During the latest SASSE Election, when my successor was elected, I had a student who came up to me and told me that it feels good to have a female President. There is of course a lot more to a good leader than their gender. However, the gender you are born with or you choose to identify yourself as is something that people will notice. It is part of your identity and manifests within - probably even to a degree shapes - what you do.

I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have been given over the past year, as President of SASSE. In forums like SSE’s Board of Directors or the Faculty and Program Board, my voice has weighed as much as anybody else’s. Sometimes even more, as my voice represents that of 2,000 students. Unfortunately, I have during the year experienced that men, to a larger extent than people of the underrepresented gender, have difficulties understanding this. It may be because I am a student. Or that I am younger than them. Or that I am a woman. Nevertheless, it has been inspiring to sit in the board meetings where the women speak with as much confidence as the men. Because there are way too few of those meetings around the globe.

In November, I went to a congress with the Stockholm Federation of Student Unions (SSCO). There, they tracked the time different genders were speaking. They aimed for 50-50 air-time between the two genders that the attendees identified themselves as. Apparently, this had previously been an issue, as the male participants were speaking way more than the female participants. If this year has taught me something about leadership, it is that diversity in leaders and participants, and inclusion of everybody, are truly important determinants of a successful (student) organization.

Four out of five of the past SASSE Presidents may have been women, but the first 61 were male. And out of the 116 Presidents that have been running the organization since 1909, only 14 have been women. 14 women and 102 men.

I am very happy to hand over the role of President of SASSE to a woman. I really am. But more importantly, I am happy to hand over this demanding and sometimes stressful position to a competent individual. Which the ones before me have been, and I am more than sure that my successor is as well.

Yours sincerely,
Tindra Hedlund
President of SASSE 21/22

#InternationalWomensDay #BreakTheBias #IWD2022