At inaugural Power Rising summit, black women celebrate wins, strategize for upcoming battles

More than 1,000 black women from all 50 U.S. states gathered in Atlanta February 22 through 25 to learn from each other, inspire one another, and develop strategies to galvanize black women as drivers of positive change.

The sold-out event, Power Rising, held its first gathering this year to help black women access and tap into economic, political and social power to elevate themselves—as well as one another, their local communities, and the nation—and to raise their voices. The gathering, planned by and for black women, highlighted businesswomen as well as the political and social power and influence black women hold. Read more and click through for the full article from the Washington Post, and check out Power Rising online for more information.

ATLANTA — Between pastoring a small church, teaching college classes, volunteering with an anti-violence group and running for Congress, Stephany Spaulding didn’t think she had the time to go off to a women’s empowerment summit.

After spending two days with hundreds of black women juggling similarly busy and civically engaged lives, Spaulding can’t imagine not having attended Power Rising, a conference aimed at connecting African American women to share ideas and strategies for improving their communities.

More than 1,000 women attended the three-day event at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, where big-name speakers and grass-roots activists shared wisdom, laughter and even a few dance moves in joyous affirmation of one another.

Spaulding, 39, who lives in Colorado Springs, praised “the energy, the strength, the power and the direction of women that I’ve been able to connect with” by attending the conference. “Even if our paths to getting where we’re going are different, I believe we are all going to the same place. We want justice and love and liberation for everyone.”

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Once more, Iceland has shown it is the best place in the world to be female

Following Iceland's trailblazing equal-pay law, bestselling author and political journalist Sif Sigmarsdóttir reflects on the gender pay gap, as well as gender equality in general, in Iceland and around the world. She explores how Iceland is one of the best places to be a woman—in personal as well as professional life—and how statements like the women’s strike of 1975 made a nation recognize and respect the value of women; paving the way for Iceland's first woman president (and one of the world's first democratically elected women leaders), Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

The author discusses how growing up seeing a woman leader—and becoming used to it—affected a generation of Icelandic women. However, she also considers how inequality has persisted in Iceland, from leadership hurdles to the gender pay gap, which for years has stagnated at about 16 percent.

Click through to read more about how long women will have to wait for the gender pay gap to fully close, the importance of both symbolic and far-reaching concrete policy changes like the equal-pay law, and how to keep moving the needle on gender equality.

By Sif Sigmarsdóttir

On 24 October 1975, the women of Iceland refused to show up for work. They refused to cook, clean or look after their children. Basically, they went on strike. And that day, the shops in Iceland ran out of the only convenience food available at the time: sausages.

Call it symbolism, but by going on strike the women of Iceland were calling for men to respect their work and demanding equal pay.

This week Iceland became the first country in the world to make companies prove they are not paying women less than men for the same work. Employers are rushing to comply with the new rules to avoid fines. Companies and government agencies with more than 25 staff must obtain government certification of their equal pay policies.

Iceland has long been deemed the best place in the world to be a woman. For the past nine years, the country has topped the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index; the UK comes in at 15th.

In Iceland men get at least three months’ paternity leave, and 90% of them take it. This gives them time to become comfortable with child-rearing, encouraging them to share the workload with their partners. Women in Iceland are highly educated, a high percentage hold managerial positions and they don’t give up their careers to have children: they do both – like the country’s new prime minister. At the end of 2017 Iceland got its second female prime minister, a 41-year-old with three young sons.

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Boards unprepared to deal with sexual harassment, survey shows

Bizwomen - Survey: Boards won't deal with harassment

By: Jennifer Elias

Photo: Vicki Thompson

October 31, 2017

After a long summer of sexual harassment scandals that rocked companies in Silicon Valley and nationally, many board members are ill-prepared to deal with sexism, a new survey finds.

The Boardlist, a Bay Area company that produces an index for female board members, teamed with data analytics company Qualtrics to survey more than 600 private and public company directors to see how they planned to enact changes after repeated sexual harassment scandals in the technology industry.

The survey's findings suggest that many corporate leaders are still unprepared and unaware of issues around sexism and harassment at their companies.

Many respondents are also in denial that those issues are board-level problems, the survey findings suggest.

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This CEO Uses Her Jewish Faith as an Advantage

Fortune

By Jonathan Vanian

November 14, 2017

Sarah Hofstetter knows she may stand out from her peers in the advertising industry, but she’s using her differences as an advantage.

Speaking Monday during Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif., the CEO of digital advertising agency 360i described how her life as an observant Orthodox Jew often puts her at odds with colleagues in her field.

While most advertising executives may be wining and dining clients or hammering out a big deal on a Friday night, Hofstetter hunkers down at home, where she lights candle, drinks wine, and observes the Sabbath.

“You’re never gonna catch me working on a Saturday morning,” she said. “And just because I email you on a Saturday night, you don’t need to email me back. But those are assets.”

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Why Unmarried Women Voters Will Transform Our Country in 2018

The latest from Page Gardner at Glamour, "Why Unmarried Women Voters Will Transform Our Country in 2018," was on our radar immediately. This influential, pivotal group of U.S. citizens have the potential to make their presence known in critical ways in the coming year, as they turn out to vote for their rights and make their voices heard.

It's been a watershed year for women’s rights. While 2017 continues to be devastating for millions of women, it’s clear that many—particularly women of color, young women, and unmarried women—are poised to transform the future of our country with their voices and their votes in 2018, just as they did in Alabama, Virginia, and other elections this year.

We began 2017 with the Women’s March, the largest protest in U.S. history. We saw four new women senators sworn into office, bringing the number of women in the U.S. Congress to 105 with more than 1,800 of their women colleaguesholding seats in state legislatures.

We’ve seen the long overdue recognition of harassment and discrimination in Hollywood, Congress, journalism, and among the countless women who have been harassed by bosses and colleagues who aren’t well-known enough to be splashed across the front page of The New York Times. And we’ve seen more women than ever raise their hands and run for elected office, more than double the number of women who ran in 2016.

Two thousand and eighteen is going to be an even bigger turning point for women, especially in politics.

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