Legal Momentum Briefing Room

Vision 2020: Recommendations from the Panel on Engineering, Science, and Technology

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her seventh post.

For success in our global economy, we need to increase the teaching of more computational skills into the classroom.  Other countries, which have had more women involved in leadership positions, have exceeded the "tipping point."  With more women in the pipeline at all levels, in school, college, middle-level positions, and top leadership, the leadership and inclusion issues have dissipated.  If there is a narrow pipeline and it leads, leadership and the pool of women and people of color in these fields drops off.  The panel discussed how to increase the number of women in the sciences in the Academy.  We need to work to make the heads of departments responsible for the money that women need for their research.  As in other fields, we need metrics to measure progress, and, to make that happen, we need to tie department chairs’ bonuses to the success of all people in their departments, including women and people of color.  

In response to a comment from a Delegate in the audience, the panel also noted that focusing on keeping a nose count of "leaders." This is fine as an indicator of progress or success, but the standard should be the numbers of women in the work place. We should do a better job of highlighting women succeeding in meddle-level positions so that more women can see themselves succeeding in what they think is a realistic fashion. In science, we need to make clear that there are great jobs in sciences and high tech jobs that do not require four-year degrees. 

The panel on engineering, science, and technology made the following recommendations to the Vision 2020 Delegates:

Francine Berman, Professor of Computer Science; and Vice President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:

• Work to get more women into decision-making roles in the fields of engineering and the sciences.
• Take action steps: Accept the challenge to we want to help others ascend the ladder.  
• Each of us, in our own realms, should encourage work outside our comfort zones, and work to the next level.  If in research, write a grant. Apply for the promotion. Encourage someone else to do the same.
• Advocate for ourselves. Advocate for others who follow.

Lori Bettison-Varga, President, Scripps College; and M. Keck Foundation Presidential Chair:

• Equality is about accepting differences; our organizations need to have many different people, and voices, at the table.  How do we change our own view of ourselves and who is at the table?
• We need to turn this into a research issue. Why with the huge numbers of women in the work force, do they drop off as they profess through their careers? We need to understand the reasons why women make the choices they make and how can we help open up those choices.  

Mae C. Jemison, Astronaut, NASA; first woman of color to go into space; and founder and President, Jemison Group, and BioSentient Corp.:

• Understand that who is at the table makes a difference. That is as important in the sciences as in any other field.
• Women in the sciences seem to be marginalized. Connect with women in other fields and include them in your policy-making groups and incorporate their views and ideas in areas outside their (and your) areas of expertise.

Vision 2020: Women and the Media - Inequality in Action

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her sixth post, co-authored by Legal Momentum's Director of Development, Amy Levine.

The panel on Communications and Media focused on continued sexism in the media, both in terms of the portrayal of women in the media and women's access to leadership and visibility in the media. Morgan Coffey, an 18-year-old Delegate from Georgia, the youngest Delegate at the Convention, reported a dramatic example of how sexism in the media today. In 2009, Morgan won the Girl Scout Gold Award and was named a Young Woman of Distinction. The Gold Award is comparable to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Scout Award.  The newspapers in Morgan's hometown devote a full-page spread to each Boy Scout who receives the Eagle Scout Award. However, Morgan’s accomplishment warranted one sentence. This is just one example of how the media continues to discriminate in the public eye and the message that it sends to girls and boys.

One of the panelists, Kathleen Jamison of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, recommended that Morgan talk to friends back home and take out an ad in the local papers that says, we would like to demonstrate how proud we are of Morgan’s accomplishments and the refusal of the paper to recognize her accomplishments. Women at the conference volunteered to assist in that effort. If you want more information, please contact Vision 2020 here.

Vision 2020: Recommendations from the Panel on Media and Communications

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her fifth post.

Kathleen Jamison opened with a powerful statement about the pervasive double standard in the media in dealing with women and women candidates. The media needs a wide range of sources on a wide range of issues, and women should not be interviewed simply on "women’s issues." The panel emphasized that women need to train themselves on media and push back on the messages that the media repeat about women.  Jehmu Greene reiterated that all of us need to call out the sexist treatment of women in the press, and the sexist treatment and labeling of women candidates. Linda Greenhouse emphasized that we need to find creative ways to help identify women as sources. Jehmu Greene of the Women’s Media Center talked about how women can use the media to advance our cause: "We cannot grow our movement without focusing on the lack of women’s equality in all fields." Do not ignore young women and social media. We need to grow our sisterhood by talking to people who do not belong to our networks. 

As with other panels, the media and communications panelists stressed that we need to get more women in all positions in leadership. We also need to recognize that the strongest advocate of women’s issues may not be a woman. If we are in the room, will we stand up for all issues of equality?  

We must work to ensure that sexism is as repugnant as racism.

The panel on media and communications presented the following recommendations to the Vision 2020 Delegates:

Jehmu Greene, Past President, Women’s Media Center; and Key Organizer for Rock the Vote :

• Create your own media and take the opportunity through citizen journalism. 
• Own your expertise.  Women are not as aggressive in advancing our opinions as sources of knowledge and expertise.  
• Take advantage of this organizing moment.  The disparities we observe and the work to overcome them needs to be shared.  
• Look at the generational piece:  find a mentor and continuing to find mentors for yourselves and learn lessons.  We need to applaud and appreciate the next generation because the divide will prevent us from growing and building this movement.    
• To affect the media, tell the advertisers that you hate the messages that they are supporting. "Do it longhand and online."  Make it personal--make it your passion whether you are at lunch or dinner.  Express your views.  

Linda Greenhouse, Knight Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law, Yale University; and former Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times:

• We are in a new media environment today, with internet media and social networking.  Take this as an opportunity and work to exploit it, rather than seeing it as a source of fear and anxiety.
• Bring in and grow a generation of young women in your field.
• To find women’s voices in op-ed pages of our major newspaper, women need to submit more op-eds for publication.    

Kathleen Hall Jamison, Elizabeth Warren Packard Professor of Communication, Annenberg School of Communication and Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania:

• Be vigilant about the connection between sexism and ageism.  Women are much more likely to be the victims of ageism; there is a ceiling in our society for women as they age.  That should change as more successful women age, and we see women as Secretary of State, as women reporters, and other successful leaders. 
• Advocate for change in antiquated attitudes that prevent use of talent at all levels and ages.

Vision 2020: Recommenations from the Panel on Education

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her forth post.

The panel discussed how to increase the pipeline of women into top leadership positions in education.  All agreed that we need to start with girls long before they get to college. We should focus on girls in grades K through 12. Look at peer mentoring older girls to younger girls to increase confidence of girls at all levels.  The panel challenged the Delegates to be bold in their imaginings of how to increase women at all levels in the field. To increase competitiveness, the panel emphasized year-round education in the United States. We need to ensure that all children in the U.S. have early childhood education, and we need to look at ways of addressing the increasing costs of higher education.

The panel emphasized that it takes courage to be successful and achieve excellence.  Be Bold!  And bring others up behind you.

The panel on education presented the following recommendations to the Vision 2020 Delegates:

Margarita Calderon, Professor Emerita and Senior Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins University School of Education:

• Encourage women to publish and amplify their views of what “education” is.  Who will be in the Academy next year?  In ten years?
• As baby boomers retire, many opportunities will be opening up in education and the Academy.  Encourage women to reach for those positions and encourage them to work toward obtaining top leadership positions in education.

Rebecca Chopp, President, Swarthmore College, and scholar of religion and American culture:

• Fund education. Stop cutting budget dollars devoted to education, which is penny wise and pound foolish.
• Support and encourage young girls both inside and outside the classroom. Support and encourage girls to participate in clubs and extra curricular activities so that they develop friendships among like-minded kids, develop leadership skills, and promote confidence and expertise.

Roger Lehecka, Founder, Columbia University's Upward Bound Program; and Principal, R&R Education Consulting:

• Teach math and science to girls. Encourage girls to excel in mathematics and the sciences.
• Don’t just focus on the elite institutions. Many "out groups" and people with non-traditional backgrounds attend the education institutions in their communities and online. We are missing many talented people by focusing only on "the top."
• All people, women and men, want more flexibility and integration with technology.

Vision 2020: Recommendations from the Panel on Health

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her third post.

The panel on health issues affecting women discussed gaps in the nation's health care system and the lack of research on medical needs and unique issues facing women and minority or ethnic groups. Like other panels at Vision 2020, the panel on health emphasized the need for more women in leadership roles in the fields of medicine and public health, highlighting the difference that women have made by helping to redirect at least some health funding dollars to issues affecting women, however, the panel also noted the dearth of research dollars devoted to women's health issues.

Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, President and CEO of Black Women’s Health Imperative and Co-Founder of the Africana Women’s Center at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia: 

• Women and people of color do not get the same access to health care as white men, and research dollars are not directed to issues that affect women and minority populations.  Regardless of your political views about the legislation itself, find one piece of the legislation where you can effect change in order to improve health and health outcomes for women. 
• Organize and develop prevention and wellness advocacy programs.

Richard V. Homan, M.D., President and Annenberg Dean of Drexel University College of Medicine:

• Allocation of medical research dollars is critically important. Advocate on Capitol Hill for research dollars on women’s health issues. 

Nancy Dickey, M.D., President of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for the Texas A&M University; Past President of the American Medical Association:

• Become involved in your state on issues affecting women’s health--your health. Create infrastructure to address those issues and to help direct research dollars to issues affecting women’s health issues. 
• Activate groups in your sphere of influence to work for change on these issues.  Understand the influence that you can have!

Vision 2020: Recommendations from the Panel on Business, Law, and Finance

Legal Momentum is a National Ally for Vision 2020, a national project that seeks to launch an action agenda to move the United States toward gender equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. On October 21-22, 2010, Vision 2020 sponsored "An American Conversation about Women and Leadership" in Philadelphia, featuring panels about increasing women’s leadership in all fields, from Law to Finance to Arts and Culture.

Lorelie Masters of Jenner & Block LLP served as a Vision 2010 Delegate from Washington, DC. She reflected on the conference in a series of blog posts for Legal Momentum. This is her second post.

The discussion by the panel on business, law, and finance highlighted themes that other panels throughout the conference discussed: the dearth of women in key leadership roles and the failure of our business and law firm to retain women and people of color in the numbers represented in the classes graduating from our colleges and professional schools. The failure to retain women is not simply a question of "increasing the pipeline." We have had sufficient numbers of women graduates for almost two decades, but the numbers of our women leaders in these fields remains at less that 20%.

The panel presented the following recommendations to the Vision 2020 Delegates:

Subha V. Barry, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Freddie Mac's newly created Office of Diversity and Inclusion:

• We need to leverage the power of women-oriented organizations.  Women should collaborate to focus on our agenda to advance women’s interests and use our collective voices to support our goals of advancing women in leadership and reducing pay disparities.
• Each of us should figure out what we can do to help.  Whom can I mentor?  What can I do influence the public debate, and the debate in each of our organizations.
• Promote education.  Create connections between women in the work force.

Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sunoco, Inc.:

• Establish, support, and participate in programs for young girls to show them how to be a successful leader.
• Use corporate procurement moneys and supply chains to support women and minority owned firms.
• Use your networks to advance your goals.  Teach women of all ages to establish networks and use their economic power to advance and support your equality goals.

Roberta Liebenberg, Partner, Fine Kaplan LLP, Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession:

• Develop commitment CEOs, firm managing partners, and other executives to increase women in positions of leadership. 
• Set percentage for increasing women in leadership positions.  For example, the Austin Manifesto, resulting from a gathering in late 2009 of leading women lawyers and in-house counsel, set a goal of 30% women in leadership by 2020.
• Insist on accountability.  Set benchmarks, develop metrics to measure how women are faring and whether the benchmarking goals are being met.  Tie manager compensation to meeting the benchmarks and goals.