YOUNG
WOMEN LEADERS AND STUDENTS TO PLAY A KEY ROLE
IN BARNARD SUMMIT
Young
women leaders and students from Barnard College
will participate in a series of forums to identify
the salient issues facing women's leadership
in an era of political, military and global
change. The issues raised during this unique
Young Women's Leadership Summit are slated to
become a central part of the upcoming Barnard
Millenium Summit on October 27th. Distinguished
speakers at the Barnard Summit include Janet
Reno; General Claudia Kennedy, the Army's first
three-star woman general; Rosabeth Moss Kanter,
Harvard business professor and author; and Marian
Wright Edelman, president of the Children's
Defense Fund. Among other issues, these panelists
will address the topics identified by the young
women leaders; thereby creating an intergenerational
approach to looking at women's leadership in
the 21st century.
"The Young Women's Leadership Summit was specifically
designed to ensure that young women's voices
are heard and engaged during Barnard's exciting
conference," said White House Project president
Marie C. Wilson. "Democracy, leadership and
governance are at the top of the nation's agenda.
The Young Women's Leadership Summit provides
a means of ensuring that the perspective of
the next generation of women leaders becomes
part of the dialogue as Millenium participants
explore the future of women's leadership."
The
White House Project, a national non-partisan
organization that challenges biases against
women's leadership, has a range of initiatives
underway including programs centering on young
women's leadership development. The organization's
study "Pipeline to the Future: Young Women and
Political Leadership" -- the first in-depth
analysis at engaging young women in political
leadership - found that mentoring, internships
and hearing about women's achievements makes
them more interested in a career in politics.
"Mentoring and networking opportunities not
only inspire young women to become political
leaders, but leaders in other fields as well,"
said Wilson. "The Young Women's Leadership Summit
will provide an opportunity for building new
relationships that will lead to new opportunities
for mentoring and collaboration," she added.
"This is a critical step in building the leadership
pipeline."
As
the convenor of The Young Women's Leadership
Conference, The White House Project worked closely
with the Winds of Change Foundation and The
Ford Foundation in conceiving how to make the
Young Women's Leadership Summit a springboard
for bringing young women's voices into Barnard's
conference. Through numerous meetings and activities,
Young Women's Leadership Summit activities participants
will discuss new models of leadership, international
lessons of effective leadership and the gender
issues facing women leaders. They will also
explore new approaches to fostering women's
leadership across political, racial, ethnic
and socioeconomic boundaries.
The
twenty young women leaders participating in
the Summit range from age 22 to 35 and represent
a wide range of fields including politics, law,
the media and academia. "Already leaders in
their fields, these young women are making decisions
that affect the economy, politics and culture.
It's important that they raise questions about
leadership that should be explored," said Wilson.
Discussions from the Summit will be published
as part of the Millenium's proceeds and will
also be used as a platform to develop new curricula
and new models that organizations can use to
build bridges between academia and social activism.
To
effectively address the thinking generated by
Summit participants into Barnard's conference,
the issues and questions developed by the young
leaders will be identified and linked to Barnard's
panel agendas. In addition, the students participating
in the Young Women's Leadership Summit will
also contribute their perspective, by raising
questions from the floor in the open discussions.
The twenty young leaders and the twenty student
participants will also meet intermittently throughout
the Barnard conference to share observations,
insights and to continue prioritizing issues
that need to be raised and discussed.
Editor's Note: Established in 1998, The White
House Project and The White House Project Education
Fund's programs enhance public perceptions of
women's capacity to lead, change biases against
women's leadership ability, and foster the entry
of women into positions of leadership, including
the U.S. presidency.
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