Yale panel discusses need for fostering more women leaders

Led by Yale’s World Fellows Program to develop global leaders, an array of Yale organizations will host a panel on Tuesday, Oct. 9 to discuss the need for women worldwide to assume leadership roles in all sectors of the economy and public life.

The event, titled “How to Nurture Women Leaders: A Global Conversation,” takes place in the Yale University Art Gallery auditorium, 1111 Chapel St., at 5:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Sponsored in partnership with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, the Yale Women Faculty Forum (WFF), and the Yale Women alumni group, the discussion will address such issues as unconscious biases and stereotyping and best practices for mentoring women leaders.

Panelists — all Yale World Fellows — include:

Mi-Hyung Kim, executive vice president and general counsel, Kumho Asiana Business Group. Kim oversees all legal affairs for Kumho Asiana, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. Kim has been mobilizing support for the ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. She helps promote the fine arts in Korea and abroad.

Marlene Malahoo Forte, Jamaica senator and minister of state. Malahoo Forte has responsibility for the foreign trade portfolio of the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. She serves as the chair for various Jamaican parliamentary organizations, and previously served as a judge and president of the association of resident magistrates and prosecutor and president of the government lawyers’ association.

Sisonke Msimang, executive director, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). A prominent voice for women’s rights, Msimang works across ten southern African countries to promote human rights, transparency, and accountability. As director of OSISA, she oversees projects on education, gender, and women’s rights, HIV and AIDS, and democracy building. She has also worked for various UN agencies on issues related to gender inequality and sexual and reproductive health.

Ruchi Yadav, senior program officer, The Hunger Project, India. Yadav is in charge of program strategy, implementation and management for The Hunger Project across 10 states in India. She has worked on issues related to women’s rights and human rights in South Asia and South East Asia. She holds a master’s degree in international development from the School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C.

Kim, Malahoo Forte, and Msimang are Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum.

The moderator of the discussion is Priya Natarajan, Yale astronomy professor and chair of the WFF. Natarajan is noted for her key contributions to two of the most challenging problems in cosmology: mapping the distribution of dark matter and tracing the growth history of black holes. A recipient of numerous awards and prizes including a Radcliffe Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, she recently was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society.

“Grooming women leaders is a key intervention and panelists will share their experiences from various domains around the world,” says Natarajan. “What we need is a change of attitude in all of us, along with constructive ways in which we as individuals can mark our own progress in action.”

For more information, visit the World Fellows website.