One of the best things about Duke is the pride women take in their gender. No one embodies this more than the two leaders of the Gender and Identity Summit hosted by the Duke Culture Initiative. Cara Peterson and Brianna Welch worked tirelessly to create a special summit to examine the mechanics of social norms and how gender roles construct men and women and how our everyday behavior and development is restricted by them. The program kicked off with a talk from Ted Bunch on the way that young boys and men are involved with ending gender based violence and the stereotypes men are faced with every day. This opened many students’ eyes to the reality that social norms regarding gender are not only a woman’s issue. Men are constantly faced with ideals like being dominant, or not revealing emotion, just as women are viewed as inferior or more sentimental. This can inhibit many young men’s ability to express emotion leading to higher suicide rates, a smaller chance of seeking professional help, and unhealthy behavior.
The summit continued the next day by addressing what the external influences on a person’s character are; like school, media, family, and society. Another eye opener for students was the realization that these influences can have such a strong impact. A student panel discussed the things that their surroundings have taught them to identify with and allowed students to hear about and understand better the experiences of their classmates. Overall, the summit was a hit with everyone in attendance and truly facilitated open and honest conversations about what gender implies, how we are influenced, and what we can do to correct or confront unfair stereotypes.
One might ask how such an amazing and progressive event came to take place. Well, Cara and Brianna took the massive project on from the gender taskforce of Duke Student Government. The general idea came from the Gender Violence Intervention Proposal and took on a life of its own. Brianna and Cara, with the help of Greek Culture Initiative’s Allison Schuloff, were able to spread the project campus wide. Beginning in discussion groups and ending in an entirely new organization, the team planned from the end of May up until the event in fall semester. Duke helped these two amazing women reach out to Ann Wiseburg from Family Work Institute and Robin Eli of Harvard’s Business School. Both women thanked Duke for their overwhelming support and both cited that being not only allowed, but encouraged and reinforced by the University in their efforts reminded them what an amazing school we are all lucky enough to attend. This is a great encouragement to any of those that wish to begin their own special project or organization at Duke. Cara and Brianna agreed that the empathy building the weekend produced was by far the best part as all the students were exposed to such a different experience and reality than their own, which allowed them to really consider other points of view and reevaluate the biases they have come to hold. The work of Cara Peterson and Brianna Welch in putting together this incredible summit is astounding and makes them truly two campus celebrities.