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By Keely Savoie

When prominent alumnae in public service converged on Mount Holyoke College’s campus November 5-7 for the Women Leading in Public Service Summit, they came offering advice and encouragement. But most of all, they offered an invitation to join them at the table of power.

“I really believe women have a special commitment to make the world a better place,” said Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) ’59. “Being part of this all-woman network, working to improve life for others, is part of the Mount Holyoke tradition.”

Over three days, women in public service discussed the barriers still encountered by women who wish to enter public service. Other participants in the summit included Ann O’Leary ’93, senior policy advisor in; Ashley O’Connor ’95, strategic advisor to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign; Lourdes Melgar ’85, Mexico’s deputy secretary for energy and hydrocarbons; and Kathleen O’Connor-Ives ’99, state senator for the First Essex District of Massachusetts.

The stumbling blocks that remain, according to O’Leary, are a lack of confidence and of personal and network connections; a perceived vulnerability to political challenge; and the eternal struggle to balance family and work obligations.

But women bring a unique mindset to the public sphere that is not represented in bodies comprised largely of men, said O’Connor-Ives.

“Over the past 40 years, we have seen an enormous increase in women in the labor force, but we have not expanded our family-friendly policies and labor laws to keep pace,” she explained. “Women tend to focus more on issues of domestic violence, family issues ... but these are not women’s issues,” she said. “They are human issues.”

O’Leary noted that it is the absence of audacity—the kind of audacity it takes to cold-call someone in a position of power—that can keep women from opportunity.

“When I was announced as Hillary Clinton’s senior policy advisor, I got 25 calls to my office from young men looking for jobs,” she recalled. “Then I got one call—on my cell phone—from a woman, a Mount Holyoke student. I said, ‘Thank goodness you called!’ ”

The conference speakers continually emphasized the importance of making those connections—and of forging and sustaining the relationships with other women in political careers. O’Leary recalled that her first internship in Washington, DC was with a Mount Holyoke alumna, and another alumna hosted her while she stayed in the city to complete it.

Victoria Schuck, a Mount Holyoke professor in political science, was a key mentor for Lowey. Schuck championed Lowey’s career all the way from the classroom, to an internship, to her inauguration into Congress.

“She was so committed and so enthusiastic,” Lowey said. “She came to a party I had after my 1988 inauguration, with a paper I had written for her class before I graduated in 1959.”

Divya Chandramouli ’14, who graduated from Mount Holyoke with a degree in history, attended the conference to better understand the contemporary context in which women engage in politics, she said.

“It has been really inspiring to be among such accomplished women who facilitate change in our day and age,” she said. “I am walking away with a more nuanced understanding of what politics is and what it means to be politically active. Yet again, this is a reminder of how important it is to have women sitting at the table making policy.”

Related: View social media highlights on the Summit’s Storify collection.

Another attendee, Caroline Gochoco-Tsuyuki ’79, a college professor who also teaches science, technology, engineering, and math to middle school girls, was inspired to include leadership skills in her teaching of STEM. She recognized the need to reach girls at a young age and give them the skills, confidence, and courage to pursue leadership in their careers.

During her closing remarks at the summit, Mount Holyoke President Lynn Pasquerella noted that no matter where one is in her career, she must reach out to others and shore up the place of women at the table of power.

“Frances Perkins—the first female cabinet member (and a 1902 Mount Holyoke alumna)—felt an urgency and necessity to make sure that she had a place at the table so she could continue to open doors for other women,” Pasquerella said. “Each and every one of you here has done that. You are the changemakers.”

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