On Monday, March 8, Luther College commemorated International Women’s Day with a student panel discussion titled “Women in The Lead: Student Experiences at Luther.” The event was created to open a dialogue surrounding the joys and challenges of being a woman in a leadership position. Four student organizations came together to co-sponsor the event, including the International Feminist Club (IFC), which is in its inaugural year. President of IFC and panel moderator Salomé Valdivieso (‘23) expressed her excitement about the high level of student engagement for the event.

“I’m very honored that this is one of the first activities that we organized,” Valdivieso said. “I think what we represent as a student organization is the intersectionality aspect. We don’t just represent women or people of the LGBTQ community, but we’re for people of color and the different minorities on campus [as well]. I think that our inspiration to have this event was to bring up those voices.”

Valdivieso was joined by three other female leaders on campus who represented some of the most prominent student organizations in the Luther community. These voices included Kelao Charmaine Neumbo (‘21), president of the International Students and Allies Association (ISAA), Ursula Damtse (‘22), social media coordinator for the Black Student Union (BSU), and Evelyn Montoya (‘23), president of Latines Unides.

The panelists opened the event by responding to three questions while encouraging attendees to utilize the Q&A chat feature and interact directly with the speakers. Montoya stated that this form of engagement was what she was most excited for, in addition to sharing her own perspective on what it’s like being a woman in leadership.

“I’m currently the president of Latines Unides, and I thought it would be good for me to do the panel because the previous co-presidents of Latines Unides were both male,” Montoya said. “I really wanted to show…[people in the] Luther community that anyone is capable of a leadership position — not just males — because society has been run by males for the past century. I wanted to change that pattern. Even though I was a rising sophomore I thought, let’s go for it, let’s run [for President of Latines Unides].”

While International Women’s Day is a global holiday, the panelists noted that it is not widely celebrated in America, and some admitted they did not even know it was a holiday prior to coming to Luther.

In addition to talking about the importance of recognizing the achievements of women, many of the panelists chose to speak about the added challenges they have faced as women of color in leadership roles. Damtse explained how she felt in regards to leadership opportunities for women of color on campus.

“Women of color on campus are honestly not as motivated to step into some spaces on campus because they do not feel comfortable in those spaces,” Damtse said. “Just providing the opportunity, in my opinion, is not enough. There are some spaces on campus where…I [did] not feel comfortable taking up [an] opportunity…because I didn’t want to go through microaggressions that may come along with being in that position. There are opportunities for
everyone, but the question now is how conducive is that environment for a woman of color?”

Nuembo added her own perspective commenting on the impact of society on creating limitations in leadership when it comes to women. She emphasizes the importance of taking into account the dangers of internalized inferiority that come from this.

“I think…women are categorized into restrictive boxes [based on] societal norms and [only] seen as caregivers…having to be soft and humble,” Neumbo said. “Having [leadership] qualitie, being assertive or confident, for women are seen as aggressive [in addition to] not advantageous. [The result] is a lack of self-confidence.”

In addition to sharing their challenges with stepping into positions of authority, Valdiviseo noted the positives that have come out of these experiences. The creation of this event itself has been a shifting point for the college as it brings student voices to the forefront of conversations surrounding what it’s like to be a woman in leadership.

“I think this is the first time [during] my time at Luther that an event with so many students from different organizations [has] happen[ed] and it is very symbolic that it’s happening on International Women’s Day,” Valdiviseo said. “It also happens that all of the presidents from [these] student organizations are women of color. I think that this is very historic and symbolic. [It] represents a lot of the things that I think we should achieve more. Not just here at Luther, but worldwide we need more females in leadership positions.”

The panel was held over zoom and recorded for those who missed the event, or want to watch it again. To access the archived video, please visit the Luther College website.