Roxane Gay and Rebecca Traister Talk Sex, Female Friendship, and What It Means to be Single Now
Roxane Gay; author of An Untamed State (2014), the essay collection Bad Feminist (2014), and Hunger (coming this year); spoke with journalist Rebecca Traister to mark the release of her book All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. Traister interviewed dozens of women from all over the United States for her book, painting a diverse and nuanced picture about how marriage has changed in recent decades for women. Gay interviews Traister about her new book; changing trends, queer issues, gender dynamics, how the stigma of being single is changing and more. Traister and Gay discuss being married as it's shaped by choice, race, and class; women's identity as married or single people; and what marriage means to women today—and to Traister.
“Living singly in your twenties and thirties—and beyond—isn't a tryout for life: It is real life,” Traister says.
Read the introduction here, and click through to Elle.com to read the interview.
elle.com - In Beyoncé's ring finger-wagging 2008 anthem, "Single Ladies," she celebrates independent women who would rather be single than settle. In Rebecca Traister's new book, All the Single Ladies (Simon & Schuster), which borrows both the refrain and the feminist spirit of that song, she chronicles the rise of unmarried women in America and the different people we're becoming because of it. "For young women, for the first time, it is as normal to be unmarried as it is to be married, even if it doesn't always feel that way," Traister writes, noting that there were 3.9 million more single adult women in 2014 than there were in 2010. In 1960, 59 percent of American adults between 18 and and 29 were married; in 2011, it was just 20 percent. The book is wonderfully inclusive, examining single women from all walks of life—working-, middle-, and upper-class women; women of color and white women; queer and straight ones.
Traister has built a reputation as one of America's preeminent feminist voices through her work for Salon, the New Republic, ELLE (where she is a longtime contributing editor), and now New York magazine. Her first book, Big Girls Don't Cry, examined the 2008 presidential election and its cultural and political consequences via the cycle's cast of female power players, including women voters, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin. With All the Single Ladies, she brings her trademark intelligence and wit to bear, interspersing her own experiences and observations with dozens of interviews with women all over the country, plus historical context, from so-called Boston marriages (the nineteenth-century name for women who lived together) and the Brontë sisters to Murphy Brown and Sex and the City.
Visit Elle.com to read Roxane Gay's interview with Rebecca Traister.
The Word That's Hurting Female Leaders
It's often said that actions speak louder than words, but words are often a type of action: how we define and talk about ourselves and others. So we were pleased to see Fortune's MPW Insider network take on "bossy" women (also known as women demonstrating decisiveness, authority, and other leadership qualities). Women overcome the label every day, but it would be wonderful to see the double standard disappear altogether. Read more below, and click through for the full story.
fortune.com - There are many barriers to female leadership: gender inequality, lack of access to necessary education, issues with work-life balance, etc. Yet, throughout my career, I have seen women overcome these barriers. I know women who care for their large families while also leading successful businesses; women who have not had the chance to attend university but have still climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. I also know women who have had the courage to assert themselves and their ideas in male-dominated spaces. How did they do it? It was the strength of their opinions, courage, desire to achieve equality, ambitions, and so much more. So, what if at the end of the day the real barrier was… ourselves?
Recently, I’ve been teaching women that in order to become a leader, performance is critical. But there is more to it than that: in order to be a successful leader, you need to engage, provide direction, and show self-confidence. Unfortunately, research has shown that these leadership attributes are positively correlated with likability for men and negativity for women. In other words, a man will likely come across as “decisive,” while a woman will be seen as “bossy”.
Read the rest here.
Is Merriam-Webster adding “Intersectionality” to its dictionary?
We think intersectionality--recognition that different forms of oppression and discrimination overlap and intersect--is crucial to any modern movement for women's empowerment. In the decades since the word was coined, it's only become more important. That's why we were so happy to see Merriam-Webster may soon be adding the word to its dictionary. blavity.com - The term [intersectionality] coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw was used to culminate and understand the effects of all forms of oppression (racism, sexism, classism) on an individual, specifically black women.
INTERSECTIONALITY—THE COMPLEX, CUMULATIVE MANNER IN WHICH THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION COMBINE, OVERLAP, OR INTERSECT
Nearly 30 years after Crenshaw’s essay that pushed the envelope on feminist theory, the term has become prevalent in daily discourse and of course the Twitter debates that we’ve all had ringside seats to on various occasions. And now that Merriam-Webster says the term is on its “words we’re watching list” soon all you’ll have to say is, “Check the dictionary, beloved.”
The term 'intersectionality' was coined in a 1989 essay by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw: https://t.co/2fu3nhJE0i pic.twitter.com/1wTJuDMjnc
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 23, 2016
Read more from Blavity here.
5 Things A Confident Woman Does NOT Put Up With
Confidence is important in work and life. The courage, determination and clarity we gain from having confidence in who we are, what we offer and what we need is vital and empowering, but sometimes it's too easy to lose sight of that confidence, especially when faced with certain discouraging circumstances and unhelpful actions from others. Leena Roy from Women Working shared some words of wisdom for what to do when facing certain obstacles as a confident woman Read the first two tips in this excerpt, and be sure to check out the rest of the article and check out the Women Working website.
When people don’t give you a straight answer
This is one of my favorites (and closely interlinked with my article on passive-aggressive coworkers) because there is just so much of this in the office! Whether it’s your team member who won’t take ownership or your friends being non-committal about plans, you know when you have heard enough to say "oh no, hell no!" The next time around, the person you called out for their behavior is likely to think twice before trying to pull that again with you.
When people are condescending
This can make a woman with a lot of ego see red. We face condescension from people who think they know better, look better, do better – whether it’s true or not. But a successful woman knows just how to nip it in the bud. It might be by putting the person in their place, or drawing attention to the attitude that is not appreciated, or simply choosing to exit a situation. A confident woman knows she won’t put up with that, and it certainly doesn’t make her feel bad.
Read more here.
Smart Finds: The Power of Kindness
Kindness can be a challenge. Sure, having good feelings about one another is easy enough, but real kindness—the sort that makes an impact, the sort that makes an effort—that sort of kindness takes hard work. That's why we were inspired to read the latest post by Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls about girls and women who are doing the hard work of kindness and making a real difference in their communities and around the world. Click through to read the whole article, and keep looking for ways to use your abilities in kind ways to help and empower those around you.
amysmartgirls.com - In this series, the Smart Girls team scours the internet in search of thought-provoking trailblazing women and girls who are leading by example. Today’s subject: the power of kindness.
Oftentimes, people are judged and celebrated based on their individual achievements alone. Today, we celebrate three women who inspire us to think outside ourselves and do good for those around us, whether at home, at work, or abroad.
Emily Duffy: Engineering for the Homeless
16-year-old Emily Duffy from Limerick, Ireland invented a lightweight, smart sleeping bag to improve quality of life for homeless individuals. Emily replaced traditional cloth materials with metallic bubble wrap, waterproof velcro, and a fireproof coating for increased visibility and warmth. The idea came to her while organizing a fundraiser for a homeless shelter. A year later, the Duffily Bag is being used on the streets of Dublin. Better yet, homeless individuals are paid 22 euros to build their own bags, giving them a respite from the street and an opportunity to take steps back into the workforce. You can read more about Emily and the Duffily Bag here. (via The Huffington Post)
Read the rest of the article here. Founded by artist Amy Poehler and producer Meredith Walker, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls uses humor and education to celebrate intelligence and curiosity and to help young people "cultivate their authentic selves."
Life Advice for Young Women from Huffpost Women
We loved this list from Huffpost Women about advice we should pass on to young women as they enter adulthood. It's great advice for anyone at that tumultuous transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Still, it's heartening to see so many empowering messages addressed specifically to young women when they might most need inspiration, encouragement and words of wisdom.
It's also nice to see a focus on real-world advice to set young women up for success, as well as an embracing what truly makes each young woman wonderful and powerful. Check out an excerpt and the list of tips, and click through to read an explanation of each tip.
huffingtonpost.com - I'm no expert on teenage girls, aside from the fact that I was one once -- but I gained a 17-year-old daughter a few summers ago, and as the mother of two young boys I wasn't 100 percent sure what to expect. Most people told me it was going to end horribly (including a few members of her family), but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise, and that summer was as much a learning experience for me as it was for her.
I learned that if kids are given the opportunity to rise to the occasion, they most likely will. She was amazing and made me truly believe that our future is quite bright with lovely ladies like these on the verge of entering the adult world. I could make a list a mile long, but a lot of life is best learned along the way, so they'll get there. For now, here are 10 pieces of advice for her and others just like her to get adulthood started off right:
1. Get your college degree.
I'm serious. Live there, commute, or go back to school if you've quit, but just get your college degree. The wage gap is real. The differences will be subtle in the first few years, but once you're in your 30s, the wage gap is very, very real and will get exponentially larger over time. Also, education matters -- imagine what would happen to racism, sexism, and crime in this country if we had more educated citizens? Be one of them.
The tips:
1. Get your college degree. 2. When in college, pick a major that will get you a job. 3. If you have something nice to say, say it. 4. Keep your credit score impeccable. 5. Self-confidence is sexy as hell. 6. Get rid of the frenemies. 7. Don't assume that because someone has money, they have class. 8. Men are terrified of you. 9. Your parents love you, no matter what. 10. Be a beautiful person.
Read more about every tip here!
For the First Time, an African American Woman Will Run One of TV's "Big Four" Networks
Breaking barriers in more than one way, Channing Dungey this year became the first African American president of ABC Entertainment Group. Glamour has more on the MAKERS women's leadership platform. makers.com - An African American executive has never held the top spot at one of television's "big four" broadcast networks—CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox—until now. And the programming whiz busting through that barrier is a woman: Channing Dungey, who was named president of ABC Entertainment yesterday afternoon.
Dungey, who began her Hollywood career as an assistant at 20th Century Fox, has been with ABC and ABC Studios since 2004. She's developed such drama hits as Army Wives, Criminal Minds, Private Practice, Nashville, Once Upon a Time, American Crime, and 2/3 of our beloved TGIT block: Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder.
The appointment of Dungey—pictured above at the 2015 Emmys with ABC Studios senior vice president of drama development Nne Ebong—is a gratifying bit of HR news, and not just because it rewards her track record and marks a historic moment for the business. Dungey will preside over a network that has proven, over the past several years, that audiences both crave and relate to series about nonwhite people. It's not just Shonda Rhimes' addictive hits—Fresh off the Boat, Black-ish, and American Crime have all proved to have staying power and broad appeal.
Read the rest here.
Be a Part of the Smartest New Book Club, #WLClub
A movement that began on Twitter and has since expanded to Google groups, Instagram, and posts all over social media; writer Rachel Syme's book club promoting books about women, by women has taken off, spreading around the Internet and world. Read about the club and movement in this article by Amy Poehler's Smart Girls. Which biography of an extraordinary woman would you like to add to the list? amysmartgirls.com - Lately in my Twitter feed I keep seeing the hashtag #wlclub and after a few days of dismissing it, curiosity finally won out and I clicked. What does it stand for? Women’s Lives Club—a virtual book club with participants all from all over the world. February’s book is Janet Malcolm’s The Silent Woman, a biography of Sylvia Plath.
It’s the brainchild of prolific writer Rachel Syme, where anyone interested in participating can partake in reading a biography of a notable woman each month. I tracked Smart Girl Rachel Syme down via Twitter and asked her all about how this club came to be.
“The funny thing was, I was just on Twitter and I was wasting time as one tends to do. I was writing about paying attention to women’s lives in general, and really casually in a tweet storm, I asked if I were to start a monthly book club about women’s lives, would anyone do it.”
That tweet launched a thousand readers. Or at the very least just over four hundred (the group’s total at last count), but it’s still growing every day. Rachel started a Google group, asking for interested people to email her to be added. And how do the books get chosen? Everyone makes suggestions and Rachel puts the ones that are repeatedly named up to a vote. Next month’s pick, Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Thurston by Valerie Boyd, won by a landslide.
Read the rest here.
28 Queens Of Black History Who Deserve Much More Glory
You've probably heard the names Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman—all women greatly deserving of the recognition they receive. However, this Black History Month, we were excited to see this piece from The Huffington Post celebrating some names you might not have heard. There are countless ways, big and small, that women continue to fight both sexism and racism every day. Millions of women deserve recognition, but you're sure to find a few on this list that you should get to know better.
Black history lessons in classrooms shouldn't be limited to the names of men and only a few women. Especially when there are countless women who've made enormous strides for the black community, too.
The revolutionary words Angela Davis spoke, the record-breaking feats of Wilma Rudolph and the glass ceiling-shattering efforts of Shirley Chisolm paved the way for black women and girls across the country to dream big and act courageously.
Here are 28 phenomenal women everyone should acquaint themselves with this black history month.
Shirley Chisolm (1924–2005)
Chisolm broke major barriers when she became the first black congresswoman in 1968. She continued on her political track when she ran for president four years later, making her the first major-party black candidate to run.
Claudette Colvin (1939-)
Several months before Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a bus, Colvin was the FIRST person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of 15. She also served as one of four plaintiffs in the case of Browder v. Gayle, which ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional.
Click through for the full list from The Huffington Post, and keep learning about ways to fight for equality for all women!
Emma Watson will take year-long break from acting to focus on feminism
Actress Emma Watson recently announced she is taking a break from acting to read, reach out to help others, and to learn more about herself and issues surrounding feminism and women's rights. One of our favorite things about Watson, after her obvious compassion and curiosity, is her willingness to keep learning and reevaluating her ideas. Getting to come along as someone honestly makes this intellectual journey and talks about it will allow so many others to make similar journeys--and learn more and help one another in the process.
Click through to learn more about Watson's interview for Paper magazine, ideas she's excited about, how she hopes to help others and more in this article from Daily Life.
dailylife.com.au - Emma Watson is taking a year-long hiatus from acting in order to focus on philanthropy and her "own personal development".
The 25 year old made her professional acting debut in the first Harry Potter film in 2001, but now she's ready to step out of the spotlight to focus on other endeavours that aren't related to the entertainment industry.
"I'm taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one," she tells author bell hooks in an interview for Paper magazine.
"My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I'm doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own.
"I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realised that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading. That I was learning so much on my own. I actually wanted to keep on the path that I'm on. I'm reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening."
Read the rest here.
Women in the Armed Forces: Where Can We Go from Here?
Women have joined men in the Armed Forces in increasing numbers in recent years, and even most combat positions are now open to men and women. Military service, long thought of as a men-focused issue, is now bolstered by—and seeking to accommodate—women. Veteran Dustin DeMoss writes on Huffpost Women about issues including increasing numbers of women veterans, higher risk of suicide among women veterans than among women in general, and recent studies and efforts to help work toward a brighter future for women in the Armed Forces. Read an excerpt below, and click through for the full column. huffingtonpost.com - While women in the armed forces aren’t necessarily a new concept, there is no denying that the ranks of female soldiers are growing at a rapid pace. Their increased presence and demand is reflected in some of the more recent announcements coming out of the Department of Defense. Most notably, Ash Carter, Defense Secretary, announced on December 3, 2015, that all positions and occupations within the military are now open to women.
You might be a bit confused by that announcement - after all, women were already serving in the military, right? Defense Secretary Carter’s announcement is significant because it officially “opens” up the nearly 220,000 positions in the military that were previously closed to women. These include positions like reconnaissance, special operations units, and infantry. According to the announcement, women are no longer to be pushed back from the front lines - not to say that plenty of women haven’t served on them, of course, but rather that the knee-jerk reaction seemed to favor keeping them away persistent and close combat situations.
Today, women have the same shot at high-ranking and heavily specialized positions as their male counterparts.
Read the rest here.
16 Female Curators Shaking Things Up In 2016
Curators; who help build collections, organize events and exhibits, discover new art and more; help shape the art world--and many influential curators are women. Artnet News brings us 16 women curators to watch in 2016. Check out an excerpt and the list below, and read the full article at the link. There's no shortage of female curators making their mark on the art world.
Here's a small sample of just a few women to keep your eye on this year, as we look forward to exhibitions such as "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible" at the new Met Breuer in New York, the Beatriz Santiago Muñoz show at the New Museum, "Women of Abstract Expressionism" at the Denver Art Museum, and more.
1. Kelly Baum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
When Baum joined the Metropolitan Musem of Art as curator of postwar and contemporary art in the museum's department of modern and contemporary art in June 2015, her timing couldn't have been better.
Baum has become a key player as the museum prepares to unveil the new Met Breuer space (aka, the old Whitney Museum), curating "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible" with her predecessor, Nicholas Cullinan, and the Met's European painting curator, Andrea Bayer. Baum comes to New York from Princeton University Art Museum, where she was the curator of modern and contemporary art.
The 16 female curators profiled are:
1. Kelly Baum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2. Johanna Burton, New Museum, New York
3. Kalia Brooks, independent curator, New York
4. Gwen Chanzit, Denver Art Museum, Denver
5. Federica Chiocchetti, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
6. Lauren Cornell, New Museum, New York
7. Astrid de Maismont, Gertrude and ArtList, New York
8. Amanda Hunt, Studio Museum in Harlem
9. Clara M. Kim, the Tate Modern, London
10. Koyo Kouoh, RAW Material Company, Dakar
11. Christine Macel, Centre Pompidou, Paris
12. Piper Marshall, Mary Boone Gallery, New York
13. Ceci Moss, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
14. Selene Preciado, the Getty Foundation, Los Angeles
15. Lauren Ross, Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia
16. Jennifer Scanlan, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City
Read about each curator in detail in the full article on Artnet.
To defeat ISIS, listen to the women
Far from just being victims of ISIS, Syrian women have risen as some of the biggest agents of change and relief in the area—and an invaluable source of wisdom when it comes to defeating ISIS. Fatima Sadiqi, who founded the Centre for Studies and Research in Morocco, notes how the use by ISIS of enslavement and sexual violence has awakened in many a keen awareness for the need to fight for women's rights—which may be the key to defeating ISIS: "Looking at the big picture, advancing women's rights appears to constitute the first nail in the coffin for the jihadi ideology. Indeed, using the lens of women's rights is the only way to break the jihadi ideology."
The Hill covers a panel discussion, personal stories and more to show how women are driving change in the fight against the terror and extremism in a recent story excerpted below.
thehill.com - In a world inundated with news, information and entertainment, it is easy to miss something important or to forget about it. We hear about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on a near-daily basis because its media operation is sophisticated and omnipresent. We see the terror organization's soldiers, guns, bullets, bombs and beheadings. We see its victims.
But a new, positive trend is on the horizon: the role of women, not just as victims of ISIS, but as powerful change agents to reverse the tide of terrorism.
Instead of fixating on the warriors and the wounded, let's listen more often to the strong women on the ground in places where ISIS and other extremists have ripped apart lives, literally and figuratively — lives of innocent people, especially women and girls. Those are the sounds we need to hear.
Last month, Nadia Murad Basee Taha bravely told her story to the United Nations. Her experiences in Iraq at the hands of ISIS should make your blood boil. Like many Yazidi women in the region, she was kidnapped, beaten and raped by members of ISIS, who sold and bought her as a human sex slave over a three-month period. She did not mince words. "Rape was used to destroy women and girls and to guarantee that these women could never lead a normal life again. ... [The] Islamic State has made Yazidi women into flesh to be trafficked in," she said, adding that the group uses women as "war booty."
Read the whole story here.
Enough is enough: India women fight to enter temples
Women have the right to be full participants of every part of society and life--professionally, with family, as well as spiritually--so we were heartened to hear of the recent push by Indian women to have the right to worship and pray in areas that use tradition to shut women out. Last month several hundred tried to enter the main shrine at the Shani Shingnapur temple in the state of Maharashtra, and though their effort was stopped that day, the movement has gained publicity and momentum. Read here and click through to learn much more about women worshipers in India and their efforts to be included in all areas of temple life, as well to fight stigma against things like menstruation. bbc.co.uk - For centuries, temples and shrines in India have used "tradition" to keep women out, but now women are increasingly fighting for their right to worship, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.
In recent weeks, the patriarchal managements of shrines that bar women devotees, have been facing unprecedented challenge.
Last month, several hundred women took part in a march from the western city of Pune towards the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra.
"Our aim was to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the 350-year-old temple which is forbidden to women," Trupti Desai, leader of the protesters and member of a local women's rights group, the Bhumata Brigade, (Women Warriors of Mother Earth) told the BBC.
Though they were stopped and detained en route, their spirited attempt succeeded in lodging their protest in the national consciousness.
Ms Desai decided to storm the temple after media reports in November said the temple trust had carried out a "purification ritual" because a woman had climbed the prayer platform and touched the deity.
Read the rest here.
Women’s Rights First—African Summit
Africa faces numerous challenges to the well-being of the more than 1.2 billion people who live there. The African Union has named 2016 the "African Year of Human Rights, with particular focus on the Rights of Women." Countless issues face Africa that need support, careful discussion, and action. But during the 2016 AU Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethopia from January 21 to 31, women's issues were front and center.
Mahawa Kaba Wheeler; Director of Women, Gender and Development at the African Union Commission; gave an interview to IPS News detailing compelling reasons for emphasizing women's rights in the overall fight to promote human rights in Africa. She discusses economic disenfranchisement, lack of education, gender-based violence and more. Working to protect women and achieve gender equality, she argues, will help society as a whole thrive.
Women's disproportionate share of the adversity and barriers—combined with their immeasurable contributions to their communities—means that focusing on women is focusing on the community.
Read Kaba Wheeler's full interview at the link below. You can listen to a review of the summit here.
ipsnews.net - CAIRO, Feb 1 2016 (IPS) - Despite the enormous challenges facing Africa now, the leaders of its 1.2 billion plus inhabitants have decided to spotlight the issue of Human Rights With a Particular Focus on the Rights of Women in their 26th summit held in Addis Ababa on 21-31 January this year. Why?
In an interview to IPS, Mahawa Kaba Wheeler, Director of Women, Gender and Development at the African Union Commission (AUC), explains that time has come to act to alleviate the multitude of barriers to gender equality: “These include, among others, economic exclusion and financial systems that perpetuate the discrimination of women; limited participation in political and public life; lack of access to education and retention of girls in schools; gender-based violence, harmful cultural practices, and exclusion of women from peace tables either as lead mediators or part of negotiating teams of conflicting parties,” she argued.
Read the full interview here.
Pakistani women risking all to fight for their rights
The attack Kainat Soomro suffered is more than any 13-year-old should endure, but sadly, her victimization didn't end there—and she's not the only one to suffer sexual violence followed by victim blaming, in a troubling trend that makes victims afraid to come forward. Read an excerpt below, and click through to read more about the bravery Soomro and her family have shown in the face of stigma and tragedy; as well as the stories of other women who survived their attacks, even saw their attackers sent to jail, only to be treated as outcasts themselves. tampabay.com - KARACHI, Pakistan — Kainat Soomro was 13 years old and on her way to buy a toy for her newborn niece when three men kidnapped her, held her for several days and repeatedly raped her.
Eight years later, she is still battling for justice. She sits on a steel-framed bed in her parents' three-bedroom home and holds her blue shawl tight around her body. When she describes the horror of her captivity, her voice is barely a whisper, but it gains strength when she talks of the fight she has been waging: going to Pakistan's courts, holding protests, rejecting the rulings of the traditional Jirga council, taking on the powerful landlord and politician who she says are protecting her attackers.
The Associated Press does not usually identify victims of sexual abuse, but Kainat has gone public with her case. Her battle for justice has inspired an award-winning 2013 movie, Outlawed in Pakistan. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage Nobel Peace Prize winner who was shot by the Taliban, invited Kainat to the Nobel award ceremony, and her fund has given Kainat financial help.
Yet Kainat's family has paid a high price for her bravery. One sister remains unmarried, and another was divorced because her in-laws were ashamed to be associated with Kainat. In 2010, her brother was killed over his sister's refusal to stay silent.
Read the rest here.
Uganda's anti-child trafficking campaign goes to schools
This story from The Christian Science Monitor, via the Thomson Reuters Foundation, follows a group of volunteers who hope to use reading and raising awareness to help provide opportunities to children and fight the demand for child trafficking. Child prostitution, which can affect girls as well as boys, is often best fought by educating the children--and their communities. Read more below and click through for the full story. csmonitor.com - KAMPALA, Uganda — In a remote corner of Uganda a team of American volunteers are distributing books to children. But this is no ordinary literacy drive; their aim is to protect children at risk of being trafficked into prostitution, forced labor, and even for use in sacrifices.
Their work is part of a project by the Interior Ministry's anti-human-trafficking task force to reach out to poor communities vulnerable to child trafficking by promoting literacy.
Children in Uganda are trafficked and forced to work in cattle herding, stone quarrying, and brick making. Girls and boys are lured from poor families in rural areas to the city and exploited in prostitution, or abducted to fight in rebel ranks, said Agnes Igoye, deputy national coordinator of the task force.
Another abuse plaguing Uganda is the trafficking of children for sacrifice in rituals some Ugandans think bring wealth and power. Children are also trafficked abroad for adoption, domestic work, or sexual exploitation.
The distribution of books, supported by the U.S.-based charity Books for Africa, is a strategy of "prevention is better than cure," she said.
Read the rest here.
Get to Know 3 Founding Female Members of the NAACP
Oppression—and fighting it—comes in many forms. For Black History Month, we're really enjoying learning more about warriors for equality and conversation, like these three women who were among the earliest founders of the NAACP. Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell and Mary White Ovington are true trailblazers. Click through to read the whole article at Makers. makers.com - On February 12, 1909, a group of white liberals and African-American leaders gathered together to discuss a movement for racial justice, partly in response to horrific lynching practices and race riots.
Both men and women were seated at the discussion table creating what would become the nation's oldest, largest, and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Today, it boasts more than half a million members and supporters throughout the U.S. and the world, who are committed to ending racial injustice.
Here are three of the earliest founding members of the NAACP, including two of the only black women. Get to know their stories below.
1. Ida B. Wells
Wells was born in 1862 in Holly Springs, Miss., and held prominent roles as an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. One of her most formative experiences in racial injustice happened while she was riding the railroad. Wells confronted the train conductor after he ordered her to sit in the black section under the racist Jim Crow laws.
Read the rest here.
UAE Appoints Women Ministers of Happiness, Tolerance, Youth
The United Arab Emirates is looking to focus on progress and happiness--and it's including many female voices in its cabinet to help accomplish that goal. Ohood Al Roumi was recently named the first minister of happiness, along with a new minister for tolerance, Sheikha Lubna bint Khaled al Qasimi, who was previously the minister of foreign trade.
Shamma AlMazrui, a 22-year-old woman with a master's degree from Oxford, was also appointed the new minister of youth affairs.
"The new cabinet focuses on the future, youth, happiness, developing education, and combating climate change," the Prime Minister added on Twitter earlier this month.
We're excited to see so many intelligent and inspiring women lending their wisdom and leadership to UAE's Cabinet.
yourmiddleeast.com - Women's rights The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday appointed women to the newly created posts of state ministers for happiness and tolerance, and a 22-year-old female for youth affairs.
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum named eight women as he revealed his latest cabinet line-up of 29 ministers in a series of tweets.
Ohoud al-Roumi, who serves as director of the council of ministers' office, was appointed "minister of state for happiness". She will also keep her former post.
"Happiness is not just a wish in our country. There will be plans, projects, programmes and indices. It will be part of the job of all ministries," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai.
The new post "will align and drive government policy to create social good and satisfaction," he said earlier.
Shamma al-Mazroui, 22, was appointed state minister for youth, while Lubna al-Qassimi, a veteran minister of international cooperation and development, was handed the new post of state minister for tolerance.
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Study of 91 countries: Businesses thrive when women lead
Gender diversity benefits more than just the women who are hired and promoted: Women leading companies has been tied to stronger profits, according to a study of almost 22,000 publicly traded companies in 91 countries. Perhaps more importantly, the study found that it's not as simple as board quotas or installing a woman CEO: Businesses and culture in general need to be less discriminatory, more inclusive and more focused on education that empowers women to lead in order to reap the benefits.
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in.finance.yahoo.com - NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Companies with 30 percent female executives rake in as much as six percentage points more in profits, according to a study on Monday, feeding into a global debate over the scarcity of women in decision-making business roles.
The conclusion stems from a study of about 22,000 publicly-traded companies in 91 countries ranging from Mexico to Norway and Italy conducted by researchers at The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
"If you're a firm and you're discriminating against potential female leaders, that means you're essentially doing a bad job of picking the best leader for your firm," said Tyler Moran, one of the study's three co-authors, in an interview.
The results indicate the presence of women in corporate leadership positions can boost a firm's performance, suggesting a reward for policies that facilitate women rising through corporate ranks.
But the study found while having women in executive ranks resulted in better profitability, female CEOs or board members did not have a statistically-significant impact on the bottom line.
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