Women in Power Conference: Rise. Challenge. Thrive.

Harvard Kennedy School’s student-organized Women in Power Conference, co-sponsored by the Belfer Center, attracted students, faculty, and community members who took advantage of the two-day opportunity in April to explore, discuss, and debate important issues relating to the advancement of women in leadership.

The conference theme, “Women in Power: Rise. Challenge. Thrive,” focused on uniting diverse perspectives and experiences relating to women in leadership positions. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International and a leading women’s rights activist, launched the conference by debunking myths about the global economy and discussing hidden and visible barriers for women and girls that deny them opportunities.

Panels covered a range of issues from debiasing classrooms and cracking the political glass ceiling to the future of women in the Republican Party, and the role of gender in climate change. The panelists included Kennedy School students and women in an array of power positions such as professors, CEOs of non-profit and for-profit organizations, mayors, and congressional delegates as well as a former EPA administrator and an under secretary of energy, and the current spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Belfer Center members who took part in the conference included Center Co-Director Eric Rosenbach, HKS faculty members Erica Chenoweth, Zoe Marks, and Kathy Pham, Arctic Initiative Co-Director Halla Logadóttir, digital HKS Associate Director Vanessa Rhinesmith, and Senior Fellow Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.

“The Women in Power Conference, the second women’s conference at the School, brought together more than 300 attendees and 70 panelists to explore issues and challenges facing women in public policy today,” said Alexandra (Alex) Schmitt, a conference co-organizer. “We’re extremely grateful for the Belfer Center’s ongoing support of this conference, which helps make sure that we get to spend a full weekend exploring how women can rise, challenge, and thrive at HKS and in their careers beyond.”