Student Group Aims to Improve Gender Balance in the National Security Field

Women are beginning to make up a larger and more visible portion of the national security establishment, but they still remain in the minority of leadership positions. Women of color confront unique barriers to inclusion in a field that has traditionally been, in the words of former National Security Advisor and Belfer Center Senior Fellow Susan Rice, “white, male, and Yale.” When we (authors) started as students at HKS, we were disappointed by the lack of female representation at the Belfer Center and at security-related events. We created W3D: Women in Defense, Diplomacy, and Development, a student organization, to make a meaningful contribution to addressing the gender gap in security studies at HKS and in the broader foreign policy community. We aim to bring more female leaders to campus—and more effectively utilize those already on campus—to discuss their professional accomplishments, network with current students, and provide specific guidance and tools to women looking to enter or advance within the field. W3D is a student chapter of a Harvard-wide alumni organization founded by HKS National Security Fellow Liesl Carter in 2013. 

We are grateful for our partnership with the Belfer Center, which has provided support for our events throughout the semester. In March, we inaugurated W3D with a talk and reception featuring Ambassador Laura Holgate, a Belfer Center Senior Fellow who championed women’s inclusion while serving as the US Representative to the IAEA. We also hosted a “Female Faculty of Belfer” lunch series, where Professors Dara Kay Cohen and Juliette Kayyem highlighted their research and career paths. We have also co-sponsored events with female leaders like Michèle Flournoy, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, and Elissa Slotkin.