Gender in the Workplace Research Competition

Today I participated in an inspiring, edifying event, the culmination of several months-worth of work on the part of many people. I spent the morning at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, presenting research findings on behalf of my team and listening to other students present their findings for the Gender in the Workplace Research Competition, part of the Georgetown University Women in Leadership Initiative. The Initiative and the research competition (which was an extra-curricular "activity" for most of the participants) are sponsored by the business school at Georgetown and aim to raise awareness of gender-related issues in the workplace by giving students the opportunity to conduct social sciences-type research into issues and questions that affect women's ability to succeed professionally.

My team (pictured somewhat blurrily above, with our faculty advisor) studied the effects of gender on negotiation--that is, looking at how much anxiety and confidence in their negotiating abilities women had compared to men, as well as how they approached negotiations (e.g., an opportunity to learn, to show off skills, to fail, etc.)--all in the context of work. (If you would like additional information about our project, I'd be happy to share via email.)

I presented our findings for a panel of eight judges, all successful women executives from top corporations and organizations in the area, including AOL and Citigroup. After all the groups had presented, one group from each of the two rooms was chosen as a semi-finalist. They then had to present their projects again during a luncheon attended by over 200 executive sponsors, students, and faculty--as well as at least one reporter (who was sitting at my table). Everyone in attendance then voted on which presentation/project they liked best and the winner was announced at the end.

In between the semi-finalists' presentations and the announcement of the winner, DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee gave a riveting, inspiring speech about the state of DC public schools and her mission to reform them. We all wanted to join Teach for America after hearing her talk.

Not to kill the suspense, but my group didn't win, nor were we semi-finalists. That said, I was pleased with the presentation I gave, which I felt did justice to our findings and was a true reflection of all the hard work of the rest of the team members. Our research also seemed to be of great interest to the judges and sparked several interesting questions regarding avenues for further research. And truly, all the presentations were excellent.

I was particularly heartened by the comments of three of the judges who approached me individually afterwards to tell me that they really liked our project and thought I did an excellent job presenting for my team. In fact, one of the judges, who approached me after the luncheon, said that they all thought I was the best presenter, they really liked our research and thought our project was well-done, and that the only reason they chose the other group over us was because the other group had studied the "hot topic" of the day (computer-mediated communication).

Being involved in events and projects like this, hearing Michelle Rhee speak, meeting those successful women, and being surrounded by such smart people--all of it left me feeling motivated to reach for excellence in all that I do, and to ensure that my professional pursuits contribute to making the world a better place.

As a "thank you" gift, I got this awesome set of bracelets, hand-made by women in rural Guatemala and sold in the US and elsewhere by a non-profit organization called Wakami. It was truly a terrific day!