#  Seeing is Believing 

 



## Images of Powerful Women in Public Spaces Matters

*Vassar's Thompson Library features Elena Cornaro Piscopia*

#### Story by Gardiner Morse:

The discussion in your book of the impact of images of men and women in orgs (such as portraits in boardrooms) reminded me of an important image in my experience. I went to Vassar College, where my daughter now goes. It had just gone co-ed a few years before I arrived. The dominant feature in the wonderful gothic Thompson library is the stained-glass window pictured below. It celebrates Elena Cornaro Piscopia, a Venetian scholar who attended the University of Padua and is said to be the first woman to be awarded a PhD. You’ll notice in the lower image that she is surrounded by men, all looking up towards her.  
   
I spent countless hours in this library and I always loved this window. Reading your book, I suspect this image influenced my (and thousands of other students’) thinking.

   ![thompson_library_west_wing.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum3081/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/iris_bohnet/files/thompson_library_west_wing.jpg?itok=-i1JzRMJ) 

 

 ([Photo found here](https://media.bookbub.com/blog/2015/04/17/13-stunning-us-libraries-that-look-like-they-belong-in-europe/))   ![cornaro_500px.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum3081/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/iris_bohnet/files/cornaro_500px.jpg?itok=KtIIf2Z6) 

 

 ([Photo from Vassar College](http://pages.vassar.edu/gatheringvoices/2012/11/03/vassars-stellar-student-ellen-swallow-richards-and-womens-education-in-the-sciences/))SortSubmitted by:### Gardiner Morse

Senior Editor, *Harvard Business Review*