This graduation season, the podium is all hers.
For the first time in at least two decades, the majority of the nation’s top colleges are featuring women as their spring commencement speakers, a shift that industry experts credit to the wave of female empowerment that has fueled the #MeToo movement.
Yale is bringing Hillary Clinton. MIT will host Sheryl Sandberg. Vanderbilt landed Amal Clooney, while Dartmouth chose Mindy Kaling.
Overall, women account for nearly 60 percent of the speakers at the 25 schools that have the largest endowments and traditionally carry the clout to draw big names to the lectern. By contrast, women made up just a quarter of the speakers at those schools over the previous 19 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of university records.
Companies that are hired to find speakers say they’ve seen a surge in requests for women at the same time that the #MeToo movement has shed light on sexual misconduct from Hollywood to Capitol Hill. Demand has grown so quickly that some say they’re struggling to keep up.
“There’s been a much bigger push to bring in white females, black females — anyone other than a white male,” said Richard Schelp, owner of Executive Speakers Bureau in Memphis, Tenn., where 40 percent of recent booking requests from schools and other clients have been for women. “We’re digging deep into our reservoir of resources.”
Schools contacted by the AP said the #MeToo movement didn’t directly influence their decisions, but some said it might have been on the minds of students who help pick finalists.
