Marianne Schnall talks about "What Will It Take to Make A Woman President?"

Marianne Schnall speaking to students in
Collis Commonground.

This event was partially funded by the Rockefeller Center Mini-Grants Program. For more information regarding Mini-Grants, click here.

On Tuesday, January 28th, activist and interviewer Marianne Schnall visited Dartmouth College for a packed afternoon engaging with students, faculty, staff and community members. Schnall was a guest in Janice McCabe’s Sociology of Gender course where the group engaged in an hour-long discussion on Schnall’s most recent book, What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? Conversations about Women, Leadership and Power. The class discussed the importance of having female role models in thinking about how to inspire young women and girls to pursue careers in the public sector and to look towards the American presidency as an opportunity to address social imbalances.

Schnall then partook in an intimate discussion with Helen Damon-Moore, the Tucker Foundation’s Director of Service and Educational Programs, Professor Jennifer Sargent, and Link Up executive board members Bridget Golob ’14, Iris Yu ’14, Moulshri Mohan ’15 and Julia Marino ’17. The meeting was focused on activism, community-building and the importance of inspiring others – fellow females on campus, especially – to take up new pursuits and follow their passions.

At Schnall’s public event in Collis Commonground, students lined up early to get their free copies of What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? Conversations about Women, Leadership and Power. The event was well attended by undergraduate and graduate students, and also attracted some faculty, staff and community members. Schnall gave a personal history of how she got involved with Feminist.com, interviewing, activism and more. She also shared a number of excerpts from her book and personal anecdotes, for instance about her interview with Oprah Winfrey. One thing Schnall touched on was that women’s rights are human rights – and nothing less. She also spoke to the fact that men and women can and should work together to address gender disparities to benefit the American public as a whole. Following the presentation, students asked questions and received personalized notes and signatures in their copies of Schnall’s book.

Students lining up for Schnall to sign their books.

This event had the dual benefit of providing the Dartmouth community with a chance to think about and discuss issues related to gender inequality – an issue greatly scrutinized at Dartmouth – and to find solutions together with the input of leading female voices, as interviewed by Marianne Schnall. To experience this conversation and to hear what barriers women face in their professional pursuits and how to work around them has only strengthened our community’s sense of purpose and direction in taking action and pursuing better opportunities.

--Bridget Golob '14, Rockefeller Student Staff and Link Up Executive Board member