Sarah H. Lieberman '96, former co-president of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), also says that the lack of specific advantages or considerations for women is more realistic.

"On the one hand you could say women should be prepared to take leadership roles in institutions dominated by men," Lieberman says. "In that way Harvard is the perfect training ground."

However, many students also argue that women still face enough disadvantages that a helping hand from the institution would not only aid them in overcoming these challenges, but also make students, both male and female, more aware of women's issues.

"I think there are certainly going to be a lot of women leaders who come out of Harvard," says Hill-Popper. "But not necessarily who are conscious of themselves as women leaders but [rather] just as leaders."

Nero also says she thinks Harvard prepares women for leadership, but a leadership that may be insensitive to the difficulties that other women face.

"I think that women here are being perhaps trained to be leaders but not maybe trained to be female leaders," Nero says. "If you do not have the experience in being sensitive and aware of issues I don't think Harvard is the place you will learn that."

Although some say that Harvard offers equality by ignoring women's issues, many female students say they still feel they are competing on uneven ground.

"Women go through the same academic programs and sit through the same classes as men do. Women also have access to all the same activities that men do," says Dori K. Takata '96, who is on the board of the Women's Leadership Project. "I think part of it is culture that needs to change. Women need to form their own networks whereas men have had these networks for a long, long time."

Harvard offers an equality that does not accommodate for the challenges that women face in society; Radcliffe sometimes seems an entirely separate world where women can practice their leadership skills without disturbing the rest of the University.

But as generation after generation of women make their ways through this University and out into the world, they are learning to lead, either in spite of the prejudices against them or because of them.