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International Women's Day 2011
TrustLaw Women, Thomson Reuters and Reuters mark the centenary
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Leaving you with my favorite quote: "Where is your mountain and are you climbing it?" I feel so very lucky to have found my mountain, and while it may take me a lifetime to reach the summit, I'm on a mission that I love! If I can help any of you at any time, never hesitate to aks me. -
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So earlier we were talking about what feminism means and I wanted to share an anecdote from my 25th college reunion. I was asked to facilitate a dialogue on women's choices. We had approximately 30 women show up, all from my class of '77, and we just went around the room talking about the choices we had made in our lives. There was an incredible range of experience but the striking thing was the fact that every single woman in the room felt that they had failed in some way.
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Some felt they had failed because they had a very successful career but no children, some felt they had failed because they chose to limit their career so they could be a presence in their children's lives, and some felt they had failed because they just couldn't do everything. But they all had regrets which I thought immensely sad.
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@Katherine - Earlier, you discussed the bounce back ability of men. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson did some great research on resiliency. She found that people with more connections, a stronger network, had exponentially more resilience. I believe women are great at building connections - the difference is that with the demands of family, they often don't have much opportunity to leverage outside relationships. Then add in the confidence piece you mentioned, and suddenly women don't come back to try again another day as they should. -
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From Canada's National Post -- Please don't wish me a "Happy Women's Day": tinyurl.com
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@Laura @Karen Rather, I think it's choosing to settle. And yes, part of the problem is comparison. If we keep up a facade of "having it all," why would anyone think we don't? It's perfectly okay to choose to be a homemaker or choose to head a multibillion-dollar corporation, if one so chooses, as long as one's happy.
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@Terrine Hear! Hear! In addition to figuring out MY priorities, rather than someone else's, has been the fine skill of saying, "No." Ironic that the improv woman (my company nickname is Yes! Girl, since all improv is built on the tenet of agreement) has found boundaries so useful!
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From MSNBC a few days ago: Women are now the backbone of the U.S. economy: tinyurl.com
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@Melissa @Laura Recently the SBA published its Final Rule which identifies 83 industries in which women contractors are seriously underrepresented. This is 11 years after the passage of the Women's Procurement Program, and women business owners have long awaited the full implementation of the law which enables women-owned businesses to receive 5% of federal procurement dollars.
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@Laura @Melissa I hope so too! To answer your question, the underrepresentation is for women-owned businesses. The huge majority of federal contracts go to male-owned businesses. NAWBO (National Assn. of Women Business Owners), the SBA and other groups are working to balance that a little.
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From Kathy Taylor, Gender Specialist, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, UNFPA
Women, Peace and Security
Women are at the forefront of peace efforts. Despite the inherent risks and difficulties they face and endure, women - individually, in groups and in formal organizations - demonstrate extraordinary resilience and commitment to sustaining peace and normalcy in crisis settings. They are active leaders and often the first group of stakeholders to publicly demand a space in peace negotiations and reconciliation efforts. With limited resources, they seek to work with both state and non-state actors to build awareness and understanding of human rights, protection of civilians and participate in peace processes. However, time and again, women’s daily contributions to peace – both politically and in the humanitarian sphere, their stories of survival and protection of more vulnerable people (the young, the elderly and the sick) – are ignored.
UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is rooted in the premise that women’s participation in and contributions to the peace-building processes will improve the chances of attaining viable and sustainable peace. It is also rooted in the knowledge that gender equality itself is a source of sustainable peace. This resolution acknowledges that VAW is a gross violation and threat to peace and security.
UNFPA adopts multi-sectoral, holistic approaches to address women, peace and security issues, to combat various forms of violence and in establishment of systems for coordination of response efforts. Furthermore, UNFPA addresses the impact of war and conflict on women and recognizes the need to develop leadership capabilities of women to contribute to conflict prevention as well as conflict resolution and sustainable peace efforts. UNFPA’s programme activities under Security Council Resolution 1325, 1820 and the other 3 related Resolutions take place in both humanitarian, post-conflict and development settings under the themes of Prevention, Protection, Participation, Data Collection and Analysis and Development of Institutional Capacities. UNFPA will continue to expand its partnership with country’s governments and civil society to realize the goals as stated under SCR 1325 and the related Resolutions. Our contributions in this area are a major part of our leading role within the UN System in line with our commitment on achieving the MDGs, the ICPD and Beijing Conference goals, and various international human rights instruments.
Related Publications: unfpa.org
Related Video: video.unfpa.org -
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@Karen Yes, of course! Bounce back IS resilience: hadn't put that together. And tho' we have networks can we/do we encourage success in them, or--as has been my fear w some women-women relationships- do we console, for mutual hardships? @Karol It takes something unusual to break the cycle, doesn't it? So why can one person do it, another not? Again, novelist speaking...
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@melissa - Excellent question - the numbers are improving, with some banks, like Key Bank and AmEx creating programs with real dollars to specifically provide capital to women. That's going to be critical once the government does create set-asides - the businesses have to be able to handle and succeed at the contracts!
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@Katherine Govier You make an interesting point. Some years ago I was in a women's group (outside the company) and it seemed like all we did was get together to cry on each other's shoulders. Perhaps we should have been exhorting each other to "build a bridge and get over it".
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One area in which women nee to insert themselves is editing en.wikipedia.org and other areas of Wikipedia. This is something we can do for ourselves, keeping a vigilant eye on how women are represented in open, free sources of information. I did not realize, until recently, that there are few women editors of Wikipedia. The Wikipedia platform can be challenging to edit, but if we each take even half an hour a month to ensure women's issues, and women's biographies are documented from our viewpoint, it would meke a big difference.
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Video round up of IWD on the Bridge :)
www.youtube.com
