跨国政策项目新校友

The 国际研究 graduate is writing a 政策 brief with counterparts from 韩国和日本改善女性的机会. 他们将聚在一起做陈述 华盛顿特区的选举结果.C.，八月.

23岁的萨米·塞格达获得文学学士学位 国际研究, and this summer she is putting much of what she learned in her four years at Washington College into use as part of a pilot program designed to empower young women from the 改善美国、韩国和日本的公共政策.

Segeda’s participation in the 三边青年赋权计划 is both a culmination 和一个 continuation of the work she did throughout her time at the College and resonates 在她的教育和她对个人身份的探索中.

Born in Seoul, Segeda was adopted by a white American couple and grew up in the Poconos 而这个县的亚裔人口只有2人.7%(白人占76%).2%). Through 九州娱乐官网, she was able to learn Korean while studying at Yonsei University in Seoul, where she also studied modern Korean history, Korean food and 以及关于东亚和解与正义的课程.

在韩国，在她出生的城市，在很多方面影响了塞格达 of ways personally: experiencing the ease of being in the racial majority, but also the discomfort of communication challenges in Korean with older residents of the city, discovering things about the country and culture in which she was born, while learning 她的成长经历使她成为美国人.

That class on reconciliation and justice affected Segeda academically, as she wrestled with topics that would drive her research for both her senior capstone experience 和一个 利比 & 道格拉斯·卡特青年研究员协会 research grant, which allowed her to return to Seoul this January to conduct research 战争与妇女人权博物馆.

That museum and Segeda’s Cater Society research focused on “comfort women,” the euphemism commonly used to describe the women, mostly Koreans, who were forced to be sexual 二战期间日本士兵的奴隶. Segeda的顶点项目，为此 she earned honors, explored the ways women are disproportionately and negatively affected by the South Korean concept of “han,” which Segeda describes as somewhat untranslatable 但饱含着“深深的悲痛、悲伤、愤怒和羞愧”.”

“我认为汉的概念来源于殖民主义的建构. 因为 the cultural annihilation put forth by Japan, the Korean people had nothing else to identify themselves as Korean, so they continue to take on this word, no matter how 这是一种负担. 这对面临双重身份的韩国女性来说尤其沉重 offense of patriarchal nationalism from Korea and (inherently patriarchal) colonialism 来自日本. 强加给韩国女性的韩文是等级分明的(由于政府) 和男性权力)，并包含性别偏见，”塞格达解释道. 她的终极兴趣 is in “deconstructing the concept and discovering how to heal from it, by women taking power and not confining themselves to the patriarchal standards, by speaking out against the colonizing nation that inflicted such harm, and by showing resistance in the things 确实如此.”

Andrew Oros, director of the 国际研究 major, characterized Segeda’s capstone as “unusually high-level [and] impressive,” and noted that her academic preparation made her a good fit for the 三边青年赋权计划, which was created by The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, which “promotes understanding and cooperation 在亚洲和美国的国家和人民之间.”

“她是刚刚起步的精英群体中的一员，”奥罗斯说. “这是 试点项目. 这个想法是为了培养更多的女性成为国际社会的领导者 政策.”

The program grouped college students or recent graduates into teams including one 来自美国、韩国和日本的女性. 奥罗斯指出， in addition to providing the participants with training in affecting international 政策, the program is meant to improve relations between South Korea and Japan, two 重要的你.S. 由于日本的殖民统治，盟国之间的关系很差 过去的. 

Each team of three young women has a topic 和一个 mentor, and over the course of about 五个月后，他们都以三种不同的方式参与. 中日韩青年赋权 该计划将在网上进行培训.S. 联邦政策可能受到影响， 同时还有研讨会，参与者可以练习他们所学到的知识. 他们 他们三人一组，分别与导师见面，也是虚拟的. 然后从8月6日到11日，所有人都将聚集在华盛顿特区.C.，到现在 他们为联邦决策者撰写的政策简报.

Segeda and her teammates—Yesol Lee from South Korea and Yui Okamura 来自日本—are focused on women’s empowerment 边缘群体, which was a rather direct 鉴于塞格达对性别暴力的兴趣和研究， 但对她研究安全和外交事务的伙伴来说，这有点不寻常 关系，STEM和教育. 目标是提供一个策略 brief that includes suggested changes to create positive change in their area, each group had to begin by defining the problem they wanted to address within their topic 然后开始研究可能的解决方案.

“Our interests were very different for this topic, and so we went around and just 问，我们是如何相处的? 我们是如何了解到与妇女赋权有关的事情的 边缘群体? 每个人的回答都不一样，”塞格达说 第一次会议. 确定一个具体的问题，并集思广益，想出可能的解决方案 research, they then looked for where their answers overlapped and built from there. “A really large part of working in this unique dynamic of a group and in the program 我们每个国家都有不同的观点吗.”

Segeda, Lee and Okamura decided that all three countries lack women in high-level positions in their careers because of inequitable opportunities and influences from 他们的教育体系. 当他们讨论这个话题时，他们意识到存在分歧 in some of the details, such as a strong anti-feminist attitude in South Korea that isn’t as pronounced in Japan or LGBTQ+ rights being much further advanced in the United 比更保守的亚洲国家要多. 但这三个国家都看到了系统性的问题 领导岗位上缺少女性.

As they work on their 政策 brief, they are researching potential solutions like changes to curricula, implementing leadership classes and student-mentor programs in male-dominated fields, and potential enhancements to maternity leave and childcare. 

Although the program and Segeda’s own next steps are both still unfolding, she said it is all moving her in the direction she wants to go through the trainings, hands-on 经验和社交机会. Segeda还强调了工作的价值 with their mentor, Eileen Pennington, associate director for the women’s empowerment 亚洲基金会的项目.

“My involvement in the program is a complement to the knowledge I have gained through doing my research through Cater and through doing my senior thesis, even though they 在不同的事情上，”塞格达说. “我对这个项目非常满意，我会的 可以说，这在很大程度上要归功于领导层.”