Amid #MeToo, more colleges host women as graduation speakers

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This graduation season, the podium is all hers.

For the first time in at least two decades, the majority of the top colleges in the U-S are featuring women as their spring commencement speakers, a shift that industry experts credit to the wave of female empowerment that has fueled the #MeToo movement.

Yale is bringing Hillary Clinton. M-I-T will host Sheryl Sandberg. Vanderbilt landed Amal Clooney, while Dartmouth chose Mindy Kaling.

Overall, women account for nearly 60 per cent of the speakers at the 25 schools that have the largest endowments and traditionally carry the clout to draw big names to the lectern.

By contrast, women made up just a quarter of the speakers at those schools over the previous 19 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of university records.

Companies that are hired to find speakers say they’ve seen a surge in requests for women at the same time that the #MeToo movement has shed light on sexual misconduct from Hollywood to Capitol Hill.

Demand has grown so quickly that some say they’re struggling to keep up.

Speakers chosen this year include women from politics, business, athletics and the arts, and many reflect diversity beyond their gender.

Film director Ava DuVernay will be the first woman of colour to give Cornell’s speech in a decade.