WREC: Women’s and LGBTQ+ Rights and Equality Conference

SEU held it's first student-founded academic conference on January 28, 2023

Sponsored by SEU's Honors Program, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education, and EOF

The term “glass ceiling” is not revolutionary or new. It was coined in the late 1970s to describe the invisible barrier that women confront in their attempts to reach the higher echelons of professional success, later expanding to include a number of other traditionally marginalized populations. What is shocking, however, is the lingering discrimination that women, nonbinary, and genderqueer individuals in the workforce face in the twenty-first century despite often outmatching their male counterparts in terms of performance and education. Although women make up a majority of the workforce, they are continuously overlooked for senior positions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women in 2021 made up less than 30% of chief executives in the labor force and only 41 of them are CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. Women of color fare worse. Astonishingly, only 5 women of color in 2021 were CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. In addition, approximately 38% of LGBTQ employees report experiencing harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and workplace culture often serves to “other” LGBTQ+ individuals, with 67% reporting having to deal with negative comments, slurs, or jokes in the workplace. One in four LGBTQ employees reported experienced employment discrimination in 2021.

Key Highlights of the Inaugural Conference: