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SU Institute of Public Service presents newest installment of “The Conversation”

Written by Karen L. Bystrom
January 29, 2021

Seattle University Institute of Public Service and Town Hall Seattle present “The Promise and Peril in Seattle’s New Era of Female Leadership” on the Town Hall Digital Stage on February 17 at 6 p.m. The event is free; register here for access.

In this installment of “The Conversation”, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best and Seattle Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau discuss the highs and lows of women serving as leaders. The event will be moderated by journalist Joni Balter, and Larry Hubbell, longtime previous director of Seattle University’s Institute of Public Service, with additional questions posed by Dr. Rashmi Chordiya and Seattle University students.

You can say off the top Seattle loves to elect and appoint female leaders. They occupy many key positions. But what happens next? Is it enough to get them into these high-level posts -- or do they need some degree of support once they land these jobs? Protests this summer laid bare some inequities in how we treat some of our leaders. All three of these women are leaving or have left their jobs. Why? Does it have anything to do with gender? Do we treat women executives differently than we treat male CEOs? This conversation offers new perspectives on this conversation.