Lady McRobbie empowers campus women

Fifteen of the brightest women on campus gathered for a private dinner with IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie and leaders from the Office for Women’s Affairs  on Thursday to discuss issues of empowerment as well as women’s issues.

The students and faculty discussed how empowerment affects them personally and contributes to their understanding of the issues affecting women on campus.

Some of the attendees noted their families as their source of empowerment and commented on the small number of women present in leadership positions at IU. 

Attendees said they took away a broader view of campus and an excitement about the unique opportunity of the evening.

In attendance was senior Abby Skinner, who founded the idea for the dinner in 2008 while a member of the IU Student Association. She thanked OWA Dean Yvette Alex-Assensoh for being so receptive to the idea.

This was only the second time OWA sponsored this event.

The attendees gathered together at the end of the evening for a speech by McRobbie.
McRobbie opened by discussing the situation women found themselves in during the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1969, she said, women made up only 11 percent of the IU faculty, but this figure has risen to almost half of the faculty. She also spoke about the advances women have made in the academic world since that time.

“Women got to this point because women of my mother’s generation made it happen,” McRobbie said.

She defined empowerment as the “gift that gives” as she encouraged attendees to go back into their communities to empower the others around them.

The women present at the dinner represented numerous organizations, areas of study, nationalities and backgrounds. They discussed achieving empowerment through self-motivation, advocacy and by complimenting others in public and criticizing them in private.

The evening ended with OWA presenting McRobbie with a small token of appreciation for her presence and participation. Alex-Assensoh added that she was pleased with the conversations during the dinner.

Lady McRobbie said she was greatly impressed by the talented and passionate company in which she found herself.

In the past, Lady McRobbie has worked with OWA to congratulate women in faculty positions as they accomplish new feats in their fields, such as achieving tenure.