Dear IE Community,

It’s very hard to see gender inequality unless we’re looking for it. Most of us are so used to seeing only men in positions of power as the default that we don’t even realize the lack of female representation.

How many of the politicians in your country are women? How many CEOs of the biggest companies in the world are women? How many of the people you study about in class as important history figures or intellectual influences are women? How many of the readings that you do for class were written by women?

This petition intends to address that last question. In order to reach gender equality in positions of power, we must start by addressing the unconscious biases that make us see men as the default in the first place. Since we are trying to properly prepare new generations to solve real life problems, it's essential that they build knowledge based on different points of view, different from that of the average white man. Taking out women from the shadows and giving them the credit they deserve in academic fields is a crucial place to start. For that, we intend to gather support to encourage teachers to strive for gender balance when it comes to the authors of the readings they assign for class. 

To achieve gender equality, we must all do our part in building a strong foundation that leads up to it. Let’s all come together as one community and help lead IE forward to an equal and just future by signing this petition!