Female Leader for Dems

Paralleling the takeover of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as the first female speaker of the House in history, the Harvard College Democrats last week elected their first female president in six years. Six of the ten students on the College Dems’ executive board are female as well.

The incoming four-member executive board of the Institute of Politics (IOP) Student Advisory Committee (SAC) also follows this trend, as it will be composed entirely of women, all of whom are uncontested for their positions.

The new College Dems president, Brigit M. Helgen ’08, called the female majority on the board, which had five women last year and three women two years ago, a kind of "snowball effect."

"If women don’t see other women holding executive positions, they won’t necessarily see it as a natural progression. The more women that are on the board, the more women run for board positions," Helgen said.

"When [Helgen] was leading all the campaign efforts this fall, the younger women in the club saw her as a leader and that gave them confidence to also be leaders," said Former College Dems President Eric P. Lesser ’07, who added that he tried to create an environment of inclusion during his tenure.

The new president of the IOP’s SAC, Elizabeth M. Grosso ’08, also credits the make-up of the SAC board to the "largely female" composition of the IOP staff and the presence of "positive role models."

Many women in the IOP also made "a concerted effort to develop the leadership abilities of women in the organization," Grosso added.

Meanwhile, the newly elected seven-member executive board of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC) is composed of all males.

"We don’t have quotas for our board, and there are just yearly fluctuations," said HRC President Jeffrey Kwong ’09, who also said that almost half of HRC’s members are women.

"We’ve always had women leadership. Last term, two of the executive members were women, and with almost half of the general board being women, women are an essential part of our leadership efforts," Kwong said.

According to Helgen, over the next year, the College Dems will focus on increasing their membership and diversity before next year’s national primaries.

This year’s College Dems election marks the first time presidential and vice-presidential candidates ran on the same ticket, a decision designed to promote joint executive leadership, Lesser said.

In the past when the president and vice president ran separately, the two leaders often conflicted over ideas and aims, according to Lesser and Helgen.

"We wanted one unified vision for the organization," Helgen said.