CLOSING THE GAP

This week's newsletter is written by CNBC Make It work editor Hanna Howard. You can follow Hanna on Twitter @_hannahoward.

This week, Make It reporter Morgan Smith shared some good news out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard Crimson, one of the oldest college newspapers in America (it's said to be the longest continuously running daily) has elected its first Latina president. This is definitely a moment of deserved congratulations for Harvard junior Raquel Coronell Uribe, who will be taking the publication’s helm in January, but she said something to The Washington Post that I’ll be thinking of much longer.

“I do question why it took 148 years to elect a Latinx president,” Coronell told the Post. “And I think that it’s indicative of a problem that the Crimson has been working toward fixing and done a better job at, which is making sure that we are accessible to anyone who wants to join.” 

We cover and celebrate a lot of “firsts” here at Closing the Gap. But often when everything is said and done and the metaphorical champagne has been popped and the confetti swept up, we’re left with the same questions Coronell is hinting at. Why has it taken this long, for example, to have a female vice president or for a person of color to be elected mayor of Boston? Why has it taken this long for 30% (just 30%!) of Fortune 500 board members to be women? And are the institutions we have, whether that’s politics, business, academia or anything else, doing enough to recognize and work toward fixing these long-standing issues of gender inequity?

It’s fun to recognize firsts. And we should, because behind each of them and behind every milestone is a long journey of hard work and slowly moving the needle on progress. But ultimately, isn’t our aim to get to seconds and thirds and make it all so mundane that equity becomes a given and not a goal we’re endlessly reaching for?  

As we begin to reflect on 2021, I hope we take some time to think about all the women who have broken glass ceilings this year and pushed us a little bit closer to the future we’re trying to reach. And as we look ahead to 2022, let’s hold up their example of what can be done — and ask for more.

Are you starting to set goals for 2022? What career milestones and achievements are you hoping to hit next year?  Share your thoughts with us at askmakeit@cnbc.com 

The Closing the Gap newsletter will be taking a holiday pause next week. 

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