Women at Smith: Stephanie Graf ’14

A New Norm

Rising Generation of Women Shifts the Conversation

Fulbright Scholar Stephanie Graf ’14 never saw herself as a barrier breaker when she came to the Smith School as an undergraduate student. She has an analytical mind and aptitude for business, so she enrolled as a double major in finance and marketing.

“Gender never entered my mind,” she said. “All opportunities were equal.”

While Graf understands the importance of talking about diversity, she sees a potential downside when conversations dwell too much on old narratives.

“Maybe some women today already are tearing down barriers without even knowing it,” she said. “You do not want to introduce the idea of a barrier to someone who already is on a trajectory to overcome it.”

Real progress has been made in recent decades, and Graf said society needs to shift its conversations about gender.

“We need to establish a new norm,” she said. “In 10 years, instead of talking about the struggles women face to break down barriers, we should focus the conversation on the results, the impact, and the accomplishments of women.”

Graf said the conversation shift can help lift the pressure that women sometimes feel to be world changers.

“Many women who choose to work in male-dominated fields, like business, feel pressure to over-achieve and represent themselves well for the sake of all women,” she said. “In the midst of the many conversations about gender that women hear in the workplace, it can be easy to feel like you need to do more, be more involved or set higher goals.”

She said women do not need to feel intimidated. “Do not sell yourself short,” she said. “Do not self-select out of opportunities because you worry you will fall short of being the perfect woman in the workplace.”

Graf said women send a powerful message when they focus on the opportunities they have taken rather than the limitations they have faced. “Our conversations become empowering, inspirational, and motivating for each other,” she said. 

Related story: Smith Builds Momentum on Women’s Issues

Women at Smith

• Donna Blackman
• Becky Eisen
• Carly Fiorina
• Brenda Freeman  
• Stephanie Graf
• Terry Iannaconi
• Stella Liu
• Sherika Shaw Ekpo
• Cara Weikel