Every year, I forgo buying my mother the traditional card, flowers, and jewelry for Mother’s Day. It isn’t that I don’t love her or think it isn’t important to honor her on Mother’s Day. She is an amazing woman, a great role model, and the first feminist I ever knew. But I hate the Hallmark-driven, [...]
Archive | Global Women’s Issues
RSS feed for this section
Until Recently, Human Trafficking Wasn’t Even Counted
On Wednesday morning at the Center for American Progress, I heard Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano speak about the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to combat human trafficking. She began by reminding the audience that sexual and labor trafficking dis-proportionally affects women. Napolitano is very passionate about this issue, and in 2010 launched her Blue [...]
“It’s More Dangerous to be A Woman than a Soldier in Modern Conflict”
I remember reading these words at a Women to Women International meeting a few years ago. They were spoken by Patrick Cammaert, the Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2008, who said “It is probably more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern [...]
Does Having More Women in the Security Sector Make a Difference? On Sex and the Secret Service
The recent Secret Service scandal has gotten many people – from political operatives to Congresswomen – calling for the inclusion of more women in the Secret Service and other such security forces. What never fails to amaze me in the aftermath of such issues is how verbal and public so many men are with their sexism. [...]
No Mother’s Day: Every 90 Seconds a Woman Dies Becoming a Mother
Every 90 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman dies from a pregnancy-related complication. This isn’t just a “third world” problem. The United States currently ranks 50th in the world for maternal health. It is safer to give birth in Bosnia or Kuwait than in California. But what we do here ultimately affects women everywhere. [...]
Sex and the Secret Service
The Secret Service announced yesterday the retirement and resignation of three employees connected to the prostitution scandal last week in Cartagena, Columbia. Twenty-one Secret Service employees and military personnel are suspected of visiting strip clubs and prostitutes on April 11, two days before President Obama was scheduled to arrive at an international summit. Although the [...]
Women in the World Summit 2012
On Saturday, March 10, the final morning of the Women in the World Third Annual Summit, The New York Times featured a four-column photo of Christine Lagarde, director of the International Monetary Fund with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The title was, “German Leader and I.M.F. Chief Split Over Debt.” Lagarde had been in Manhattan the previous [...]
On International Women’s Day, a Woman’s Pleasure
Today was International Women’s Day. There were articles written by thoughtful well-meaning women and smart indomitable women, coming together to welcome our progress and caution about the obstacles yet to conquer. I couldn’t help but feel pre-emptively weary of reading these articles. These last few months have been such a scathing beating of American women [...]
Women Advancing Haiti’s Future
I just returned from Haiti, where I was working with women, convened by the Haitian group Femmes en Democratie, to develop a women’s policy platform. In Creole, nap vanse means we advance, and it is critical that Haitians move forward together to build a stronger country and a stronger economy. The priorities identified can help both women and [...]
Women Deliver 50
This morning Women Deliver announced it’s “Women Deliver 50” list spotlighting ideas and solutions that actually improving the lives of women and girls around the world right now. From hundreds of submissions, to 125 finalists, we have 50 inspiring programs chosen for their work in advocacy and awareness, education, health interventions, and technologies and innovations. [...]