Kimberly Hosey Kimberly Hosey

Women and girls are on the frontline of climate change – but their stories are seldom heard

Jacob Lund/Shutterstock
Sanam Mahoozi, City St George's, University of London

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. They are more likely to suffer health consequences as a result of floods, droughts, heatwaves, air pollution, wildfires and other environmental disasters.

At the same time, women also tend to be responsible for securing food, water and energy for the rest of their families. When extreme weather makes these resources scarce, their lives and livelihoods are at risk.

Despite all of this, women are alarmingly underrepresented in climate change and environmental reporting. A global analysis by the non-profit Media Diversity Institute found that only one in four sources quoted in online news stories about climate change, published between 2017 and 2021, were women. That means the stories being told about climate change are mostly through the eyes and experiences of men.

I study how the media covers environmental issues in authoritarian countries like Iran and throughout the Middle East and North Africa, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, which faces extreme heat, water shortages and sand and dust storms.

As part of research for my recently completed PhD, I have found that women are rarely quoted as sources in news about climate change and environmental degradation, and those that do speak up are often threatened.

Not enough women ‘on record’

Finding sources in authoritarian countries is already difficult, but finding women who are willing to share their testimonies with journalists is even harder.

In Iran, environmental issues are highly politicised. Discussing water shortages or air pollution can be interpreted as criticism of the government. Anyone speaking to a journalist can expect intimidation, arrest or even death. Naturally, many sources hesitate to talk. But for women, the barriers are even greater.

In 2024, I reported on a heatwave in Iran where temperatures exceeded 50°C in some provinces. Through “off-the-record” conversations, I learned that the extreme heat was causing women to suffer heatstroke, menstrual problems, even miscarriages.

Yet, when I analysed the media coverage, there was little mention of this. Most articles focused on how the government had to shut down schools and offices.

I reached out to women in different parts of Iran, including mothers, students and medical professionals. Some spoke to me anonymously, but even women in leadership positions within the government or environment sector wouldn’t talk for fear of a reaction from the state intelligence apparatus.

This is a pattern I’ve seen throughout my research and reporting. If women cannot safely speak out, their struggles remain invisible.

Women are leading, but where’s the coverage?

Here’s the irony: while women are missing from climate reporting, they are in fact leading many environmental efforts. Evidence suggests that women are more likely than men to volunteer for environmental causes or act in an environmentally friendly way, for example. Countries with more women in political leadership tend to have stronger climate policies.

Though, there is some imbalance in media coverage of women too. For example, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has been recognised in media consumed mostly in wealthier countries in Europe, North America and Australasia (what is often called the global north). But in Asia, Africa and Latin America (often called the global south) where climate change is hitting hardest, I have found women leading environmental movements rarely get the same level of attention.

This is despite the fact there are numerous women environmental leaders in this part of the world. In Iran, wildlife and conservation activists Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani were imprisoned and tortured for over six years after being falsely accused of espionage by the intelligence arm of the Islamic revolutionary guard corps.

Their work was dedicated to protecting Iran’s environment, particularly the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, highlighting the risks faced by those advocating for conservation under repressive regimes. Bayani wrote a manifesto about the climate crisis and educated women in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison in 2023, when she was still serving a decade-long sentence.

Another woman, Juliet Kabera of Rwanda, is an advocate for banning plastic bags and single-use plastics and attended global treaty negotiations to tackle plastic waste and cut global production. These women, and their work and sacrifices, are often missing from media coverage about the environment.

My PhD research on environmental reporting in the Middle East and North Africa, which echoes other work in this area, found that women are often depicted as victims of climate disasters rather than experts, leaders or solution-makers. Women in the global north are more frequently included in discussions about climate policy, activism or research, than their counterparts in the global south.

When the media misses the perspectives of women living through crises, we miss their ideas and experience. As a result, environmental policies may not reflect the breadth of the problem, or address the needs of those who are most affected.

If women are more impacted by climate change and are leading the fight, why aren’t they also leading the conversation in the media?The Conversation

Sanam Mahoozi, PhD Candidate in Journalism, City St George's, University of London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Kimberly Hosey Kimberly Hosey

Senegal’s female rappers aren’t letting obstacles get in their way – who the rising voices are

Mamadou Dramé, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

In Senegal, rap music and hip-hop culture emerged in the 1980s, driven by the urban youth. It has grown to be one of the most popular music genres in the country. But what role do female Senegalese artists play in developing and promoting hip-hop? And what challenges do they face in this male-dominated industry? Mamadou Dramé, who has done several studies on Senegalese hip-hop, answers these and other questions.


What characterises Senegalese hip-hop?

The year 1988 marks the beginning of rap in Senegal. After a phase of imitation, artists set themselves apart from the rest of the world by incorporating local languages such as Wolof, Serer, Pulaar and Joola alongside French and English.

They went on to infuse Senegalese rhythms into the music by using traditional instruments like the kora, peule flute and xalam. They also started collaborating with musicians from other genres such as mbalakh, also known as mbalax (think Daara J with Youssou Ndour, PBS with Baaba Maal, Pacotille with Fatou Laobé).

Unfortunately this originality faded by the late 1990s, particularly when it came to the use of local sounds. This followed the rise of hardcore rap – a genre marked by its intense, politically charged lyrics and rejection of making music just for fun.

That said, Senegalese rap has always been political and socially engaged, rarely seen as art for art’s sake. As a result, rappers have influenced Senegal’s political landscape. They made raising awareness among young people a priority, helping them realise they could help shape their country’s political trajectory. In 2000, for example, hip-hop helped topple the regime of Abdou Diouf and bring about a change of government.

What role does rap play in the popular music scene today?

Rap has played a crucial role in the local music scene in Senegal. At one point, it was the most listened to and widely performed genre in the country. Radio stations dedicated prime afternoon slots for rap shows to build their reputations. Artists who understood the importance of rappers and their ability to mobilise young people often created duets with them or used them as opening acts for their concerts.

Rappers have also shown that music can be a pathway to entrepreneurship. Many rappers have developed side ventures and business structures to generate income, in the process making a positive impact on the lives of young people in their communities. This is why it’s more common in Senegal to find rappers as opinion leaders than artists from other genres. For example, Malal Talla, known by his stage name Fou Malade (Crazy Sick), has become a prominent figure in the broadcasting landscape and is regularly invited to comment on current political issues.

When it comes to pan-Africanism, Didier Awadi is a sought after voice. In the realm of youth employment and training, rapper Amadou Fall Ba has played such a pivotal role that Dakar’s city council was able to establish the Maison des Cultures Urbaines, which works closely with Guédiawaye Hip Hop, a collective of rappers.

Women are reported to be emerging in rap. What is the current situation?

For a long time, the rap scene was very misogynistic, with a very minimal female presence. There have been female rappers like Fatim de BMG 44, Sister Yaki in the group Timtimol, and Syster Joyce, to name a few. However, apart from a few like Fatim, women have often played second fiddle or been confined to the role of backing singers.

There have been attempts to form all-female groups, such as Alif (Attaque Libératrice pour l’Infanterie Féministe), but many either left rap or music altogether, or transitioned to other genres. In recent years, we are witnessing Senegalese women asserting themselves in rap and taking on leading roles. While their numbers are still small compared to men, they are certainly present and making their mark.

Which female voices stand out?

We could mention Mounaaya, who is very well known. She’s been in the business for a very long time. Toussa is from the same generation. She’s famous for her song Rap bou Djigene bi (Female Rap).

Mamy Victory rose to prominence by winning Best Female Artist 2016 at Senegal’s Galsen Hip Hop Awards. There’s also OMG, who was a double finalist for the Prix Découvertes RFI reality singing competition in 2019. She was also named Best Female Artist at the 2018 Galsen awards.

What challenges do women rappers face?

For a long time, women have been subjected to prejudices and social pressures. The negative perception surrounding rap in its early days did not make things any easier. Navigating a predominantly male environment has been challenging for young women. Parents often wouldn’t allow their daughters to associate with men, especially since many events take place at night.

Women face many biases and social judgements that have caused them to drop out of music. Many are expected to marry and take on family responsibilities rather than make rap. These are all obstacles that make it difficult for women to maintain a permanent presence in hip-hop.

However, female rappers are gradually carving out their space. While they still have a long way to go due to their relatively small numbers, they are not backing down; instead they are increasingly asserting their talent and individuality.The Conversation

Mamadou Dramé, enseignant-chercheur, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Kimberly Hosey Kimberly Hosey

How women in Israel and Palestine are pushing for peace — together

Palestinian and Israeli women activists from the Israeli Women Wage Peace movement and the Palestinian Women of the Sun movement sing and dance during the joint platform inauguration ceremony in Jericho in March 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

By Siobhan Byrne, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Intersectionality Studies, University of Alberta

On Oct. 4, 2023, just days before the Hamas attacks on Israel and the retaliatory Israeli aerial bombardment and siege on Gaza, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian feminist peace activists gathered in Jerusalem and near the Dead Sea.

Representing Israeli-based Women Wage Peace and Palestinian-based Women of the Sun, this feminist peace coalition called on political leaders to negotiate an end to the bloodshed and resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Three days later, Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities along the Gaza border, killing more than 1,300 people and kidnapping as many as 190, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has responded with an all-out siege of Gaza, cutting off power, water and food and initiating a punishing aerial bombardment that has killed hundreds of Gazans and displaced countless others. A massive Israeli military ground invasion appears likely, but there is nowhere for more than two million Palestinians to flee in a territory under siege.

Difficult statement

Following the Hamas attack, Women Wage Peace posted an image of a bloodied dove on their social media feed.

A week later, the movement issued a full statement on the rapid escalation of violence in Gaza:

“Every mother, Jewish and Arab, gives birth to her children to see them grow and flourish and not to bury them. That’s why, even today, amid the pain and the feeling that the belief in peace has collapsed, we extend a hand in peace to the mothers of Gaza and the West Bank.”

This was undoubtedly a difficult statement to write through their grief and anguish. Veteran Canadian-Israeli activist Vivian Silver, a founding member of Women Wage Peace, is among those Israelis presumed kidnapped or murdered in the Hamas attack. And today, Palestinians struggle to stay alive under Israel’s campaign of collective punishment in Gaza.

But this statement of cross-community solidarity — steadfastly insisting on peace in the face of war — is emblematic of the power and resolve of feminist anti-war collective action.

Both Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun were founded after the 2014 Gaza War, a 50-day conflict that caused mass displacement and injury and left more than 2,250 Palestinians dead. That included more than 550 children, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

In 2016, Women Wage Peace organized a mass March of Hope — which included 30,000 people in Israel and 3,000 Palestinians from the West Bank — carrying a message of peace in the wake of violence and death.

Women of the Sun was founded in Bethlehem by Palestinians living under occupation to empower Palestinian women and call for peace. Today, the partnership between the two organizations is the result of earlier iterations of women-led peace activism throughout the conflict.

Palestinian and Israeli women activists from the Israeli Women Wage Peace and the Palestinian Women of the Sun groups hug each other upon their arrival for the joint platform inauguration ceremony in Jericho in March 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)


Other peace movements

For example, the Women in Black movement, forged during the early years of the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s, brought together Israeli peace activists in Jerusalem to hold weekly vigils carrying signs that simply read “End the occupation.”

The movement went on to inspire similar vigils in Israel and cities worldwide. The global Women in Black movement has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and maintains an active network today.

Similarly, in the mid-1990s, Palestinian and Israeli feminists formed a feminist peace initiative called the Jerusalem Link following the Oslo peace process, initiated in 1993. Jerusalem Link brought together Israeli women affiliated with the women-led Bat Shalom peace movement and Palestinian women affiliated with the Jerusalem Centre for Women, based in East Jerusalem.

These are hard-fought feminist peace movements that are difficult to sustain amid occupation and war.

I once interviewed Palestinian and Israeli peace activists representing Women in Black and the Jerusalem Link while researching feminist peace communities in Israel and the occupied West Bank in the mid-2000s.

An Israeli member of the peace activist group Women In Black participates in a demonstration in east Jerusalem in 2010 supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

I was buoyed by the solidarity and careful dialogue women developed with each other but also dismayed by how difficult it was to maintain joint action as construction on a new Israeli wall began to choke off the West Bank and Israeli settlements expanded through the occupied territory.

The joint Women Wage Peace-Women of the Sun initiative is another call for peace. The international community — including states that claim to have a feminist foreign policy, like Canada — should elevate their voices.

Entrenching divisions

But when political leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cast Palestinian solidarity demonstrations as “a glorification of violence,” it entrenches the very kinds of divisions that Israeli and Palestinian people are working to overcome every day.

Trudeau’s portrayal of demonstrations as celebrations of Hamas violence was similar to the actions of London police, who criminalized pro-Palestinian protesters, and total bans in France and Germany of demonstrations of Palestinian solidarity.

Protesters hold flares during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The 1993 Oslo peace accords introduced the “two-state solution” and initiated a “peace process,” calling for Palestinian self-government and promising Palestinian political autonomy. But elections held under an intensifying occupation and limited autonomy without sovereignty don’t amount to a Palestinian state.

In 2000, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security mandated the inclusion of women’s participation in conflict resolution and peace-building, including support of local women’s peace initiatives.

This month, the UN celebrates the 23rd anniversary of the resolution. Canada is set to release its third National Action Plan on the resolution soon as part of its ostensible commitment to a national feminist foreign policy.

Resolution worthless?

As the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, outgoing UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, remarked:

“We’ve had 20 years plus of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. And if that agenda doesn’t mean something now, it’s worthless.”

The peace community is awaiting news of Silver, the missing Women Wage Peace activist.

Speaking with the BBC, her son Yonatan Ziegen imagines what his mother would say to the world: “This is the outcome of war. Of not striving for peace, and this is what happens.” Today, Palestinians in Gaza are living this reality following Israel’s warning to evacuate.

If our national commitment to women, peace and security and our feminist foreign policy means anything at all, we must stand together for human rights and justice and endeavour to elevate the many voices of solidarity and peace.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Kimberly Hosey Kimberly Hosey

South African women face exclusion from society due to gender-based violence – how they’re fighting back

Protest against high incidence of rape in South Africa. Shutterstock

Amanda Gouws, Stellenbosch University

When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, a primary goal was to grant citizenship rights to all its people, in particular, to give the majority black South Africans rights they had been denied during colonialism and apartheid. This included the right to vote.

Apartheid segregated the population into ethnic groups. All but people classified as white were stripped of their rights. The 1996 constitution conferred upon citizens civil liberties such as the right to vote, movement, association and free speech as well as substantive rights such as access to land, health, education and employment.

But, as I argue in the Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Citizenship, full citizenship is about more than a legal status that grants rights. Full citizenship also means being able to fully participate in a society.

Based on my research into South African politics and gender politics over the past three decades I argue in a recent chapter that women in South Africa don’t enjoy full citizenship because they face endemic gender-based violence.

Sexual violence against women has become normalised in South Africa. Everyday spaces are filled with violence, as indicated by the South African Police Service’s quarterly crime statistics.

I conclude in the book chapter that people who feel excluded turn to protest to claim their rights as citizens. In doing so they become activist citizens.

Acts of citizenship can occur in many different places – on streets, in courts, at borders, or even through media. They can happen on different scales, from local community action to international movements. These acts may involve protests, organising campaigns, or using digital media to spread awareness. People engaging in these acts might demand a wide range of rights, including political, social, sexual, ecological, or cultural rights.

While legal frameworks to enhance citizenship have changed over the past 30 years in South Africa, deep-seated inequalities and exclusions persist. Law reform cannot address high levels of unemployment (that need to be rectified through economic growth), neither can it address poverty that is endemic because of the legacies of apartheid, such as the exclusion from decent education and health care.

Acts of citizenship – whether through protest (such as service delivery protest), art, or everyday actions – continue to play a crucial role in expanding the boundaries of who is considered a citizen and what rights citizens can claim.

By understanding citizenship as something that is actively performed and claimed, rather than simply granted, society can better appreciate the ongoing struggles for equality and recognition.

Acts of citizenship

Emotions play a significant role in these citizenship actions, a concept known as “affective citizenship”. Expressions of fear, happiness, loneliness, anger, or grief can all be part of how people assert their rights and demand recognition. These emotional displays can be disruptive or more conventional, but they all focus on exclusions from citizenship.

Some acts of citizenship involve a “politics of refusal” – rejecting unfair conditions or norms. This refusal can expose hidden issues within citizenship, such as specific forms of gendered violence or discrimination. By disrupting “business as usual”, these acts force society to confront uncomfortable truths.

It’s important to note that acts of citizenship aren’t always large-scale or dramatic. They can also involve everyday actions that challenge norms or assert rights in smaller ways. What matters is that these acts transform the actors from passive subjects into active citizens claiming their rights.

Examples include the #EndRapeCulture campaign of 2016, when women protested against pervasive sexual violence on university campuses. At the same time, transgender students also protested against marginalisation.

Both groups of students used naked protests to show their refusal to be treated as though they were not citizens. Through their campaign, the students rejected behaviour and attitudes that normalise sexual violence on campuses.

Women students disrupted public spaces by protesting topless or in their underwear, sometimes brandishing sjamboks (plastic whips). These actions expressed anger at university authorities’ failure to address sexual violence. The activists were refusing to be treated as though they were not citizens.

By using their bodies in these acts of citizenship the protesters made visible the rage many South African women feel about sexual violence committed with seeming impunity. They highlighted how women’s bodies are vulnerable to violence due to neglect by authorities in implementing their own laws, such as the Sexual Offences Act and the Domestic Violence Act.

For its part the Trans Collective, a group of transgender students at the University of Cape Town, used a provocative art intervention to highlight the erasure or the making invisible of transgender experiences within the broader student movement during the same 2016 period.

They smeared red paint on photographs at an exhibit about student activism and used their naked, paint-covered bodies to block the entrance of the art gallery at the university to force visitors to confront the physical reality of how transgender rights are often “trampled” or ignored, even within progressive movements.

Impact

Acts of citizenship – whether through naked protests, art interventions, or other forms of activism – serve multiple purposes:

  • They make visible groups and issues that are overlooked or deliberately ignored.

  • They challenge conventional understandings of how citizens should behave or what citizenship looks like.

  • They create new spaces for political action and discourse.

  • They force society and authorities to confront uncomfortable truths about exclusion and violence.

  • They assert the agency of marginalised groups in defining and claiming their rights.The Conversation

Amanda Gouws, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the South African Research Initiative in Gender Politics, Stellenbosch University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Kimberly Hosey Kimberly Hosey

Kristin Pauker: The Fight for Fairness

Everyone is biased, she says; it's built into the way we experience the world. But that doesn't mean that we are slaves to our instincts.

May 6, 2024

We all have a natural tendency to view the world in black and white—to the extent that it's hard not to hear "black" and immediately think "white." Fortunately, there are ways to activate the more subtle shadings in our minds. Kristin Pauker is a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa who studies stereotyping and prejudice, with a focus on how our environment shapes our biases. In this podcast and Q&A, she tells OpenMind co-editor Corey S. Powell how researchers measure and study bias, and how we can use their findings to make a more equitable world. (This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)


LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Kristin Pauker: We have to think about ways in which we can change the features of our environment—so that our weeds aren’t so prolific.

READ THE INTERVIEW


When I hear “bias,” the first thing I think of is a conscious prejudice. But you study something a lot more subtle, which researchers call “implicit bias.” What is it, and how does it affect us?

Implicit bias is a form of bias that influences our decision-making, our interactions and our behaviors. It can be based on any social group membership, like race, gender, age, sexual orientation or even the color of your shirt. Often we’re not aware of the ways in which these biases are influencing us. Sometimes implicit bias gets called unconscious bias, which is a little bit of a misnomer. We can be aware of these biases, so it's not necessarily unconscious. But we often are not aware of the way in which they're influencing our behaviors and thoughts.

You make it sound like almost anything can set us off. Why is bias so deeply ingrained in our heads?

Our brain likes to categorize things because it makes our world easier to process. We make categories as soon as we start learning about something. So we categorize fruits, we categorize vegetables, we categorize chairs, we categorize tables for their function—and we also categorize people. We know from research that categorization happens early in life, as early as 5 or 6, in some cases even 3 or 4. Categorization creates shortcuts that help us process information faster, but that also can lead us to make assumptions that may or may not hold in particular situations. What categories we use are directed by the environment that we're in. Our environment already has told us certain categories are really important, such as gender, age, race and ethnicity. We quickly form an association when we’re assigned to a particular group.

In your research, you use a diagnostic tool called an “implicit association test.” How does it work, and what does it tell you?

Typically someone would show you examples of individuals who belong to categories, and then ask you to categorize those individuals. For example, you would see faces and you would categorize them as black and white. You’re asked to make a fast categorization, as fast as you can. Then you are presented with words that could be categorized as good or bad, like “hero” and “evil,” and again asked to categorize the words quickly. The complicated part happens when, say, good and white are paired together or bad and black are paired together. You're asked to categorize the faces and the words as you were before. Then it's flipped, so that bad and white are paired together, and good and black are paired together. You’re asked to make the categorizations once again with the new pairings.

The point of the test is, how quickly do you associate certain concepts together? Oftentimes if certain concepts are more closely paired in your mind, then it will be easier for you to make that association. Your response will be faster. When the pairing is less familiar to you or less closely associated, it takes you longer to respond. Additional processing needs to occur.

When you run this implicit association test on your test subjects or your students, are they often surprised by the results?

We’ve done it as a demonstration in the classroom, and I've had students come up and complain saying, “There’s something wrong with this test. I don't believe it.” They’ll try to poke all kinds of holes in the test because it gave them a score that wasn’t what they felt it should be according to what they think about themselves. This is the case, I think, for almost anyone. I've taken an implicit association test and found that I have a stronger association with men in science than women in science. And I'm a woman scientist! We can have and hold these biases because they’re prevalent in society, even if they’re biases that may not be beneficial to the group we belong to.

Studies show that even after you make people aware of their implicit biases, they can’t necessarily get rid of them. So are we stuck with our biases?

Those biases are hard to change and control, but that doesn't mean that they are uncontrollable and unchangeable. It’s just that oftentimes there are many features in our environment that reinforce those biases. I was thinking about an analogy. Right now I’m struggling with weeds growing in my yard, invasive vines. It’s hard because there are so many things supporting the growth of these vines. I live in a place that has lots of sun and rain. Similarly, there’s so much in our environment that is supporting our biases. It’s hard to just cut them off and be like, OK, they're gone. We have to think about ways in which we can change the features of our environment—so that our weeds aren’t so prolific.

A clever idea people have been thinking about is trying to change consequences of biases.

Common programs aimed at reducing bias, such as corporate diversity training workshops, often seem to stop at the stage of making people aware that bias exists. Is that why they haven’t worked very well?

If people are told that they’re biased, the reaction that many of them have is, “Oh, that means I'm a racist? I'm not a racist!” Very defensive, because we associate this idea of being biased with a moral judgment that I'm a bad person. Because of that, awareness-raising can have the opposite of the intended effect. Being told that they're biased can make people worried and defensive, and they push back against that idea. They're not willing to accept it.

A lot of the diversity training models are based on the idea that you can just tell people about their biases and then get them to accept them and work on them. But, A, some people don't want to accept their biases. B, some people don't want to work on them. And C, the messaging around how we talk about these biases creates a misunderstanding that they can’t be changed. We talk about biases that are unconscious, biases that we all hold, that are formed early in life—it creates the idea, “Well, there’s nothing I can do, so why should I even try?”

How can we do better in talking about bias, so that people are more likely to embrace change instead of becoming defensive or defeated?

Some of it is about messaging. Biases are hard to change, but we should be discussing the ways in which these biases can change, even though it might take some time and work. You have to emphasize the idea that these things can change, or else why would we try? There is research showing that if you just give people their bias score, normally that doesn't result in them becoming more aware of their bias. But if you combine that score with a message that this is something controllable, people are less defensive and more willing to accept their biases.

What about concrete actions we can take to reduce the negative impact of implicit bias?

One thing is thinking about when we do interventions. A lot of times we’re trying to make changes in the workplace. We should be thinking more about how we're raising our children. The types of environments we're exposing them to, and the features that are in our schools, are good places to think about creating change. Prejudice is something that’s malleable.

Another thing is not always focusing on the person. So much of what we do in these interventions is try to change individual people's biases. But we can also think about our environment. What are the ways in which our environments are communicating these biases, and how can we make changes there? A clever idea people have been thinking about is trying to change consequences of biases. There's a researcher, Jason A. Okonofua, who talks about this and calls it “sidelining bias.” You're not targeting the person and trying to get rid of their biases. You're targeting the situations that support those biases. If you can change that situation and kind of cut it off, then the consequences of bias might not be as bad. It could lead to a judgment that is not so influenced by those biases.

There’s research showing that people make fairer hiring decisions when they work off tightly structured interviews and qualification checklists, which leave less room for subjective reactions. Is that the kind of “sidelining” strategy you’re talking about?

Yes, that’s been shown to be an effective way to sideline bias. If you set those criteria ahead of time, it's harder for you to shift a preference based on the person that you would like to hire. Another good example is finding ways to slow down the processes we're working on. Biases are more likely to influence our decision-making when we have to make really quick decisions or when we are stressed—which is the case for a lot of important decisions that we make.

Jennifer Eberhardt does research on these kinds of implicit biases. She worked with NextDoor (a neighborhood monitoring app) when they noticed a lot of racial profiling in the things people were reporting in their neighborhood. She worked with them to change the way that people report a suspicious person. Basically they added some extra steps to the checklist when you report something. Rather than just reporting that someone looks suspicious, a user had to indicate what about the behavior itself was suspicious. And then there was an explicit warning that they couldn't just say the reason for the suspicious behavior was someone's race. Including extra check steps slowed down the process and reduced the profiling.

It does feel like we’re making progress in addressing bias but, damn, it’s been a slow process. Where can we go from here?

A big part that’s missing in the research on implicit bias is creating tools that are useful for people. We still don’t know a lot about bias, but we know a lot more than we're willing to put into practice. For instance, creating resources for parents to be able to have conversations about bias, and to be aware that the everyday things we do are really important. This is something that many people want to tackle, but they don’t know how to do it. Just asking questions about what is usual and what is unusual has really interesting effects. We’ve done that with our son. He’d say something and I would ask, “Why is that something that only boys can do? You say girls can't do that, is that really the case? Can you think of examples where the opposite is true?”


This Q&A is part of a series of OpenMind essays, podcasts and videos supported by a generous grant from the Pulitzer Center's Truth Decay initiative.

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In US Election, Women Won Big

The 2020 United States election has left a lot up in the air and voters around the country wait anxiously for final results, especially for the presidential race. However, we don’t need to wait to know that women around the country shattered barriers and won several big victories. 

From women of color taking (or keeping) elected positions to women’s roles in moving the needle in countless ways, ladies led the way. It has been an election of firsts: the first Black and South Asian woman nominated or elected Vice President, the first openly transgender woman elected state senator, the first woman elected mayor in Miami-Dade County, the first Republican women elected to the House in both Iowa and South Carolina, Wyoming’s first female senator, the first Black congresswoman elected in Missouri, and many more milestones. No matter your political leanings, this has been an election of broken barriers. Read on for more details on how women are leading.

Record Number of Native American Women Elected to Congress, from The Guardian—“According to a Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) report, 18 indigenous women were running for congressional seats this year – a record in a single year.”

Women Have Made History in the 2020 Election, from Elle—“Before any races were even called this November, women had made history. A record number of women ran for office in 2020—surpassing the record set just two years prior. More Republican women ran for U.S. House seats than ever before, and a number of women were poised to bring new representation to the halls of Congress and to their state legislatures.”

New Mexico Makes History, Becomes First State to Elect All Women of Color to the House, from People—“New Mexico is now the first state with a House delegation comprised entirely of women of color. […] All of the six major party candidates who ran in New Mexico’s House races were women.”

All 4 Members of ‘The Squad’ Reelected to House, from CNN—“All four congresswomen known as the Squad—Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts—have won reelection, CNN projects. Since taking office in January 2019, the lawmakers, all women of color, have electrified the left’s progressive base and lit up social media.”

Kamala Harris Makes History As the First Woman to Become Vice President, from Vox—“Harris has made history: No woman has ever served as vice president or president in the US. Her election to the office — and the representation she brings — is significant for many voters. […] Harris’s nomination for this role was groundbreaking. As the new vice president, Harris could play a major role in shaping policies and priorities for a Biden administration, while sending a strong message about what’s possible for other women and people of color.”

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Honoring, Uplifting, and Supporting Rural Women

Ever since International Day of Rural Women on Oct. 15, we’ve been seeing even more than usual about the incredible women doing the bulk of our world’s rural work, including indigenous women and women in countries around the globe working in difficult conditions. Rural women keep our agriculture, economies, and indeed us running. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, rural women face increasing challenges; including access to health care, increased pressure during the pandemic, medical needs, and more. Still, rural women continue to work on the front lines. We've collected just a few stories about rural women--their amazing and tireless work; the unique challenges they face right now; their initiative and innovation; how they're changing and uplifting the world, and how we might all help support their needs, advocacy, and lives. Read on for more, and keep supporting our rural women and their power and work.

Speakers: COVID-19 Unfolded Opportunities for Rural Women to Act as Agents of Change, from The Nation—“The platform of rural women conference served as a place where voices of the representatives from over 100 districts of the country raised concerns for an inclusive response to manage disasters like the way Corona pandemic played unprecedented havoc with the local communities here in Pakistan.”

In Costa Rica, Rural Women Grow Their Own Businesses, from UNDP—“The recovery from COVID-19 and the safe path to Sustainable Development must have women and nature-based solutions at its centre if we are to emerge stronger and better from the challenges we face as humanity. This involves transforming the social norms of gender imposed by culture, norms that make invisible the role of women as essential agents of conservation, and their leading role in reducing the loss of nature”

Invest in Rural Women, Help Them Build Resilience to Future Crises, Urges UN Chief, from UN News—“Rural women play a critical role in agriculture, food security and managing land and natural resources - yet many suffer from ‘discrimination, systemic racism, and structural poverty,’ the UN chief said on Thursday.”

Opinion: The Name Game: How Women Get Erased in Rural India, from Thomson Reuters—“In rural villages, one can easily find women who have their husband’s name tattooed on their wrist. However, even if her husband’s name is stitched on her flesh, most often a woman does not say his name aloud. Traditionally, a husband is a godly figure and saying his name is considered disrespectful.”

Mobilizing Rural Women for a Food-Secure Future, from Politico—“As the world grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and looks at how to address other pressing challenges such as climate change and feeding a growing global population, it is more important than ever to mobilize the entire rural workforce — especially women — in ensuring a food-secure future.”

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Celebrating Girls on International Day of the Girl and All Year Long

Yesterday was International Day of the Girl. This year’s theme, “My Voice, Our Equal Future,” focused on  “the opportunity to be inspired by what adolescent girls see as the change they want, the solutions—big and small—they are leading and demanding across the globe.”

We work to honor and uplift women every day, but we also passionately support girls and are inspired by their work, ideas, and the powerful women they’re growing into. That’s why—even though it’s the day after International Day of the Girl—we’re taking today to recognize, support, and empower (not to mention honor the power of) girls, and we’re calling for everyone to do so all year long. We’re looking at issues that threaten and challenge girls, deeper conversations and the continuing dialogue about advocacy for girls, resources to help, and year-round inspiration from amazing girls around the world.

How You Can Celebrate International Day of the Girl and Raise a Leader, from Forbes—“After almost twenty years of doing this work, I want us to stop teaching our girls the importance of being pretty, polite, and likable. I wonder what preschools and elementary schools would look like if our girls with the pressure to be brave, funny, and smart.”

Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai in Conversation for International Day of the Girl, from Teen Vogue—“Joining the indomitable pair is Priya Mondol, a 17-year-old student in Kolkata, India, for whom their work is personal. Priya faced obstacles to getting an education, but with the help of Her Future Coalition, an organization supported by the Girls Opportunity Alliance, she's able to keep learning during this challenging time. She joined Mrs. Obama and Malala to discuss the importance of developing resilience and to share insights about girls’ education and empowerment in advance of the Day of the Girl.”

How Shouting, Finger-Waving Girls Became Our Conscience, from The New York Times—“While aggression in women remains suspect, the public is drawn, now more than ever, to girls who reproach and rebuke, calling the world to account for its ills — and girls in turn are learning to harness that public gaze to effect larger change.”

International Day of the Girl Child, from the World Health Organization—“The 2020 theme of International Day of the Girl is “My voice, our equal future.” This is a striking call to recognize girls’ inheritance of the still-unfinished Beijing Agenda, their expertise on the challenges they face especially for their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and their limitless capacity as change-makers. To commemorate the day, WHO co-organized a virtual intergenerational dialogue between girl advocates and high-level leaders about putting girls and their rights at the centre of decision-making processes.”

How You Can Help on International Day of the Girl, from Refinery29—“Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls aged 15–19 years is neither employed nor in education or training. And by 2021, nearly 435 million women and girls will be living on less than $1.90 a day—including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19, also according to the UN. In addition to those startling numbers, 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence. And since the pandemic began, violence against women and girls has become even more intense. [...] There are plenty of community-based initiatives working to solve these issues and more for girls.”

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The History of the Women Nominated for Vice President

CNN looks at the history of women as candidates for vice president of the United States—a role only taken on by three women in history, the latest being presidential nominee Joe Biden's pick Kamala Harris. The article talks about Harris, the third woman to accept a nomination from a major party and the first woman of color, and why the pick is so significant. Reporter Kate Sullivan also discusses Sarah Palin’s history and rise before being nominated, as well as Geraldine Ferraro’s groundbreaking nomination as the first woman—and her background, including her time as a teacher, lawyer, and advocate for victims and for economic equality for women. While previous tickets with women vice presidential candidates have been unsuccessful, it’s easy to see why so many are eager to see the glass ceiling shattered—and to see a qualified, powerful woman succeed.

By Kate Sullivan, CNN

With Joe Biden selecting Kamala Harris, the senator from California becomes just the third woman to be selected as the vice president on a major party ticket and the first Black woman to be nominated.

Harris, a woman of Black and South Asian descent, ran for president in 2020 but ended her bid in December. She has been a senator since 2017, and was previously California's attorney general.

Biden's announcement on Tuesday came after months of speculation and after his vetting team looked at more than a dozen women. Biden pledged earlier this year to choose a woman as his vice president, and was under pressure to select a woman of color.

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Making Strides, and the Many Steps We Still Have to Take

Every step forward for women illuminates several more strides we need to make—for women in general, for our future opportunities, and for vulnerable and underrepresented groups of women. This week, we celebrate and shine a spotlight on areas of progress; from representation and women in leadership positions to racial diversity and the ways we talk about women—as well as the many steps forward still needed for women in all areas of life. Keep fighting for one another, and keep investing in—and believing in—women!

Women CEOs’ Highest Representation on the Fortune 500 List Still Isn’t Enough, from Forbes—“Female CEOs represent just 37, or 7.4 percent, of the top 500 companies on the list. Undoubtedly, it’s a mark of progress. It’s the largest representation of women ever on the list. In fact, over the last 20 years, Fortune 500 women CEOs increased 18 times over. But that’s not saying a lot, since only two women made the list 20 years ago. [...] despite a few peaks and valleys, the number of women on the list has been steadily increasing. But women still aren’t getting as many opportunities as their male counterparts.”

The 19th Amendment Is 100 Years Old. Voting Rights Are Still Far From Equal, from Fast Company—“The founder and CEO of Pipeline Equity points out that women of color had to wait until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to have free and fair access to the ballot box. And unfortunately, the road to universal enfranchisement didn’t end there.”

Why Does the Phrase ‘Woman Scientist’ Even Exist?, from Scientific American—“[Katherine Sharp] Landdeck has a point. As she says, ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.’ She’s never heard a woman introduce herself as ‘a woman pilot,’ just as I’ve never heard a scientific colleague introduce herself as ‘a woman scientist,’ but our very existence makes us stand out nonetheless.”

It Is Time for Blockchain to Prioritize Diversity and Inclusion, from Cointelegraph—“The lack of gender and racial diversity in the tech space is no longer a ‘secret.’ According to data from Statista, while the percentage of employed women across all job sectors in the United States has grown to 47 percent, the five largest tech companies on the planet — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — have a workforce of only about 34.4 percent women. This misrepresentation extends to the C-suite as well, with 31 percent of large tech companies lacking any women of color as executives.”

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100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

August marks 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. A new voting population brought new issues to the forefront, new voices being heard, and a new political landscape. But the fight didn't end there.  For the next few months, Smithsonian Magazine will cover the fight for representation, complications including privilege and ongoing inequality, struggles, political trailblazers, and ongoing work—and the women behind it all. Read below and click through to read more and follow their coverage.

On August 18, 1920—a full century ago—the 19th Amendment was ratified by Tennessee's legislature. But that date marks neither the beginning nor the end of the struggle for suffrage. The movement to secure the vote for women took a long, thorny path that extends until today; it's a trail dotted with factional disagreements, prioritization of the needs of the white and wealthy, disappointments and hard-won victories, occasional scandal, unexpected alliances and perseverance. In this collection of stories, you can learn about this complex history and the women who propelled it.

In the coming months, Smithsonian magazine will tell the stories of the people who pushed to fully realize the dream of suffrage for all women, like civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who faced down the KKK to secure the right to vote for herself and others; the Hawaiian suffragists whose path to political participation was complicated by colonialism; and the glass-ceiling-cracking campaigns of Shirley Chisholm and Geraldine Ferraro.

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Juneteenth: Freedom, Progress, and Celebrating Black Voices and Lives

Juneteenth—celebrated June 19 in the United States—marks the day those held in slavery were told they had been freed. The date commemorates June 19, 1865, when it was announced that tens of thousands of African-Americans in Texas had been emancipated, and for all its significance is only one step in the complex and painful history of racial inequality in the US. Today, Juneteenth remembers that day and the events that led up to it, educates Americans about history and current events central to the Black community, and is a time Black Americans come together to celebrate their resilience, culture, and progress. 

We’ve put together a collection of articles and stories centering on Juneteenth—family stories; celebrations of black womanhood; the economic, political, societal, and deeply personal pressures still faced by Black Americans today; and how to respect and observe the holiday, including a petition for Juneteenth to be recognized as a national holiday. We honor Black women and the entire Black community today, and we pledge to work to listen, respect, celebrate, and amplify Black voices.

One Woman's Quest to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday, from NPR—“A 90-year-old Texas woman is trying to make Juneteenth, a holiday that honors the freedom of slaves, a national holiday. She’s walked around the country and will end her petition in Washington, D.C.”

10 Ways To Observe Juneteenth This Year, from Women’s Health—“So if you’re a Black American—this is our Independence Day, and it deserves to be observed. If you’re worried about how the novel coronavirus pandemic will affect Juneteenth this year, and maybe some of your plans got cancelled already—don’t worry. There are plenty of ways you can still take part. How? Well, you can start by signing 93-year-old activist Opal Lee’s petition to make Juneteenth a national holiday, which is long overdue.”

This Juneteenth, We Should Uplift America’s Black Businesses, from The Brookings Institution—“Women—and specifically, Black women—were also underrepresented as business owners in the survey. Women represent more than half of the U.S. population, but they owned only one in five businesses (just over 1.1 million) in 2017. This was about the same proportion as it was in 2012. Black women owned less than 1 percent (one in 130) of the nation’s businesses in 2017, even though Black women made up 6.6 percent of the country’s population.”

Ida, Maya, Rosa, Harriet: The Power in Our Names, from The New York Times—“For nearly two centuries, Black women passed on names as remembrances of struggles for freedom, dignity and citizenship. We can find these stories in articles, textbooks, museum exhibits and even popular culture. But the lives of these sheroes are not being newly discovered in the 21st century. Instead, they are inherited from women who handed them down to inspire next generations. Passed along, from mothers to daughters to granddaughters, our names carry with them visions of freedom.”

In Miss Juneteenth, a Mother’s Dream Deferred, from The New Republic—“Though the tension between mother and daughter remains center stage, Miss Juneteenth’s broader subject turns out to be the political economics of surviving as a black woman in Texas.”

How 13 Black Women Are Celebrating Juneteenth This Year, from Cosmopolitan—“Over the years, Americans have honored the day in beautifully diverse ways from participating in Juneteenth parades to attending rodeos to making the journey down to Galveston with their families. But this year is remarkably different than years past. This year, Juneteenth falls amid unprecedented demonstrations and support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Oluwatoyin ‘Toyin’ Salau, Dominique ‘Rem’mie’ Fells, Riah Milton, Ahmaud Arbery, and multiple hangings. [...] I’m dedicating the day to signing petitions to demand justice for Black lives and defunding the police, researching which brands I consume that benefit from inhumane prison labor, and discovering more Black-owned businesses. Here's how other Black women are planning to spend the day.”

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Women at the Frontlines of COVID-19 Might Be Starting the Gender Role Reversal of the Century

An article from Forbes looks at how the new coronavirus and efforts to fight COVID-19 are affecting women—especially at home, where they’re increasingly wearing many hats as children are home from school. Researchers look at how the crisis could affect men’s and women’s roles at home and at work, from more flexible work arrangements to finally moving closer to equal roles in the home—a development that could benefit women as well as men.

By Brianna Wiest, Forbes

Women are at the helm of fighting COVID-19.

It’s not just that women make up 91% of nurses, 74% of healthcare workers and almost 62% of pharmaceutical professions. Having nearly half of the world’s children home from school means that many mothers are trying to teach, caretake and manage their workload simultaneously.

This is a significant challenge for most families, and is positioning us for an interesting gender role reversal, one that might be unprecedented in this century.

According to new research from Matthias Doepke and Jane Olmstead-Rumsey of Northwestern University, Titan Alon of the University of California San Diego and Michèle Tertilt of the University of Mannheim, the COVID-19 crisis might generate change in gender norms that defines our new “normal” in the decades to come. In the same way that WWII shifted these roles by putting more women in the workforce, COVID-19 is spurring a surge of male caregivers, as women make up the majority of “essential” jobs.

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Women Take the Lead for World Health

Earlier this month we marked World Health Day, and as the world faces a global health threat the spotlight has been on public health and health workers. Through it all we’ve been inspired by women around the world who are taking the lead to save lives and protect communities, by the obstacles overcome and solutions devised by people of all genders, and by those who empower women and citizens of every country as we work to come together like never before. Take care of yourselves and one another during this time, and join us as we look at some amazing women during this difficult time.

What Do Countries With the Best Coronavirus Responses Have in Common? Women Leaders, from Forbes—“Looking for examples of true leadership in a crisis? From Iceland to Taiwan and from Germany to New Zealand, women are stepping up to show the world how to manage a messy patch for our human family. Add in Finland, Iceland and Denmark, and this pandemic is revealing that women have what it takes when the heat rises in our Houses of State. Many will say these are small countries, or islands, or other exceptions. But Germany is large and leading, and the UK is an island with very different outcomes. These leaders are gifting us an attractive alternative way of wielding power.”

COVID-19 Has Been Harder on Women Business Owners. These 11 Resources Can Help, from Fast Company—“With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the economy, a recent poll from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce showed that 24% of small businesses are just two months away from shuttering permanently, and 11% are less than one month away. And according to American Express, many women-owned businesses work within industries most vulnerable to COVID-19 devastation. 22% of all women-owned businesses are hair salons, nail salons, and pet groomers, and women also own 16% of the hospitality and food service sector.”

She Figured Out How Ford Could Manufacture Coronavirus Face Shields, from Fortune—“There’s a whole host of corporations pitching in to make equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic. In the latest issue of Fortune, writer Maria Aspan gives us a peek at one of those efforts: Ford’s shift from manufacturing automobiles to producing medical supplies.”

The Secret Weapon in the Fight Against Coronavirus: Women, from The Guardian—“Being a woman doesn’t automatically make you better at handling a global pandemic. Nor does it automatically make you a better leader; suggesting it does reinforces sexist and unhelpful ideas that women are innately more compassionate and cooperative. What is true, however, is that women generally have to be better in order to become leaders; we are held to far higher standards than men. Women are rarely able to fail up in the way men can; you have to be twice as good as a man in order to be taken half as seriously. You have to work twice as hard.”

India’s First Line of Defense Against the Coronavirus Is an Army of 900,000 Women Without Masks or Hand Sanitizer, from Buzzfeed—“The skills and the capacity these women have, the way in which they are familiar with each community’s members — the sick, the elderly, the children — the ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) are the most likely to know when someone is displaying symptoms of coronavirus, has been traveling abroad or is missing from the home. Without them, doctors will be operating blind.”

How These Female Entrepreneurs Are Using Technology to Thrive Amidst COVID-19, from Forbes—“Women starting businesses already experience barriers to entry and a lack of funding compared to men, research indicates. Despite these challenges, many female entrepreneurs have developed creative online strategies to propel their businesses forward during these times of uncertainty. Three women entrepreneurs sat down to discuss how their business is thriving despite the COVID-19 crisis.”

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Inclusion, Inspiration, Lessons, and Leaders: Women Opening Doors and Blazing Trails

As we continue to get a strong start to 2020, we’re following so many stories of women’s leadership—from obstacles to be overcome and inequality that women still face to initiatives empowering women, strategies to get ahead, and inspirational leaders in tech and finance. Check out a few stories below, and keep striving, thriving, and helping one another! 

Melinda Gates Names Chicago First Gender-Inclusive Tech Hub, from Forbes—“Pivotal Ventures is teaming up with with Break Through Tech and SecondMuse to launch GET (Gender Equality in Tech) Cities. Their plan for increasing equality in the burgeoning Chicago tech world is three-fold: getting more women interested in pursuing tech careers, creating an inclusive environment which generates opportunities for these women, and ensuring that women of color are provided the same pathways and opportunities. Here are the details of how they are reinventing the tech hub.”

The Top 10 Mistakes That Keep Women Entrepreneurs From Scaling to $1 Million, from Entrepreneur—“Where are the million-dollar women? In 2018, just 1.7 percent of women-owned businesses generated more than $1 million in revenue, and the challenges are even greater for women of color entrepreneurs. Why is it that even though women own 40 percent of all businesses in the U.S., making "real money" is more the exception than it is the rule? What's getting in our way when it comes to business ideas that make bank?”

LinkedIn Co-Founder Blue Outlines Risks of Blockchain Sexism, from Cointelegraph—“According to The National, the WEF has evaluated that it will take 257 years for women to have the same economic opportunities as men. In contrast, to date, women reportedly account for only 30 percent of tech-related jobs such as AI, blockchain, software engineering and cloud computing.”

How Shelley Zalis Strives to Bring Gender Balance to the Tech World, from VentureBeat—“Technology and automation and AI will eliminate a lot of entry-level positions. Those positions are held by women. That will impact change. When you look at a lot of the predictions of not even filling the pipeline for technology — these are big challenges, but also big opportunities in areas where we need to do a better job of filling the pipeline, making sure we groom the talent from high school through getting into the workplace so we don’t see such a big drop of women, even at the entry level. And it’s why we need more women in tech to begin with. Even though AI is going to automate a lot of jobs, you still need to have human input around how you formulate what you’re looking for.”

The Heroines STEM: Ten Women in Science You Should Know, from CNN—“despite challenges of gender discrimination and lack of recognition in the scientific community, countless inspiring women in these fields have made historic contributions to science and helped advance understanding of the world around us. Many were not recognized in their own lifetimes, but their achievements have helped generations of female scientists to come.”

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Starting the Year Strong

Happy New Year from The State of Women and Women Investing in Women Digital! We hope you are all starting the year strong, healthy, and with clear vision on goals, progress, and challenges for women in the coming year and decade. This week, we've collected just a few stories about women around the world—and whether it's women directors breaking records in the past year, preserving systems that work to empower and raise up women, changing outdated ideas that need to evolve, or new initiatives to promote entrepreneurship for women and girls; we think it's clear that the world's women are looking forward with 20/20 vision!

Female Directors Broke Records in 2019, from Fortune—“(A)t the ceremony, women mostly won in the acting categories, from Phoebe Waller-Bridge to Awkwafina to Michelle Williams (who used her speech to champion reproductive rights). Ellen DeGeneres, with an emotional tribute by Kate McKinnon, was the first person besides Carol Burnett to receive the Carol Burnett Award for outstanding contributions to television. Overall, some talented women accepted golden statues last night—but as awards season continues, hopefully we’ll see more women behind the camera honored, too.”

Challenging Our Gendered Idea of Mentorship, from Harvard Business Review—“The reality is that just as women benefit from male mentors, sponsors, and allies, men also gain from the mentorship, leadership, and sponsorship of women. But stories about women leaders are scarce, and they often narrowly focus on how women help each other. Even more rare are examples of the positive impact women leaders have on the careers and business of men. This imbalance reinforces negative bias about the ability of women to lead and contributes to the scarcity of women at the top.”

Why Professional Networking Groups for Women Remain Valuable, from Fast Company—“What the study shows is that women who focus on making a lot of professional contacts may not necessarily receive the same benefits that men get from doing so. They need to supplement that with closer connections with other women they trust. The study’s authors speculate that these inner networks help not just with finding opportunities, but also by exchanging advice specific to the unique challenges women face.”

Recognizing Workplace Challenges Faced by Black Women Leaders, from Forbes—“Gender bias makes career advancement markedly harder for women than men. But gender bias is not the only discriminatory obstacle women face in their careers. Women whose social identities are different from the dominant workplace expectations—that is, women who are not white, straight, less than 40, and childless—encounter three additional obstacles: having to navigate more precarious lose/lose double binds, being forced to conform to cultural norms that may be at odds with their social identities, and encountering biases in addition to those about gender. These three sorts of obstacles are brought into sharp relief by comparing the workplace experiences of black women and white women.”

What Goes Into the Production of a New Girl Scout Cookie Brand, from Fortune—“‘These messages not only remind girls about the leadership abilities they already possess within them, but they also remind consumers that buying Girl Scout Cookies powers amazing and important experiences for girls,’ Girl Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo tells Fortune. ‘Whether it’s through selling the new Lemon-Ups cookie, Lemonades, or any other cookie in our lineup, the Girl Scout Cookie Program fosters a multitude of business and life skills in girls, preparing them to be the ambitious entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow.’”

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Giving Thanks for (and Recognition to) Women

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving this Thursday, so we wanted to use this week as an opportunity to highlight good news. Around the world, women are achieving, surviving, discovering, investing, thriving, competing, and helping one another. Please take a minute to check out just a few of their success stories as well as some insights about accomplishments, progress, and recognition. And we’re thankful for each and every one of you, as you join us in recognizing and empowering women every day!

Female STEM Entrepreneurs in Latin America Are Gaining Momentum, from Crunchbase—“Brazil’s Nubank is the largest neobank in the world. Yet few people realize this challenger bank is led by a female co-founder: Cristina Junqueira. [...] Women lead 35 percent of Latin America’s fintech startups. Junqueira is just one example; hundreds of brilliant women are applying to accelerators and competitions around the region to share their ideas as well. There are female founders behind several of Latin America’s top startups, although they are rarely in the limelight. Cristina Randall helped found Mexico’s Conekta, Blanca Trevino is behind Softtek, and Ecuador’s Kushki was co-founded by Madeleine Clavijo; these female co-founders have helped build these companies from the ground up.”

How One Girl’s Survival Should Inspire Us All, from CNN—“Bashar began to ask about my work as an advocate for the Yazidi community, and she asked if she, too, could speak on behalf of our torn Yazidi community. Only one month after her operation, Bashar courageously stood before the European Parliament in Brussels and gave her testimony as a survivor of relentless sexual violence under ISIS captivity. [...] We ask you to listen to Bashar's story. Seek out the voices of those who cannot be heard and amplify their message to your communities. We will not rest until every woman and girl is freed from the bonds of violence.”

Women’s Key to Business Success – Bragging More, from Forbes—“Not only does it feel tiring to explain Kuli Kuli’s many accomplishments, I also worry that whoever I’m talking to will find me arrogant. In fact, research shows the opposite. The same study on self-promotion showed that both men and women enjoy hearing women talk about their accomplishments, from achieving their goals to commanding respect in their fields. We all want to be inspired, and not just from the people onstage. Learning about other women’s successes, particularly women who are more advanced in their careers, inspires me to work harder and dream more.”

Badass Millennial Women Are Supercharging Startup Investments, from TechCrunch—“These companies are only viable because so many women — beginning with millennials but expanding out to the rest of us — are now willing and able to invest in themselves. United across a shared mission of female empowerment and inclusivity, She-onomy 2.0 is making it more realistic than ever to empower us to advance our careers, feel good about ourselves and stay healthy.”

Leading a Female Research Team, from Nature Middle East—“Members of my lab team have often come to me questioning their self-worth, wondering whether they are good enough and if they deserve their success. My challenge as lab head is to acknowledge the inconsistency between perception and the reality that women in STEMM leadership positions can inspire female researchers to self-validate, push beyond their comfort zone and own their worth.”

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Shooting for the Stars: Women Thrive in Traditionally Male-Dominated Fields

The cancelling of the first all-women spacewalk—not because the astronauts were unqualified, but because there was a shortage of spacesuits to accommodate the entire team—has prompted a lot of talk about women in space recently. As we mark the International Day of Human Space Flight this Friday, conversation continues to focus on women’s competence, contributions, and expertise in space; as well as in countless other fields that have traditionally been dominated by men. Today we look at just a few stories about women thriving in male-dominated fields, and how welcoming women to any industry is a triumph for women—as well as the fields themselves.

A Place for Women in Space, from Foreign Policy—“’Even as female astronaut candidates prove their competence and ability, and as spacesuits and other equipment [are] adapted for them, they are still working in the context of a legacy that has been predominantly male,’ said Shawna Pandya, a Canadian physician and citizen-scientist astronaut candidate. “We are thus working in a system with an unconscious male bias, which is nearly universal.’ [...]  a gendered lag persists in the design of the organization’s mission tools, which can sometimes see women struggle—literally—to fit in. This is by no means unique to NASA and is reflected across the space science industry.”

Trailblazers: Women in Rwanda Rise as Leaders in Male-Dominated Professions, from the Pulitzer Center—“Once living under a strict patriarchal society, Rwandan women are emerging as business leaders in male-dominated professions such as agriculture—defying the status quo of gender in a post-genocide era.”

Women Leaders on ‘Getting It Done’ in Male-Dominated Industries, from PCMA Convene—“Don’t be afraid to be your authentic self. Sometimes you feel a little uncomfortable, [since] as women we are told that certain roles are not made for us, we don’t belong here. … But when you are yourself and you can stand in your own truth, you know where you belong and that’s your power.”

Notre Dame’s McGraw Wants More Women in Positions of Power, from Associated Press News—“When you look at men’s basketball, 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn’t 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women’s basketball go to women? Maybe it’s because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them. That’s the problem.” [...] “How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don’t have enough female role models. We don’t have enough visible women leaders. We don’t have enough women in power.”

The Female Architects—Surviving the Journey to the Top, from Archinect—“As more women take the stage in the architectural industry, women following in their footsteps can find both inspiration and knowledge to succeed in their careers. [...] (Danish architect Dorte) Mandrup makes the point that she does not want to be referred to as a ‘female architect.’ Instead, she wants to be known as an architect—one whose work can compare with the creativity of any male without having the additional label attached. She believes that until women stop getting referred to as ‘female architects,’ true equality within the industry cannot happen.”

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Brie Larson’s New Netflix Film Tackles Sexism in Internet Startups

Brie Larson is best known at the moment for portraying Captain Marvel in the upcoming superhero movie (out next month on International Women's Day), but she's also set to portray a real-life hero in a movie highlighting gender discrimination in entrepreneurship. Click through to read more about women entrepreneurs at the center of the story, their company, the discrimination they faced, and Larson's involvement in the project.

By Saqib Shah

Brie Larson is set to star in a Netflix movie that highlights startup sexism as part of a two-film deal with the streaming service. Lady Business is based on a Fast Company article about two female entrepreneurs who invented a fake male cofounder in order to be taken seriously in the patriarchal business world.

Penelope Gazin and Kate Dwyer spoke of how they'd faced condescension from male developers when launching their weird art e-commerce site 'Witchsy." But that all changed when the fictional "Keith Mann" was magicked into existence. "It was like night and day," Dwyer told Fast Company in 2017. "It would take me days to get a response, but Keith could not only get a response and a status update, but also be asked if he wanted anything else or if there was anything else that Keith needed help with."

Fast forward to today, and Silicon Valley is still grappling with gender discrimination and harassment issues. In 2018, Google employees forced the tech giant to update its sexual misconduct policies after staging mass protests. And Uber agreed to pay 56 employees a total of $1.9 million for harassment claims.

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Honoring the Power and Progress of Black Women

The United States is observing Black History Month all February with stories, discussions, celebrations and more honoring the lives and works of black people as we continue the fight for equality—and the success, strength, and talent of black women is often front and center. Here are a few articles that caught our eye this week.

How This Digital Influencer Is Adding More Seats to the Table, from Forbes—“My hope is that eventually there are many more women of color who can create their own events and get consulting gigs with these companies. You can’t make a change if you aren’t in the rooms where decisions are being made.”

Meet ‘Black Girl Magic,’ the 19 African-American Women Elected As Judges in Texas, from NPR—“This cycle, Harris County also saw record numbers of Hispanic-American, Asian-American and LGBT candidates. And the more such candidates win, the more it encourages younger people of diverse backgrounds to believe they can do the same.”

Black Women Are Making a Name for Themselves As Tech Entrepreneurs, from USA Today—“We’re in a moment right now, black women, black women founders, Latinx women founders—we’re in a moment where people care. Our goal at digitalundivided is to turn that moment into a movement.”

100+ Books by Black Women That Should Be Essential Reading for Everyone, from PopSugar—“Diverse literature is more essential than ever in today's current climate. Books are some of the best tools for developing tolerance and empathy, and few books are as rich and nuanced as those penned by black women.”

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