What intersectional feminism means
usatoday.com - "Intersectional feminism" is much more than the latest feminist buzzword. It is a decades-old term many feminists use to explain how the feminist movement can be more diverse and inclusive. If feminism is advocating for women's rights and equality between the sexes, intersectional feminism is the understanding of how women's overlapping identities — including race, class, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation — impact the way they experience oppression and discrimination.
A white woman is penalized by her gender but has the advantage of race. A black woman is disadvantaged by her gender and her race. A Latina lesbian experiences discrimination because of her ethnicity, her gender and her sexual orientation.
Intersectionality has received increased attention in part due to how the Women's March on Washington came together. The rally, which began organically on Facebook, was initially criticized for failing to include any women of color as organizers. Now its leaders include Tamika Mallory, an African-American civil rights activist and former director of the National Action Network; Linda Sarsour, a Muslim who heads the Arab American Association of New York; and Carmen Perez, a Latina activist who directs Harry Belafonte’s Gathering for Justice. The march's policy platform is called "Unity Principles," which include the belief that "gender justice is racial justice is economic justice."
Why girls must have the opportunity to lead
plan-international.org - Yadis, 15, from Colombia took over the role of Mayor of Madrid on International Day of the Girl 2016. The world could be a very different place if more women were in charge.
You just need to look at International Day of the Girl last year to see what that could look like. By persuading leading public figures, including the President of Nepal and the President of the National Assembly of Ecuador, to stand aside for the day, over 300 girls and young women in more than 50 countries were able step into their shoes and call on governments around the world to tear down the barriers that deny millions their rights.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen gave up her position for Loveness (second right) on International Day of the Girl.
I took part myself as a 17-year-old girl from Zambia took my place for the day. It was a humbling experience and I learned so much from Loveness about her life, ambitions and potential. Across the world, the ‘takeovers’ were a brief but powerful glimpse of the world we want to see. Our aim was to change perceptions about what is possible for young women and girls, and to inspire millions of them to demand their voices be heard. Our challenge now is to make a future in which every girl has the chance to take up positions of political leadership – for more than just one day.
8 important things Michelle Obama has done for feminism as first lady
home.bt.com - Seeing as Michelle Obama will no longer be FLOTUS from Friday onwards – we know, we’re not ready for it to happen either – we’ve been thinking a lot about how inspirational her time in the White House has been. Here are a 8 reasons Michelle Obama is our feminist idol.
1. Supporting women and their education has been a constant part of her time as first lady.
While her husband’s been doing his thang, Michelle has been creating her own legacy – including the “Let Girls Learn” initiative started in March 2015. The idea of it is to help educate the 62 million girls around the world who aren’t in school. And she wrote an essay for The Atlantic in 2016, when she talks about the initiative, which we can’t help but feel sums up why she is a feminist idol. Barack Obama GIF – Find & Share on GIPHY
“I see myself in these girls, I see my daughters in these girls, and I simply cannot walk away from them. And I plan to keep raising my voice on their behalf for the rest of my life. I plan to keep urging world leaders to invest in their potential and create societies that truly value them as human beings. I plan to keep reaching out to local leaders, families, and girls themselves to raise awareness about the power of sending girls to school.”
Kenya Can Lead the Way to Universal Health Care in Africa
ipsnews.net - Kenya Can Lead the Way to Universal Health Care in Africa Siddharth Chatterjee is the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya.
NAIROBI, Jan 16 2017 (IPS) - Consider this: every year, nearly one million Kenyans are pushed below the poverty line as a result of unaffordable health care expenses.
For many Kenyan families, the cost of health care is as distressing as the onset of illness and access to treatment. A majority of the population at risk can hardly afford the costs associated with basic health care and when faced with life threatening conditions, it is a double tragedy-inability to access health care and lack of resources to pay for the services.
According to the World Health Organisation, a large percentage of poor households in Kenya cannot afford health care without serious financial constraints as most are dependent on out of pocket payments to pay for services. Nearly four out of every five Kenyans have no access to medical insurance, thus a large part of the population is excluded from quality health care services.
Read The Women's March On Washington's Beautifully Intersectional Policy Platform
We were encouraged and excited to see that the upcoming Women's March on Washington—planned as a main march in Washington, D.C. together with sister marches around the United States and elsewhere in the world—proudly proclaims that marchers advocate for all women. The Intersectional Policy Platform, an outline of the goals of the march, is truly intersectional: recognizing activists that came before, keeping in mind those who will follow, and recognizing women of color, LGBTQ women, and many more. Read on for more, check out the Women’s March on Washington, or read the entire platform here. We look forward to seeing more activism like this: Civil rights conversations (and fights) that reflect the needs of everyone. huffingtonpost.com - The organizers of the Women’s March on Washington just released a four-page document outlining the principles and goals of the protest, and it’s the definition of intersectional feminism.
The Women’s March will take place on Saturday, Jan. 21 in DC with sister marches all over the country (and world) to “affirm our shared humanity and pronounce our bold message of resistance and self-determination,” according to the official platform. After a rocky start, the organizers have put together an inclusive and intersectional policy platform.
The document lays out the march’s purpose, values and principles, and gives an important nod to movements that came before them: the suffragists and abolitionists, the America Indian Movement, the Civil Rights era, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street and the fight for LGBTQ rights.
“Our liberation is bound in each other’s,” the platform states. “The Women’s March on Washington includes leaders of organizations and communities that have been building the foundation for social progress for generations. We welcome vibrant collaboration and honor the legacy of the movements before us.”
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27 Nonfiction Books By Women Everyone Should Read This Year
huffingtonpost.com - New year, new books. At least, that’s what we wrote back in December, when we were just starting to add titles to our 2017 reading lists. Now that we’re nine days into the new year, our to-read list has only grown. And while our first book preview was filled with all the fiction you could handle, we wanted to take a moment to talk about the incredible wave of nonfiction we’re expecting this year, too.
Particularly, we’re talking about nonfiction from women authors ― because a single year that includes memoir and essay collection releases from the likes of Roxane Gay, Patricia Lockwood, Joan Didion, Yiyun Li, Mary Gaitskill, Samantha Irby and Camille Paglia is worth celebrating.
Behold: 27 nonfiction books by women everyone should read this year.
For many of us working full time in urban environments, the prospect of studying mushrooms or catching fireflies seems like a faraway fantasy. In 2012, writer Kyo Maclear was inspired by a musician she met who had fallen in love with birds ― one of those rare natural spectacles readily available in cityscapes. The author spent the year devoted to the winged things, observing them and documenting the changes she underwent along the way. Birds Art Life chronicles her journey, exploring the many shapes passion can take, and the many spaces natural beauty can occupy. ― Priscilla Frank
As the number of female directors in Hollywood declines, experts ponder governmental intervention
nytlive.nytimes.com - Despite the efforts of Hollywood’s leading women to raise awareness about issues such as the gender pay gap and the obstacles faced by female directors, a new report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University appears to show that opportunities for women in the movie business are not increasing, but, rather, declining. According to the report, the percentage of women directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases declined from nine percent in 2015 to seven percent in 2016. The number of producers working on the top 250 films of 2016 also declined by two percent from the year before, while the number of women editors declined by five percent. Overall, 96 percent of the year’s top films lacked even a single female cinematographer.
“I would say I’m dumbfounded,” said Martha Lauzen, executive director of the center and chief author of the study. “It is remarkable that with all of the attention and talk over the last couple of years in the business and the film industry, the numbers actually declined. Clearly the current remedies aren’t working.”
Meet 9 lesser-known women behind the civil rights era's biggest achievements
mic.com - Jan. 16 marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day honoring the legacy and achievements of one of the foremost leaders from the civil rights movement. But while male leaders like King and Malcolm X are renowned for their contributions to the influential movement, the role women played in the civil rights struggle goes largely unnoticed. Americans may know the names of Rosa Parks or Coretta Scott King, but the numerous other women who played key roles in the fight for equal rights are too often wiped from the history books.
"There's a Chinese saying, 'Women hold up half the world,"' the late civil rights historian and NAACP chair Julian Bond told NBC News in 2005. "In the case of the civil rights movement it's probably three-quarters of the world."
Here are just nine of the lesser-known women who made indelible contributions to the civil rights era:
Described by President Barack Obama as "the godmother of the civil rights movement" upon her death in 2010, Dorothy Height served as the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, making her, the Washington Post notes, "arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of civil rights leadership."
Bangladesh’s Women Journalists Rise Against the Odds
ipsnews.net - DHAKA, Jan 11 2017 (IPS) - Journalism is a profession that attracts both sexes, but social taboos and hostile office climates have kept the numbers of women working in Bangladesh’s media sector dismally low. Still, a new generation of women is stepping up, with the support of their path-breaking colleagues. According to an October 2016 report by senior female journalist Shahnaz Munni of News 24, a private TV channel in Bangladesh, women journalists in Bangladesh’s media industry account for only 5 percent in print and 25 percent in electronic media.
“You have to face some obstacles, some real challenges. And they start straight from your own home." --Wahida Zaman
Braving these odds and obstacles, young female graduates are increasingly joining the profession. Wahida Zaman, for example, recently joined United News of Bangladesh (UNB), an independent wire service, as an apprentice sub-editor.
“Unlike many other classmates of mine, both male and female, I chose to study journalism by choice. Before being a journalist, I was actually a photographer. Nothing thrills me more than the thought that journalism can give me all these opportunities in one package,” Zaman told IPS.
Happy that feminism is being talked about in film industry: Kalki Koechlin
indianexpress.com - Kalki Koechlin, who has always been vocal about women issues, is appreciative of the on-going discussion on feminism too. Kalki Koechlin, who has always been vocal about women issues, is appreciative of the on-going discussion on feminism too. Actor Kalki Koechlin feels it is great to have a conversation about equality in the industry, and says it is important to keep the discussion going. The actress also said that it doesn’t matter if the term ‘feminism’ is only being used since it is in fashion, as long as the discussion is on.
Also read | I fear getting complacent in showbiz: Kalki Koechlin
“It is great that it (feminism seeping into the industry) is coming in conversation. I think it is our job, and we need to keep that dialogue going and not just let it be a phase or fashion,” Kalki told IANS. The actress, who has films like Dev.D, Shaitan, Shanghai and Margarita with a Straw to her credit, added: “Feminism is definitely coming into forefront because the work force is with women. It is a new thing…There are a lot of questions around it but all these questions are great.”
11 Resolutions To Make If You're Considering Running For Office In The Next Few Years
bustle.com - For many Americans, November’s election results were (and continue to be) incredibly disheartening — but for some of you, they were also galvanizing, inspiring you to enter the fray and be an agent of change. Fantastic! But where to start? There are things to do if you’re considering running for office in the next few years that will help you get your foot in the door of the political process. Your presidential run might be a long way down the road, but, by making some important resolutions now, you can put yourself on the path to elected office, and you can do a lot of good in the meantime. There have been a lot of think-pieces written in the wake of the election, and no doubt experts will continue to unravel the forces that brought Donald Trump to power for a long time to come, but one thing is clear: Our government could definitively use fresh blood, on both sides of the aisle. It’s especially important that more women become involved in the political process. Women make up more than half of the U.S. population, and yet they fill only 20 percent of seats in the U.S. Congress. The underrepresentation of women in government starts at the local level: A 2016 report from the CUNY Institute of State and Local Governance found that, in the largest 100 American cities, only a third of city council members are women, and only 18 percent of mayors are women. The issue isn’t that women can’t get elected — they can and do — but that they don’t run in the first place; CUNY found that only 19 percent of mayoral candidates are female. The report cites a number of problems that keep women from running, including “gendered social roles, negative self-perceptions, limited exposure to politics, and lack of support.” And, of course, this lack of women getting into politics on the ground floor is bad for gender equality on the national level — because there simply aren’t enough women making it into the top echelons of government.
Punjabi Filmmaker of ‘Patiala Dreamz’ gives you ‘Phullu’,satire on women health issues
indialivetoday.com - New Delhi, Dec 28 After receiving ecstatic reviews for their Punjabi Film ‘Patiala Dreamz’, filmmakers Anmol Kapoor and Abhishek Saxena have now come up with a comic satire “Phullu”, which raises women health issues. Anmol, who was in the national capital for the promotion of the film, scheduled for release on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s day, said,”There are many myths regarding the women menstrual cycle.
It has become a stigma in our society.
Our protagonist Sharib Hashmi (Phullu) asks questions that why sanitary pads are not used by the women.
Why they use clothes, which later leads to infection.
” “It is a dark topic.
We wanted to make it entertaining besides giving education to people.
Though there were many challenges yet the movie can change the history of India.
We want to show it in every village and city,”the filmmaker said.
Speaking about the film, ‘Filmistan’ fame actor Sharib Hashmi said, “Phullu is an innocent pure man who notices this social stigma and deals with the problem in a comic way.
WIIW Editor and Teen Son Discuss Election, Strong Women and More
The first time my son—now a 14-year-old high school freshman—took an interest in U.S. politics, it was watching two girls (Sasha and Malia Obama) as their father was inaugurated. Now the older of those girls—the daughter of our first African-American president—recently voted for the first time, in an election that almost saw the first woman President of the United States. As a mother who knows it's essential to grow up recognizing that success and inspiration can come from anyone, I'm pretty excited that my son has had such a diverse and inspiring introduction to the leadership of our country.We’ve had hundreds of conversations since that day, and this year we decided to attend rallies to hear both Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton speak in person. It was one of the highlights of our year—and even though a woman still hasn’t been elected president, it was an invaluable opportunity for my son to see these strong, inspiring women. We sat down to discuss our impressions of the rallies, the conversation about women leaders and more.
Kimberly Hosey, Editor in Chief, Women Investing in Women Digital
Kimberly Hosey: So what do you think about the last few weeks? We’ve been busy: Seeing Michelle Obama, seeing Hillary Clinton, learning about all the candidates, seeing how close she came … and, honestly, being pretty disappointed. What stands out?
David Hosey: Everything! I loved the rallies. I was really hoping to see Hillary Clinton win. I thought she was going to. But it was still interesting to be involved in the political process, even if I can’t vote yet. Also, I definitely wanted to learn more about politics and the candidates, especially because sometimes my friends talk about them and I feel like they don’t have all the information. Now I know more about it, and I can even speak up sometimes.
Kimberly: Is it hard to speak up?
David: A lot of the time it’s hard because we live somewhere where a lot of my friends are from families who have different political opinions from our family, so if I’m sitting at a table at school I might be the only one there with a certain view. But also, sometimes people have some bad ideas about certain issues and people, and I don’t know where to start because we’re not even talking about it the same way.
Kimberly: Like what?
David: Well, like they don’t always understand LGBT issues or racial issues. I have multiple friends [who are LGBT], and some people think it’s dumb to even care about being sensitive to them. And lately especially, when people talk about Hillary Clinton they just say a few of the same things about her over and over and over. I understand if you don’t agree with her politics, but they just talk about her voice or her husband, or they accuse her of things without giving reasons.
Kimberly: Do you think it’s because she’s a woman?
David: Sometimes, definitely. I think it’s possible to like or not like someone who’s a man or a woman, but when they just accuse her of having a harsh voice even even though male politicians also yell, or when they say she doesn’t “look right” even though she has way more experience, it definitely seems sexist.
Kimberly: I love that you’re having these conversations. Maps projecting what the voting results would have been with only young people voting are really progressive, which is great news for a lot of groups and will be a big difference no matter what. Your generation’s involvement is crucial.
What about when your friends say an opinion isn’t sexist even if you think it is?
David: I don’t know. I can tell it’s sexist in some cases no matter what they say or even if they don’t realize it, but I guess all we can really do is make sure we add in as much information as possible so they have more knowledge the next time. Also, I make sure to listen to what other teens are saying even if I think it’s wrong and then I grant them what points i can before I say something. People are more likely to listen that way, and I learn a few good points.
Do you think some of the criticism of [Clinton] is valid? How can you tell the difference?
Kimberly: I know she can be a polarizing figure, but I do think much of it is unfair. Still, I don't love her unreservedly. I agree with the overwhelming majority of her policies and causes, and I recognize her competence and strength. So criticisms against her qualifications, yeah, I think they're biased. If we're talking about real, researched issues and not personal attacks, it’s more likely to be valid. In some cases the criticism is fair, but even in some of those cases the tone or the extent to which she’s criticized can be overblown compared to the criticism of almost anyone else. I think that difference can often be sexist.
David: But you can’t really prove it, can you?
Kimberly: Maybe not, most of the time. I think when they do things like side-by-side comparisons, which we saw a couple of times during the campaign, it’s pretty obvious. But otherwise, you just have to keep slogging through the conversation point by point, and you eventually make some progress. Kind of the same way Hillary Clinton has kept working so hard! OK, OK, maybe not just like that. But you get the point.
So, back to the rallies. What were your impressions of the rallies? What stuck out for you?
David: First, I was just excited to go! I can’t believe we got within a couple feet of Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton; that’s cool no matter what. I really wanted to shake their hands, but still, we were some of the front people when they came to speak in Arizona, and Arizona was a big deal this year. It was cool to know there are so many other people in our state who came out for progress, women’s rights, LGBT rights, education and things like that.
I think Michelle Obama’s speech was really, really inspiring. I love how she connected with the crowd, and you could tell she cared about reaching everyone. She’s one of the most inspirational people I know. I know she’s gotten a lot of hate since Barack Obama became president, and she’s been nice the whole time and also inspired everyone.
Kimberly: Why do you think she’s so inspirational to so many people?
David: It seems like she really cares, and she’s also passionate and personal with her message. She doesn’t want people voting or deciding anything out of fear and anger. She kept talking about living up to the best parts of who we are.
Kimberly: She didn’t only talk about good things, though. What about when she talked about women being harassed and assaulted, and how our girls—and boys—deserve better? She was angry about that. People were crying about it. It’s upsetting.
David: That is tough, but it was really important and good to hear. I like that she mentioned sons as well as daughters. I know girls have a lot of struggles, but the idea that boys or men are expected to act a certain way hurts us too. Feminism is against that for girls and boys. I know people who think it’s OK to talk that way about girls or other people, and they don't even understand what feminism is sometimes. Some people think to be a feminist and support women and girls, you have to be against men and boys. That hurts girls, and the idea that we have to act masculine can hurt girls if they're mistreated or boys when they don't get to be themselves—or it might even make it so we're not listened to if we're abused.
Kimberly: So you really liked that Michelle Obama included everyone while still sending a strong message.
David: Yeah. She included everyone—boys and girls—but she did it in a way that made a good point about how we talk about girls and women. I think everyone needs to hear that.
Kimberly: I think one of my favorite parts was when she said “This is what hope looks like. It's that belief that we can do better for our kids. That even in the darkest hours, there's always a brighter day ahead—and if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it, we can make it happen.” You could tell she meant it, and I love that she made hope into something strong.
What do you we can do make it happen?
David: I can keep talking about it, like we were saying. That’s hard to do all the time because sometimes I just want to have a normal day, and then they bring it up. But I can speak out when something is wrong and talk to people who are willing. Also, I like the tallies of students’ votes; I always participate in those. I would like to learn more about politics and maybe volunteer in the community.
Kimberly: What do you think about the different styles we saw at Michelle Obama's rally and Hillary Clinton's rally? The rallies and how the two main speakers addressed the crowd were pretty different.
David: First, the rallies were kind of different even before we saw the main speakers. At Michelle Obama’s rally it was mostly talking and getting to know each other in the crowd; at Hillary Clinton’s rally it was like a dance party and a fired-up political rally. I thought it was cool that the styles kind of matched how they talked later: Michelle Obama was more uplifting and conversational, and Hillary Clinton was more intense and purposely persuasive. She was also more serious.
Kimberly: Did you like one more than the other?
David: Personally, I preferred one a little bit. But I liked that they both had their own way to be inspirational and strong. What did you think?
Kimberly: Michelle Obama’s style is a little more what people are comfortable with in women. I absolutely love her and I know it’s genuine, but I’ve noticed that a little bit in how people react to her. She’s the epitome of class and grace and she almost never mentions the “other” side by name. She’s easily relatable. She’s even a fashionable dresser.
I think those are all fine qualities, but I think Hillary Clinton’s good qualities are just as important: work ethic, intelligence, seriousness. She’ll call people out. Even some of the “being a politician” that gets her a bad reputation can be a good trait. She even wears pants instead of dresses or skirts most of the time. Hillary Clinton makes a point of being who she is even when it doesn’t match people’s expectations. I like that.
David: Both women are most of those things. Intelligent and inspiring and all the other good qualities.
Kimberly: Oh, absolutely. I just think we have a lot of male candidates or leaders who get to be known for being a certain way; whether that’s a good listener, a powerful speaker, a fiery leader, a cheerful man of the people or a grouchy advocate for what’s right. Men can be loud or quiet. Men can be attractive or not as attractive, thin or fat, young or old. And we don’t spend nearly as much time talking about what they wear.
David: They’re more encouraged to be strong in different ways than women are.
Kimberly: Exactly! I think that’s such a loss. Especially since Hillary Clinton was trying to integrate some of the gentle traits as well as the powerful ones. In her concession speech she said that it was “about the country we love and about building an America that's hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.” I like that she thinks being compassionate is strong.
David: Me too. And if more girls and women are encouraged to be that way, which they already should be, without it being something against their gender; then it will help boys too. Being understanding or anything else isn’t a male or female thing. It’s just a human thing.
Investing in Intersectionality
We talk a lot about investing in women, but one issue that is often neglected—or not even identified—in discussions about gender equality is intersectionality. First coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is the idea that different systems of oppression interact. Basically, different types of oppression come as a package deal for an individual facing them. For example, white women face many obstacles and disadvantages compared with men, but black women face marginalization from both racial and gender-based discrimination—and are therefore likely to be disadvantaged even more than white women. Intersectionality acknowledges both the fact that traits like sex, gender, race, nationality, disability, orientation, class, age and other factors all affect a person's opportunities or obstacles in life; as well as the fact that discrimination happens through the combination of and relationship between these various identities, and the systems that oppress individuals belonging to them.
While we're talking about getting more women on boards and in the C-Suite, while we're advocating for women and girls around the world, and while we're celebrating women's successes every day; it's important to remember that women's empowerment is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor—and our discussions, as well as our investments, need to reflect that.
As soon as you start looking for examples, intersections become obvious. From the challenge black women face in the tech industry, to the high violence rates faced by aboriginal women or transgender women (and particularly transgender women of color), to the poverty and class stagnation faced by women from lower-class backgrounds; women's rights are tied to so many other rights.
Think of it this way: The problem of women's disenfranchisement around the world, from boardrooms and venture capital to politics and social movements, has been a failure of inclusion. Does it really make sense, now, to turn a blind eye to the inclusion of people of different races, orientations, nations, religions, beliefs, ages, abilities or other categories? In addition to a moral failure, we fail to consistently combat the root of the problem as it's existed for women for millennia. Inclusion needs to be intentional, and it needs to be intersectional.
As with anything, access to capital and education is crucial in the fight for equality, and that goes double (or triple, or more) for women facing enforced status quos, discrimination, cultural obstacles and more.
That's why we try to stay vigilant to fight for and celebrate women—of all kinds, in all places, facing all situations—at Women Investing in Women Digital. We plan to discuss specific investing and entrepreneurship opportunities as they relate to intersectionality and various communities in the near future, and we thank you for adding your own diverse voices to our growing conversation, and if you'd like to learn more about just a few intersectional efforts, see below for just a few intersectional organizations you might want to follow and support.
Investing in Intersectionality
Digital Undivided: An accelerator and outreach program supporting startups led by black and Latina women.
Women Enabled International: An advocacy and education group promoting and protecting the rights of all women and girls, especially those with disabilities.
GLAAD: A communications hub, media outreach effort, support network and more promoting understanding and rights for all LGBTQ individuals, including women.
Women's Refugee Commission: An international organization working to protect and empower refugee women and girls.
American Civil Liberties Union: A nonprofit organization that uses lobbying, education and the law to defend poor people, individuals from marginalized communities, minorities facing harassment, women facing gender-based violence or discrimination, women seeking reproductive health care and many more. They also fight for equal economic opportunities for women.
Disability Visibility Project: An online community dedicated to "recording, amplifying and sharing disability stories and culture."
Asian Women in Business: A nonprofit organization supporting Asian women entrepreneurs and professionals.
Thanks For Everything: 5 Reasons Women Leaders Can Be Thankful
taketheleadwomen.com - On Thanksgiving Day this week, many friends and family members will go around the table or the room and express what has inspired gratitude this year, and give a shout out to what and who makes them feel grateful. Or many will send emails, texts and leave voice mails of gratitude for those in different parts of the world.
It also can be time to think about what women leaders can be thankful for in their careers, and perhaps what they can build upon in the coming year.
Some women leaders have built companies on gratitude.
Kate Frucher, co-founder and CEO of Imprint, launched this “many-to-one communications platform with a mission to use social technology to spark acts of kindness and real human connection,” Laura Dunn writes in Huffington Post.
Frucher started Axiom Law, increasing company revenue from $10 million to $60 million annually, Dunn writes. “As SVP of E-Commerce at ideeli, she helped grow revenue from $23 million to $145 million in less than three years,” Dunn writes.
That is something investors are surely grateful for, thanks to Frucher. And Frucher says she wanted to launch something new with Imprint, to give back.
“Every day, people all over the country and the world are using our little tool to express more gratitude, more appreciation, more connection,” Frucher says. “That’s the problem I wanted to solve with Imprint – bringing depth back to how we communicate, to our relationships. And drawing on my past experience, I wanted to use technology to solve it. Technology isn’t inherently shallow or snarky. It’s how we’re structuring and using technology in our technological adolescence that’s the problem.”
Several factors inspire gratitude in women leaders, entrepreneurs, and those starting out in the workplace. We narrowed them down to five, gathering advice from women leaders who inspire gratitude.
1. Embracing the chance to learn. None of us prefers to be stuck in a job, company or organization where our time is filled up with rote duties and we do not have the opportunity for personal and professional development. Diana McKenzie, chief information officer of Workday, agrees that learning new skills and new approaches is invigorating. “I have found that one of the best ways to stay engaged and advance in my career is to continue trying to master new skills, and attempt things beyond my comfort zone. Sure, sometimes I’ve failed, but every step along the way was a learning experience. Learning to be less comfortable has also given me more confidence to try new things. In that get-together at the event, we all agreed that women should push ourselves to think differently, attempt new ways of doing things, and challenge ourselves to be aspirational.”
Release of Chibok Girls Rekindles Pressure to Free Last 196
ipsnews.net - The Nigerian military announced the rescue of a missing Chibok schoolgirl Saturday, bringing to 23 the number freed since Boko Haram seized 219 girls from a secondary school in the country’s northeast in April 2014.
The latest rescue came about a month after the Islamist group released 21 girls in a deal with the government. Earlier in May, Amina Ali became the first amongst the missing girls to be rescued.
The releases riveted people around the world, and the government has flaunted them as political coups. But they have also rekindled demands from activists campaigning for greater government action for the release of nearly 200 girls still in captivity.
“It’s day 933 of abduction; 197 girls (are) still in captivity under your watch Mr. President @MBuhari. Time to bring them home,” Maureen Kabrik, a member of the BringBackOurGirls group, tweeted to President Muhammadu Buhari days after 21 of the girls were released early October.
The BringBackOurGirls group, set up to publicise the plight of the girls amidst international outrage in 2014, announced it would release on November 14 a report of a six-week monitoring of the government’s effort to rescue the girls.
Linda Goler Blount: President and CEO of the Black Women's Health Imperative
hercampus.com - “We need to create our own movements,” says Linda Goler Blount, president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI). “We need to highlight our issues, highlight the research, and propose the policy and programs and solutions.”
Founded in 1983 on Spelman College's campus, the Black Women’s Health Imperative is dedicated to health advocacy for black women. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., they push for policies that focus on black women’s health. “It’s my job to get the kind of information that black women need so that they can understand what the issues are and what they should be doing,” explains Blount.
Since Blount took over BWHI four years ago, she has spearheaded an effort to empower black women to take control of their health.
After graduating from Eastern Michigan University with a Computer Engineering/Operations degree, and then going on to receive a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Michigan, she was immediately thrown into the health services research industry. From there she has launched a successful career that spans the public, for-profit, and nonprofit sectors - including seven years of market analysis for Coca-Cola and a number of years working with reproductive health and STD surveillance systems in Africa and the Caribbean.
Now, at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, Blount works to eliminate health disparities between black and white women. “We need to talk about us,” Blount explains about black women, “and the way that disease is expressed in us differently.” She stresses the importance of making health accessible – “at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, we’re taking the science and then translating it into something that women can understand, and most importantly act on.” This includes an upcoming article series in Essence magazine that will feature information about black women for black women.
Meet the Muslim Artist Making Global Waves, One Brushstroke at a Time - Muslim Girl
Hashim addressed about these issues in interview with Muslim Girl, as well as discussing what kind of artist she strives to be, what inspired her to start her own company, incorporating her culture and faith into her art, the power of storytelling, advice for young Muslim women pursuing arts careers and more.
muslimgirl.com - There isn’t much that artist Huda Hashim cannot do. She is a painter, a calligrapher, and an interior designer. She creates and renders 3D environments and has worked on several animation shorts. Oh—and she started her own company, Hudarts, at the age of 20.
Huda Hashim received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 3D animation and minored in visual arts at the University of Texas at Dallas. Merging the distinctive worlds of arts and technology, she hopes to innovate and challenge traditional ways of making art. Huda’s artwork consists of 3D visualizations, modern African and Islamic art.
Huda’s success in pursuing a non-traditional field is an inspiration to young Muslim women who have asked themselves, over and over again, if it’s worth it. Many girls aspire to be pioneers of the liberal arts—painters, writers, film producers—from a young age, but are often held back. Whether by the voices inside their own “rational” minds or the voices of their parents, young Muslim women are too often discouraged from becoming who they are meant to be.
Back from the Brink: Young TB Survivor Turns Advocate in South Africa
This article originally appeared on the Women & Girls Hub of News Deeply, and you can find the original here. For important news about issues that affect women and girls in the developing world, you can sign up to the Women & Girls Hub email list. By Sophie Cousins
Phumeza Tisile was 19 when she was diagnosed with a deadly, drug-resistant form of TB. Her experience of treatment and eventual survival turned her into an activist fighting for better access to treatment for others who face the same fate.
It was 2010 and South Africa was hosting the FIFA World Cup. Phumeza Tisile, who was 19 years old at the time and in her first year of university in Cape Town, was out celebrating with friends.
She had noticed that she had been getting thinner, but didn’t think anything of it until that day, when she tried to blow the vuvuzela – a blow horn that can be heard at most soccer games in South Africa. It was difficult. She couldn’t breathe.
Tisile went to her doctor and was diagnosed with “regular” tuberculosis (TB) and put on a six-month course of treatment.
But two months on, she seemed to be getting sicker. She eventually went back to the doctor, and further tests found she had a multi-drug-resistant form of TB, often referred to as MDR-TB.
TB, a contagious airborne disease, is the leading cause of death in South Africa, which has one of the highest incidences of the disease in the world. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 450,000 new cases arise every year across the country. While more men than women are diagnosed with, and subsequently die of, TB, the disease can have particularly dire consequences for women of reproductive age. TB is one of the top five killers of women aged 20 to 59. If a pregnant woman contracts the disease, the risk of her pregnancy ending in perinatal death is six times higher, while the risk of premature birth and low birth weight increases twofold.
There is also a rising number of people, like Tisile, being diagnosed with drug-resistant strains of the illness. Most of these patients are resistant to at least two first-line drugs. Some people, known as extensively drug-resistant patients, are resistant to at least four of the core anti-TB medicines.
Dealing with patients who develop drug resistance can be very costly, as the specialist medicines needed are sometimes up to 200 times more expensive than normal TB treatments. The drugs are stronger and can have devastating side effects, including kidney impairment and depression.
Tisile was put on a drug regime for two years. “They put me on 20 tablets [a day],” she says. “I also had to have an injection every day for six months.”
But it wasn’t long before the medicines took a toll on Tisile, who ended up hospitalized for five months when she stopped being able to walk properly.
Furthermore, one day she woke up and noticed there was something else seriously wrong. She went to the bathroom, used the toilet and noticed she couldn’t hear it flushing. Then she turned on the tap to wash her hands, but again, there was no sound.
“I thought, ‘OK, maybe there’s something blocking my ears.’ I cleaned my ears but there was still no sound. People were moving their lips, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying,” she says.
What Tisile didn’t know, and hadn’t been told, was that hearing loss is a common side effect of the daily injections she was taking as part of her MDR-TB treatment. “When the doctor told me I was deaf, he also told me I was resistant to eight MDR-TB drugs,” she says. “I had been taking the wrong medication.”
Tisile was finally diagnosed with XDR-TB – the most severe form of TB, with little hope of survival.
The medicines made her feel even sicker. She was constantly in and out of hospital. An operation to remove TB from her lung resulted in a broken rib and a collapsed lung. By mid-2011, her XDR-TB treatment was no longer working.
Then medical staff from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stumbled across her at a government clinic, and started her on an individually tailored XDR-TB regimen.
After two more years of treatment, she was told she had a 20 percent chance of survival.
“MSF told me that if I wanted to stop the medication all together, then I should and that I should consult a priest to prepare myself, because they didn’t see a way out of this one,” she says.
Against the odds, Tisile’s health finally started improving and, in August 2013, she was declared cured of XDR-TB.
After managing to raise $80,000 for a cochlear implant, Tisile regained her hearing in February 2015, almost five years after she lost it, and is excited to be restarting university next year to pursue gender studies.
Now she’s a fierce advocate for better access to testing and treatment for drug-resistant TB. She wants to see better, more affordable treatments with fewer side effects and a higher cure rate. And she is calling for the international community to fully fund the fight against the disease. “I could have died, and they don’t really know why I didn’t,” she says.
One of the drugs credited with helping cure Tisile is a high-strength antibiotic called linezolid. While the drug has shown promising results, it’s not widely available in South Africa due to its cost. It’s currently under patent and is not registered as a drug-resistant treatment in the country, making it difficult to access in public facilities.
Two new drugs for treating the most resistant forms of TB, bedaquiline and delamanid, have been developed since 2012 – the first new TB treatments in almost a century. But access remains severely limited due, again, to high cost and the fact that the drugs are registered in only a few countries. While the companies that produce them have set up limited donation programs, the cap on the number of treatment courses given is far below what’s required, and many high-burden countries are excluded from the deal.
“The world is just letting people with TB down,” Tisile says. “We know TB affects those who don’t have money. We need to raise awareness.”
Members of the World Health Assembly have committed to WHO’s End TB Strategy, which hopes to end the TB epidemic by 2035, reducing deaths by 95 percent and cutting new cases by 90 percent, with the ultimate goal of TB elimination as a public health problem by 2050.
But with the TB burden larger than previously thought, growing resistance and a massive gap in funding, experts are skeptical whether this goal is achievable.
Mick Frick, TB/HIV senior project officer at the Treatment Action Group, an independent think tank in South Africa, expressed concern at the decline in funding in the fight against TB, which he blames on a lack of investment by pharmaceutical companies and “anemic political will.”
“Meeting the innovation needs of the groups most affected by TB will be essential for ending the TB epidemic [but] these groups are being left behind,” he says.
The Battle to Take Rape off Thailand’s TV Screens
This article originally appeared on the Women & Girls Hub of News Deeply, and you can find the original here. For important news about issues that affect women and girls in the developing world, you can sign up to the Women & Girls Hub email list. By Helen Roxburgh
In Thai soap operas, rape is often shown as a vehicle for revenge or a path to true love. Now activists are calling on producers to stop romanticizing the crime and feeding into the country’s culture of gender inequality.
To avenge his father’s death, Pathvee hunts down the only daughter of his father’s enemy, harasses her and rapes her. Then she falls in love with him and they live happily ever after. It might sound unlikely, but this is the plot of the popular Thai soap opera “Unending Fire of Passion,” which is far from unusual among Thai soaps in turning sexual violence into romance.
In “Sunset at Chao Praya,” the hero, Kobori, forces his new wife to have sex with him. In “Missing Heaven,” the lead character Kavee rapes the heroine Narin for family revenge, and in “The Power of Shadows” a handsome male character drunkenly rapes the female lead. In almost all cases, the women end up ultimately falling in love with their attackers.
A study by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation found that 80 percent of Thai soap operas, or lakhon, depicted rape or sexual violence in 2014. Characters who commit sexual violence are also rarely – if ever – held to account.
“The depictions of rape on TV relates to the concept of ‘good girl’ and ‘bad girl’ in traditional Thai society,” says Yupa Phusahas, senior program officer at nonprofit organization The Asia Foundation, Thailand. “If the female character is a good girl, the depiction of rape sometimes signals the male character’s love and affection for her. If the female character is a bad girl, the rape is punishment for immoral behavior or lack of virtue.”
But now public anger is growing as critics accuse these shows, typically broadcast during prime-time viewing hours, of normalizing rape. And the condemnation of soap opera rape is compounded by national outrage over real-life cases of sexual violence, including the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl on a train in 2014. A petition launched that same year calling for an end to romanticizing lakhon rape now has over 60,300 signatures.
In April, Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) launched guidelines for producers, encouraging them to be “cautious” when depicting violence against women and to include content that addresses men’s sexual responsibilities.
While the guidelines aren’t as stringent as activists were pushing for, they are seen as a step in the right direction. In July, NBTC took action against the makers of a TV soap called “Club Friday” over a scene where a female villain is raped as another character films it. The commission fined the channel 50,000 Thai baht ($1,400), forced it to increase the program’s audience suitability rating and said those scenes would be cut in future re-runs.
But even with threats of a penalty, activists say directors and producers are often reluctant to bring about change, particularly because soap operas depicting sexual violence, nicknamed “slap and kiss,” have consistently brought in higher ratings.
“Most television soap operas are adapted from famous old novels containing rape storylines in which female protagonists are raped by male protagonists,” says Jaray Singhakowinta, professor of sexuality studies at Bangkok’s National Institute of Development Administration. “Some of them are so popular that they have been made into movies and television soap operas more than 10 times since the 1970s.”
Singhakowinta says producers often justify rape storylines as a mere reflection of the real world. Some even argue that watching these scenes “offers a symbolic escape” to those who might commit rape, he says, a theory he vehemently rejects.
“The media’s excessive reproduction of rape rather informs female audiences that men’s sexual aggression is normal, and to an extent acceptable,” Singhakowinta says. “Media producers never include a legal consequence of rape.”
According to Thailand’s National Research Institute, about 30,000 rape cases are reported each year. Naiyana Supapueng, head of the Teeranat Kanjanauaksorn Foundation, a gender equality group, has predicted the real number is probably 10 times official figures, as most rape cases never reach the legal system.
Several factors stop women in Thailand from reporting rape, including community pressure. The Pavena Foundation, a nonprofit advocating for the rights of women and children, said that of the 656 cases they worked with in 2015, most of the victims were raped by stepfathers, friends or neighbors.
Thailand also struggles with a male-dominated legal system, few female police officers and a blame culture. “Rape has not been on the priority list of criminal cases that police officers will take seriously or investigate, unlike drug-related crimes or homicide,” says Yupa Phusahas, program officer at international development organization The Asia Foundation.
Victims who do report the crime often have to walk into all-male police stations and face unsympathetic questioning about what they were wearing, what they did to provoke the attacker and why they were out late.
There is even a grey area over the linguistics. In the Thai language, two words can describe a rape: bplum, which means “wrestling” and can also refer to forced sex that ends in a relationship, and khom kheun, which is used to describe rape as a criminal act.
Last year, the government launched a campaign to teach schoolgirls self-defense and dispense advice on how to protect themselves from sexual harassers. But sex education in schools remains limited. A UNICEF study released this year found that up to 41 percent of male school students in Thailand have “problematic attitudes” toward gender and sexuality, while most teachers do not receive training on approaching topics such as sexual rights, gender and violence.
Critics say the portrayal of rape in popular culture is a sign of ongoing gender inequality in Thai society. “The roots of the problem cover all institutions,” says Matcha Phorn-in, director of Thai-based rights organization Sangsan Anakot Yawachon. “We need to change the mindset of society and give out new messages, and we need to send these messages into families, the education sector and the media. We need a justice system that will make sure there is justice for women as well as men.
“When it comes to violence in these soap operas, it’s not just about rape. It’s about the broader issue of who controls the system.”