CSB President MaryAnn Baenninger attended the first Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) colloquium on Dec. 15. Led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this colloquium discussed the goals of WPSP, namely to help women worldwide become involved in public service.
Clinton created the WPSP to understand all-women colleges and how they can help women in the U.S. and abroad become more active in the public sector.
One of the major goals of the project is called “50% by 2050.” The WPSP website defined this goal as “envision(ing) a world in which political and civic leadership is at least 50 percent female by 2050.”
Baenninger believes this goal is completely feasible, particularly because of the larger number of women in higher education. Furthermore, political unrest, such as the Arab Spring, has allowed oppressed women to gain a voice. WPSP is expected to be especially influential in developing nations.
“I don’t want to have this big launch with famous speakers be only that-and then go away,” Baenninger said. “I want this to really get off the ground.”
At the conference, Baenninger, along with other women college presidents, attended a small breakfast with special guests, including Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and political activist Gloria Steinem. At the larger conference, internationally recognized women spoke about the need for worldwide representation of women in public service.
CSB/SJU is already doing its part to bring this plan into action. A grant proposal has been submitted to the State Department that, if passed, will allow CSB/SJU to host a summer delegation of women from the Middle East. During this delegation, the women will learn about U.S. government and policy.
Baenninger believes this is an important step in promoting WPSP on campus.
“At CSB, we’ve had a deep history of having people in public services,” Baenninger said.
With the IWL, the McCarthy Center, a strong political science department and the Jackson Fellows Program, Baenninger believes CSB already embodies the idea of WPSP. In addition, CSB/SJU students have strong foreign language backgrounds, which is a necessary skill for public affairs.
Baenninger believes that world governments and politics are best served if the numbers of men and women involved are relatively equal.
However, a majority of these public service jobs are held by men because women simply choose not to participate.
She believes many women do not run because holding office is not necessarily pleasant and women often believe they are not qualified to hold office, even if they have simular skills and backgrounds as men.
“Read the news, especially political and international news about women’s issues,” Baenninger said. “Pay attention to the political system and the status of women when you study abroad. Be actively involved in politics. Try public service internships. Women can change the way politics work, but it’s not going to change if we don’t get into it.”