I recently received two messages from Trinity students who are showing great leadership in organizing Trinitys participation in the STAND movement to raise awareness and advocacy for the genocide in Darfur.   Tega Okah, Ijeoma Arize and Brigid Otieno participated in an event on the Mall last weekend, and this is their account:

"We are the members of the Trinity DC STAND chapter. STAND is the student led division of the anti-genocide coalition. We just wanted to share with you what an amazing weekend we had. We attended an event called tents for hope at the national mall on Saturday and Sunday where we were able to join other student activists and say no this genocide in Darfur. It was truly motivational experience for most of us. We were also lucky to meet some Darfurians who have been able to escape the atrocity and are using their voices to speak strongly about the importance and urgency of the situation…."

In a second message, Tega continues…

"It was a very enriching experience for us to be able to interact with other youth leaders who are coming together to stop this genocide. It is truly amazing that our generation has been very active in championing some of the fascinating experiences of our time, from the overwhelming support we showed President-elect Obama  to our interest in environmental issues as shown in Power Shift. Now we are trying to channel that level of enthusiasm to the fight to end the genocide. We want to use this opportunity to remind and channel the Trinity family that we have a responsibility to protect. After the genocides in Germany, Armenia and Rwanda, countries of the world including the United States signed a treaty that we will never let this happen again. Unfortunately, it is happening again in Darfur. We have a call-a-thon coming up as well as the Darfur fast on December 3rd. It is our desire that all Trinity joins us in this fight and choose to not STAND by but STAND up."

Congratulations to Tega, Ijeoma and Brigid for your leadership in this important cause!

Ok, here's The List:

1. Norway
2. Finland
3. Sweden
4. Iceland
5. New Zealand
6. Philippines
7. Denmark
8. Ireland
9. Netherlands
10. Latvia
11. Germany
12. Sri Lanka
13. United Kingdom
14. Switzerland
15. France
16. Lesotho
17. Spain
18. Mozambique
19. Trinidad and Tobago
20. Moldova
21. Australia
22. South Africa
23. Lithuania
24. Argentina
25. Cuba
26. Barbados
27. United States
28. Belgium
29. Austria
30. Namibia

OK, so, thinking about that lineup, class, this list must be a rank-order measurement of countries according to:

a)  fjords per capita
b) percentage of the population who are Bono fans
c) statistical probability of seeing men in lederhosen
d) equality of opportunity between men and women

If you chose "d" you win the Gender Gap knowledge award for 2008!   And, here's your prize, a free link to the Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum.  (go ahead, click on that link, it won't hurt a bit — until you read the actual facts!)

Every Trinity student, faculty and staff member should read this report.   How many times do people say to us, "What?  A Women's College?   In THIS day and age?  Haven't women achieved equality yet?"  Well, here's the best proof yet of the need to persist in our mission of advancing the cause of women's education and advancement.

Look at that list again.  The United States.  Shame, shame, shame.   We are only 27th, beat out by Cuba, Mozambique, Lesotho, and for heavens sakes, Latvia.   We know the Norse and Fins and Swedes are pretty advanced in their civilization, perhaps something to do with all that cold air, but heck, Argentina beats the U.S. on gender equity, too!

Why does the most economically secure, most powerful nation on earth lag so badly in gender equality?  If you look at the data in the report, you'll see that we do very well on education, but flunk on political empowerment.    I guess that's not so surprising when we think about the Hillary Clinton v. Sarah Palin problem.   Now that the election is over, we should deconstruct this conundrum.   Hillary is the real thing:  a very strong, decisive, powerful woman who, precisely because of those qualities, invites demonization and detraction consistently, and large suspicion.   Sarah may well be strong, decisive and powerful, too, but in the election she allowed herself to be used as a foil of sorts, an "acceptable" female candidate with a wildly complex set of conflicting images — hockey mom and friend of Joe Sixpack, gun-totin' maverick and shopaholic.   Sarah was "safe" for a certain swatch of the population because she did not seem quite so smart, so threatening as a Hillary — and isn't that the problem we face, the need for women to repress their smarts and true leadership abilities in order to gain favor.   Take off the parka and put on the Chanel suit.   Sarah lost, too, because in the end she became a cariacature.   Americans may be suspicious of the powerful Hillary figure, but when the SNL parody uses the script from real life, they reject that image of women's leadership, too.

We have a long way to go, baby.

PS:  Trinity's own Nancy Pelosi '62 is "the most powerful woman in U.S. political history" according to politico.com  Speaker Pelosi remains the only woman in the room at many of the most important meetings in this town, see Reuters photo below as she meets on November 6 with leaders of the U.S. Automobile industry — CEOs of Chrysler, Ford, General Motors.   This singular example of women's leadership illustrates the plain fact that it will be many more generations before a table full of chairs and CEO's from any industry includes significant numbers of women.

One week after the historic election of Barack Obama, what's next?   With our notoriously short attention spans and famous proclivity to savage leadership figures before they've even changed their business cards, will Americans give the new president a chance to get his administration established before passing judgment?   "Change" was the mantra of the election season, but those of us who have practiced institutional change professionally know that real change takes a very long time.

What are the real items on the change agenda for the United States?   Beyond the sound bytes and debate points and empty campaign rhetoric, what kinds of change will produce lasting positive effects on our society, economy and ability to restore this nation's good name in the larger global community?

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A few additional comments from members of the Trinity community offering observations on last week's election.

View some video comments on the election by clicking on this link:

more-election-comments.AVI

Dr. Diane Forbes-Berthoud of the Communication Program urges everyone in the Trinity community to read about Nelson Mandela's 8 Lessons of Leadership published in Time magazine.

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Kathryn Loussaint adds her voice to the commentary:

"This election is not just a victory for the African American community but for all Americans as a whole. A new sense of hope and possibilities comes from this election. As a child of immigrant parent, this is the reason why they left their homes. The numerous opportunities that are available in this great country seem so much more attainable because of this election. I am proud to say that I AM AN AMERICAN!"

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