A panel of women in leadership roles from Arctic regions across Sweden and the United States, along with Indigenous leaders at both local and federal levels, gathered at the George Washington University to discuss the unique challenges facing their communities.
They shared their experiences as public officials and the challenges women face as they step into leadership positions.
The event, “Arctic Women Leadership Addressing Climate, Geopolitical and Economic Transitions: Local, Federal and Indigenous Perspectives,” was hosted by GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs and the GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future.
Robert Orttung, director of the Sustainability Research Institute and one of the event co-organizers, said the panel was a great addition to the ongoing conversation at GW because it highlighted perspectives and topics that are not heard frequently enough.
“These conversations will help inform future policies and hopefully help us to make change that is both just and inclusive,” Orttung said.
Panelists included Meghan Tapqaq, former member of the Nome Common Council and a staff attorney at Kawerak; Jacqualine Qataliña Schaeffer, director of Climate Initiatives at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; Carina Sammeli, chair of the Municipal Board of Luleå, Sweden; and Mary Peltola, former member of Congress and the Alaska State Legislature.
The discussion was moderated by Beth Kerttula, a former leader in the Alaska legislature and director of the National Ocean Council during the Obama administration.
Kerttula started the conversation by asking the panel to reflect on the importance of women stepping into leadership roles in the Arctic.
Peltola highlighted the value of diversity in leadership. “Research has shown that the more diversity a group has, the better the outcomes,” she said. “Not having half the population in leadership is just a huge oversight.”
Sammeli echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the need for diverse leadership to truly serve all members of society.
“I run a municipality that’s supposed to serve everyone who lives in our society. And we will not be able to do that if we don’t know the conditions of people who live there,” Sammeli said. “We need old people, young people. We need male and female leaders and politicians. Otherwise, we will be wrong about what we know is important and what we need to do.”
Schaeffer spoke about the personal and cultural challenges that women in her community often face, particularly when balancing leadership with cultural values.
She shared her experience of being part of the first generation in her community who left their hometowns to attend college in the Western education system, with high expectations to return and serve their communities. However, the social structures in the two cultures differed, causing tension.
Schaeffer also discussed how that struggle is compounded by the deep layers of trauma caused by the forced boarding school system the generation before hers experienced. She explained how her parents and relatives were made to attend these schools, which were designed to erase Indigenous culture in the name of assimilation.
“I think it’s important to recognize the layers of trauma and talk about it and not stigmatize it. And then to understand who you are and where you come from. And what are those deep roots that allow you to be that oak or that birch tree so that you sway in the wind, but you don't break,” Schaeffer said.
Toward the end of the discussion, Kerttula asked the group what they think are the biggest challenges facing the Arctic.
Tapqaq described the economic hardships facing her community, including the high cost of living and the need for more jobs compounded by climate change that is occurring more rapidly in the Arctic compared to other places in the world. She said many villages in Alaska can only be flown into or have supplies barged there, which drives up food costs creating food insecurity.
Tapqaq also expressed concern about balancing economic opportunities, such as the cruise ships that bring in tourists, with environmental protections. In regions already dealing with food insecurity, clean oceans are their main source of food through fishing, but pollution is putting that at risk.
When faced with difficult decisions, Tapqaq tries to keep in mind how the decisions made today will impact generations forward.
“How do you juggle all of that when you have a family who needs a job, but that job is working in a graphite mine on lands that are sacred that once they are mined, are changed forever,” Tapqaq said. “So always thinking of seven generations forward and backward and how the values that our ancestors passed down to us and how our decisions are going to impact future generations because you can't make these decisions in isolation. So, it becomes really difficult.”
