Sexism is nothing new, but for many students in academic competition, it’s extremely frustrating. Model United Nations, commonly referred to as Model UN or MUN, is one of Maggie Walker’s largest extracurricular clubs—boasting over 100 student members—involving the simulation of United Nations committees by students acting as delegates. Model UN conferences host committees with passionate delegates with the goal to debate, and eventually resolve, global issues of present and past. Through comprehensive research, inspiring public speaking, and a cooperative mindset, delegates transform into certain roles or countries. Gathered in a forum, students of all backgrounds embrace their roles as a delegate or nation, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, or background. However, this ideal competition of intelligence and insight is often corrupted by discriminatory factors, either intentional or inadvertent, by both chairs and fellow delegates. 

“In the spirit of competitiveness, a lot of people get lost, or are able to hide their true feelings,” commented Anandita Sharma (‘22), co-secretary of Maggie Walker’s Model UN club. Many acts of sexism within Model United Nations occur subconsciously. “Since Model UN is extremely competitive, it is extremely difficult to differentiate between discrimination and the inherent desire of delegates to get ahead in a conference.” 

“In resolution writing, the writing portion always goes to a girl, and it’s always passed off as being because she would have neater handwriting. In reality, it’s a position of not having as much power.” In conferences, stereotypes of female delegates having “nicer handwriting” or being better suited for less prominent positions often detract from the conference’s environment and reinforce dated gender roles in a skill-based competition. This example of being asked to write resolutions often hinders a female delegate from reaching her whole speaking potential and gives the larger, up-front roles to male delegates. 

Many other students who identify as female have also experienced occurrences of male delegates trying to oversimplify or “mansplain” topics to them. One junior recounted “being cut off” or “excluded from resolutions” repeatedly at a travel conference organized by Johns Hopkins University in 2019.

The Model UN club at Maggie Walker is completely student-run, which means chairs, or the student heads of committees, have the power to give awards to delegates. Many female students express the sentiment that committee chairs treat the women in the committee differently than they do the men. The various factors contributing towards assigning awards can be directed to males who overbearingly assert themselves over females. “Sexism that tends to be almost accepted is when chairs inherently gravitate towards men and their positions more. Several chairs view this as leadership and will look directly towards a man as the leader of the group,” Sharma explained, noting that being overbearing can often be mistaken for confidence and leadership. Another student in Model UN agreed with this statement, noting that when females command in committee, it is often considered “bossy,” but when males command, it is considered “assertive.” This continues a long-held double standard for females and males in the MUN environment, which oftentimes hinders interest in the activity for many students.

Many female students within Model UN have expressed concerns about sexism in the activity. Sophomore Alice Bowman, a member and committee chair for the club’s conference this year, repeatedly emphasized the importance of acknowledging sexism within these areas. Bowman explained how these cases of sexism can prevent women from actively participating in Model UN and deter them from joining the club, whether this happens subconsciously or not. “A lot of people just don’t take women as seriously,” she mentioned. “It can be hard for women to want to continue when your voice is being suppressed.” Another junior student expressed similar sentiments, stating, “I actually almost quit Model UN because I was so frustrated, having to deal with this at conferences.”

As female club members face issues of sexism within Model UN conferences, it can not only affect their high school careers, but also their professional ones. Sharma mentions that a lot of women tend to get discouraged in these circumstances at conferences. Many female students start out participating in Model UN in middle and high school, but are largely underrepresented in national politics as a whole, despite their previous interest in the field. “It makes you wonder if all of their experiences are making them discouraged, thinking that they won’t be able to achieve that same status as men, or that they have to work twice as hard to achieve that status,” Sharma shared. “I think it’s important that we encourage younger women that are interested in these activities to keep going. We have to make it more open for them.”

“Everyone’s voices are equally valuable,” said senior Michael Kish, the Secretary-General of this year’s GSMUN conference and co-President of the club. Kish acknowledged the role that sexism can play in conferences, especially collegiate-level conferences like those at the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University. “It [sexism] is real—it is naive to say that it isn’t,” says Kish. As leaders of the club, Kish and fellow co-President Abhay Duggirala remark that they have not personally experienced sexism “firsthand,” but they have dealt with the repercussions of it. Through the implementation of feedback forms, Maggie Walker’s MUN leadership has been able to gain insight on the experience of several delegates, who have brought up concerns about sexism in other conferences.

According to Kish, Maggie Walker MUN and GSMUN have prioritized a “zero-tolerance policy” in regards to sexism. Sexism can often be overlooked, frequently masked by the competitive, debate-like nature of MUN. However, at Maggie Walker, sportsmanship and cooperation is emphasized over competition, and comprises one of the fundamentals pillars of Model UN. Apart from the measures placed by club leadership, as a delegate, sexism can be combated through small actions. Such actions can include ensuring an individual’s bloc, a team of delegates, is diverse, and “avoiding talking over another delegate who might be getting sidelined,” according to Kish.

The reinforcement of the zero-tolerance policy for sexism at Maggie Walker has contributed to an overall positive environment in the Maggie Walker MUN community. Regarding leadership positions or selecting attendees to go to a conference, Sharma remarks that the club is “fair all around.” 

Although steps can be taken to ameliorate the realities of sexism in MUN, sexism is truly a global issue, prevalent across all academic disciplines, and necessitates a wider cultural shift. “It has to be everyone coming together and accepting the fact that someone’s opinions aren’t validated on the basis of some characteristic they have like their gender or sex or race,” Kish remarked. “Obviously, us as presidents of a club in Richmond, Virginia, are not going to create a nation-wide change. But I think the best thing we can do is serve as that shining example that goes against these ideas of discrimination—a club that does talk about it and really bring it to our delegates’ attention.”