In Keynote, Abramson Urges Women To Be Resilient

Jill E. Abramson ’76, former executive editor of The New York Times, encouraged young women to persevere through setbacks in their personal and professional lives during her keynote speech at the Intercollegiate Business Convention at Hynes Convention Center Saturday.

“The main point I’m getting at here,” Abramson said, “is that women are damn resilient.”

Abramson was fired from her post at the Times last spring and now teaches in the English Department at Harvard. She has previously taught at Yale and Princeton and worked for publications such as Time Magazine, The American Lawyer, and The Wall Street Journal.

In her speech Saturday, Abramson paid homage to the women, such as veteran journalists Sandra Burton and Nan C. Robertson, who mentored and inspired her throughout her career.

When speaking about Burton, Abramson said, “Sandy kept pushing on doors, however firmly closed they were.” Burton, who was initially hired as a secretary, climbed the ranks at Time Magazine to become one of the first female correspondents for the magazine. She worked at the helm of the Boston bureau of Time while Abramson worked there.

Abramson also discussed Doris Kearns Goodwin, who was one of the first women to become a full Harvard professor when she received tenure in 1975 at age 31. Abramson applauded Goodwin for her resilience when the professor was stripped of tenure after a “silly dispute” with her publisher.

“That experience could have crushed her, but she went on to publish her book and many more. One of which, ‘No Ordinary Time,' won the Pulitzer Prize,” Abramson said.

Abramson also noted the efforts of women who are still active and ambitious in their careers to this day, such as politician Hillary Clinton and University President Drew G. Faust.

“I can definitely see how [Abramson] accomplished what she did now. She gets her message across very strongly,” said Jane Z. Chen ’17, a member of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business and an organizer of the event. “Resilience is an important message to pass on to others.”

Abramson also encouraged attendees to create and foster female support networks. That message rang true for Camila L. Rey ’17.

“Women also need to support each other,” she said.

When asked about her legacy, Abramson said that she not only wants to be remembered for her work as a journalist and efforts to break down gender barriers, but also for her personal and family life. She said that she plans to continue teaching at the College, writing, and hopefully have grandchildren.

The convention, which was hosted by Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, attracted over 1,200 attendees and also featured career fairs, networking sessions, and seminars in which participants learned various business techniques. Maureen Chiquet, chief executive officer of Chanel, and Lyndsey Scott, a model who has launched an effort to encourage more women to learn coding, also delivered keynote speeches.

Conference participants noted that Women in Business has made an effort to invite strong female role models to speak at its events.

“We try to promote female empowerment and equality in the workplace, especially in fields like finance and consulting, that are extremely male-dominated,” Chen said.