left many women, including myself, anxious about their future in the U.S. She dedicated her life to the law and fought for women’s rights and equality. I am one of many women in the Haub School of Business who aim to do the same. 

We want there to be  equal opportunities and increased representation of women across all majors to enhance women’s experiences in school and beyond. There are some groups in which this is a more prevalent conversation, but they are not nearly as frequent as they should be. 

Freshman year, I was one of nine women out of 35 students in my financial accounting class. We sat together in the front of the room and consistently raised our hands to answer questions. Most times, the professor called on two or three men before calling on one of the women. My voice was not promoted in the classroom. I did not stop raising my hand, but throughout the semester, I noticed some of the other women did. 

I am in other classes where a majority of the students are female. These classes are typically thought-provoking and challenging, like political science or philosophy. Here, I feel empowered to voice my opinion and ask questions. 

But I do not feel this same empowerment in my Diversity in the Workplace class, which is also a majority of women. In this class, I feel as though the discussions protect the men in the room from becoming too uncomfortable. I want to dig deeper into the importance of inclusion in the workplace. I want to have difficult conversations because that’s the only way change happens, yet I don’t feel that sentiment from the classroom environment I am in. 

Feeling discouraged about my environment, I attended my first Women’s Leadership Initiative meeting this year. In the Zoom meeting, we went around and introduced ourselves and I had a moment of shock. Out of a group of 30 women, I was one of three business majors. 

These women strive to empower each other to be leaders in every situation. Why would women in the business school deny themselves an opportunity to grow in this way? Because women in the business school are not challenged to look at themselves as leaders. 

Since enrolling in the business school in 2018, I have seen an increased awareness of the intersection of social justice and business. There has been a push to promote the United Nations’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDG). 

However, their promotion falls short on SDG number five: gender equality. I have never been in a conversation that aims to promote this goal. This is an area of growth for Haub School of Business’ SDG promotion, and I want to start this conversation. 

The Haub School of Business should empower women leaders in their programs. Not only does this align with our Jesuit values, but it also prepares women for the real world. 

Right now, as a Jesuit business school in one of the most diverse cities in the nation, we have a duty and an opportunity to lead the way in women’s equality in the business sphere. 

We need to begin programs that empower women’s leadership skills in the boardroom. We need to host workshops that facilitate conversations between men and women about leadership that place women at the center of the narrative. We need to start using inclusive pronouns when talking about the hypothetical CEO of a company in class. We need to encourage women to raise their hands in class, and we need to encourage professors to call on women when they do so. 

We should be advertising that our three associate deans are all women and that three of the seven department chairs are women. This knowledge excites young women because they see that being a leader is a possible goal to achieve, which has not been the story for a long time. These changes and implementations might seem small, but this is where change starts. 

Saint Oscar Romero called on us to “plant the seeds that will one day grow.”  Let’s plant seeds of gender equality and empowerment in the Haub School of Business that continue to be fostered in the business world beyond Hawk Hill.