Their premise? Their premise? What is the hope? The hope? The summit was hosted by Ole Miss’ Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies. Tate Reeves describes gender studies as a “West Coast idea.” In light of the 100th anniversary for women’s suffrage, my ongoing quest to support women leaders in the state, I spoke with Jaime Harker, Isom Center director, about the summit and how these conversations could evolve to better support women and their communities. Mississippi Today: The summit and panels felt more natural and conversational than some academic conferences or panels that talk “at” people in the audience. Can you tell us about the day’s design and structure? Professor Jaime Harker, I’ll say this: Although the Isom Center will be celebrating its 40th anniversary, Ole Miss never invested in it in the same way that other universities did. Instead of having a separate academic unit or a separate outreach unit for women’s centers, unlike many universities that have these units developed in larger ways, we are still a center that does both outreach and academic. There are many things that can go wrong with this, including the fact that we don’t have a lot faculty. However, we don’t separate our outreach and academic work. We see them as one holistic unit. We all work together to create classes and academic programs. But we also partner with community organizations and do cultural events. Every year, we organize Pride Week and the Pride Parade in Oxford. Sarah Fest is an arts and music festival featuring LGBTQ people. We are always working in partnerships. This means that we bridge those divides in our work. We also have relationships with the community and have worked hard for them. It probably did. These people didn’t just happen because of the event. Because we had these relationships and worked with people, we were able draw on them and extend ourselves for this summit in an way that I believe was really helpful. Mississippi Today: Could you explain why these kinds of events are so important? This contradiction is apparent to me. Even though women are more involved in civic life and the everyday, they are less represented in government, board rooms and other areas. Despite 2018 seeing a record number of women elected to office, there is a trend of low support. This tells me that traditional gender roles still dominate. Despite greater gender equality and advancement of women leaders, we are asked/want more with less. What role can Sarah Isom and other centers play in helping even the playing field? Professor Jaime Harker says that’s a great question. One center cannot solve the problem. Because we work at a non-profit university, we cannot weigh in on partisan issues in any of these. We are conscious of the need to have conversations. However, we must make sure we don’t appear to be doing so. There is a place for it in the community. It’s not one we can play. That probably has an impact on what we do, but I also believe that we try to practice what we consider feminist leadership. This was brought up by the panel. It is possible to get a lot done if you don’t care about who gets credit. We see ourselves as a catalyst to a lot of conversations. We consider ourselves an incubator. It was a pleasant surprise to find that people already said, “So, this will be an annual affair?” We thought, well, we weren’t thinking of it as an annual event, but it certainly tapped into something. People valued the opportunity to share and have deeper conversations. Mississippi Today: What was the highlight of your day? Professor Jaime Harker says that the keynote was so charming that I couldn’t stop smiling. (editor’s note: The keynote was with Nadia Theodore from Canada, who is the consul general to the Southeast. I couldn’t stop smiling too). She was smart and interesting, but she was also very personable and genuine. We were delighted to have her there. It was like her presence gave people a new vision of civic activism and political engagement. It was amazing to hear her say, “This what a diplomat looks at,” and I loved it. It was lovely to see her smile, charm, and love for engaging with people. She set the tone for the entire day. Her talk about her mother, a traditional woman who was a great role model, was one of my favourite parts. This is true for many people in that country. The things that seem not political, but are important for community work, I believe. I heard that throughout the day: The ways in which the work that you do, even though it may not seem to be leadership or political, actually makes a difference.