The ECFS class of 2007 would find Fieldston today significantly different from the one they left eight years ago. What used to be their cafeteria is now our commons, what is currently our cafeteria used to be their gym, black boards have been replaced by smart boards, a separate middle school has been built, a Snapchat geotag has been created, and so on. While increased financial aid, teacher websites, and the (hopefully permanent) end to flared pants indicate a trend of improvement, FSG diversity has followed its own trajectory.
Despite what recent gender inequity in FSG might suggest, male-male presidential teams have not always dominated the elections. While only one female co-president has been elected in the past five years, the presidents serving from 2001-2010 were all male-female teams, elected with no form of gender mandate in place. In the 2006-2007 school year, alumna Samantha Levine served as co-president alongside Henry Decker. Since her presidency, Ms. Levine has gone on to pursue a career in social work; she majored in neuropsychology at the University of St. Andrews, received her master’s in social work at Columbia University, and currently works at New York Presbyterian/Weill-Cornell. Levine still remembers her time as student body president, describing it as both a “nerve-wracking and rewarding” experience. Levine and Decker’s term fell in the nine-year period of consecutive male-female pairings. As a female co-president during one of the most diverse (in terms of gender) periods in FSG history, Ms. Levine offers a unique perspective, incredibly relevant to the ongoing conversation surrounding the possible FSG gender mandate.
Levine expressed surprise at the gender inequity in the current student government, which was known as P.A.C. when she was president (President’s Advisory Council, since retitled FSG). While she was at Fieldston, having a girl on the team was considered the norm. “It was seen as advantageous to run as a boy-girl team, it allowed you to appeal to a wider range of social groups,” recalls Levine. Levine and Decker ran against three other teams, all of which were male-female; “it was rare for a single-sex team to run,” Levine explains. “Candidates wanted to be seen as gender equal.”
Although any single-sex pairings were unusual, Ms. Levine remembers being very aware that the likelihood of a male-male team running was far higher than that for a team composed of two women.
“I remember that there was some whispering that a female-female team would never win, and the few that considered it ended up backing out,” says Levine.
But, despite the greater diversity in the gender of presidential candidates, the student government was far from equal according to Ms. Levine. She was quick to clarify that the numeric equality of males and females did not reflect in the government’s underlying gender dynamic.
“It always felt like the woman was vice-president,” she remarks, a feeling she applied to her own experience serving as president.
Although the responsibility was divided equally, with Ms. Levine actually doing slightly more of the work, she observed a difference in public perception and inequality in power.
“When Henry spoke during meetings he commanded the room and everyone listened. When I talked almost no one listened, there was definitely a lot more respect for the guys,” says Levine. From Ms. Levine’s perspective, this dynamic was in large part due to a double standard: “If you are an outspoken woman you are seen as loud and domineering whereas a man is seen as strong.”
When informed of the decreased diversity in the last few years Ms. Levine surprisingly inquired about the theater department.
“I don’t really know what the theater scene is like now, but there were a lot of strong female actresses when I was there. Running for FSG was considered an opportunity to use these skills. Almost all of the students who won the elections and worked in the student government had a theater background or experience with public speaking,” Levine explains. She credits her theater experience for building her self-confidence.
“The theater community was a very empowering environment. I had a lot of strong female teachers like Stephanie Stone and Clare Mottola who encouraged me. I hope women still feel empowered at Fieldston today.”
Aspects of Ms. Levine’s experiences are still echoed in 2015. As a two-time form representative, both times serving alongside Julia Rosenberg (Form V), Jonathan Hazin (Form V) offers a critical insight into how gender affects the dynamic of our current student government.
“People are more likely to feel comfortable electing a man to a position that’s subconsciously and systemically thought of as a ‘man’s position.’ It has resulted in people holding my partner, a female, to a different standard than people hold me to, which is very unfair,” remarks Hazin.
Like Ms. Levine, Mr. Hazin also emphasized a difference in the respect granted to males versus females in the student government.
“We both have the mildly arduous task of collecting IOU money for our form’s snack shack and a certain group of boys in particular will make jokes at our expense whenever we collect from them. Their jokes towards me are fairly playful and there’s a sense that they respect the time and effort I’m putting into what I do. From what Julia’s told me, and from what I’ve unfortunately had to see, this underlying respect is either absent altogether or expressed significantly less when it comes to the remarks they and some others make to her. It can also take more for her to get a word in during Senate meetings and I’m sure there’s something pretty discouraging about being one of the two girls in Senate compared to the other six boys,” says Hazin. Ms. Rosenberg validates his conjecture, expressing her disappointment in the current system.
“It’s very frustrating to be treated with less respect than a male counterpart. I feel that there is a spectrum of authoritativeness that I have to be very aware of. People often convolute a woman’s directness with arrogance, and modesty with ‘pushoverness,’ so I am constantly aware of how I deliver grade-addresses or even collect IOUs. I feel like I have had to prove myself over and over again.”
Ms. Rosenberg, who is active in Fieldston’s theater community, agrees with Ms. Levine that the school’s theater program builds self-confidence, although she sees no direct correlation between success in the theater department and presence in student government.
“The more leadership experience I get, the more confident I feel with voicing my opinions,” she explains. “Theater has helped in the sense that it introduces me to a very safe community, and theater is a community where people are very aware of these types of issues.”
Another striking parallel between Levine’s experiences with those of Rosenberg and Hazin is their shared understanding of public perception, and its relation (or lack there of) to the division of labor.
“I can guarantee that we did just about equal amounts of work and yet the difference in how people saw us as leaders did not reflect this at all,” says Hazin.
Mr. Hazin and Ms. Rosenberg’s observations in 2015 are uncannily similar to those of Ms. Levine in 2007. Their overlap suggests that while the campus may look different, the inner workings of student government reveal an area that hasn’t changed. It lies in the hands of the student body to make sure that it does.
