Posts Tagged Leadership

By Ann • 14 years ago

“The women of Afghanistan are empowered.”


The Feministing crew is still at the Women & Power retreat at Omega. Kicking off today’s speakers is Sakena Yacoobi, who founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995. After the Taliban closed girls’ schools in the 1990s, AIL opened underground home schools and women’s learning centers. Today AIL is still working to empower Afghan women, and Yacoobi continues her work despite constant threats to her safety.
One of the biggest consequences of her nation being at war for decades, Yacoobi says, is the loss of the educational system. If people can defend themselves through communication, they don’t need a weapon. But through years of war, the educational system was demolished. So she wanted to do ...


The Feministing crew is still at the Women & Power retreat at Omega. Kicking off today’s speakers is Sakena Yacoobi, who founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995. After the Taliban closed ...
By Lori Adelman • 14 years ago

The Devil Wears Prada, Women Make Better Bosses, and Other Generalizations That Generally Piss Me Off

This article from last week’s NY Times has been inspiring some lively discussion. The article features an interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in which she claims, among other things, that in her experience, “female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk.” In the same article, she goes on to make this gem of a generalization:

“We women take things very personally. We’re constantly playing things over in our head — “What did that mean when they said that?” — when they mean nothing. And I’m certainly not immune to this. So there’s a downside to women.”

Of ...

This article from last week’s NY Times has been inspiring some lively discussion. The article features an interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in ...
By Courtney • 14 years ago

The Death of Macho

As if David Zincenko’s USA Today op-ed heralding “The Great He-cession,” wasn’t enough, now we’ve got Reihan Salam claiming “The Death of Macho” in Foreign Policy. Salam’s argument, thank goodness, is a bit more sophisticated than Zincenko’s–essentially he’s arguing that the fall of the financial sector, loss of jobs, and psychological frailty of unmarried men (I’m not kidding), is going to lead to the end of macho culture. He uses lots of international examples–from China to Russia to Western Europe to prove his point. Men, he goes on, will have two choices when confronting this new reality–adapt or resist. Resistance could possibly be “very violent.” Geez.
Claiming that sexism is over just because we’re finally paying attention to ...

As if David Zincenko’s USA Today op-ed heralding “The Great He-cession,” wasn’t enough, now we’ve got Reihan Salam claiming “The Death of Macho” in Foreign Policy. Salam’s argument, thank goodness, is a bit more sophisticated ...
By Samhita • 14 years ago

The Women Protesting in Iran.

After seeing the video of the Iranian protester Neda being shot through the heart, the world has been forced to think about role of women in the fight for a democratic Iran. Dana writes at Tapped a little bit about why women might be so involved,

Only 13 percent of Iranian women participate in the paid work force, compared to over 25 percent of women in Turkey and over 38 percent in Indonesia. With the permission of a court, fathers can arrange marriages for daughters under age 13. Polygamy is legal, and under Ahmadinejad, Parliament even tried to ease restrictions on the practice. Women cannot run for president, and family law discriminates against them when it comes to ...

After seeing the video of the Iranian protester Neda being shot through the heart, the world has been forced to think about role of women in the fight for a democratic Iran. Dana writes at ...
By Courtney • 14 years ago

Live Blogging: NCRW Young Women’s Caucus

I’m going to let my friend Laura Leischner, the Prevention Specialist at The Collins Center, blog this one out…

It’s a pretty informal setting with people finishing their lunch, but the caucus is going to be moderated by Kyla Bender-Baird and Lisa Rast, both of NCRW. Everyone went around and introduced themselves. There are a wide range of women in the room, from freelancers, college students to attorneys.
Lisa talks about how one of her favorite quotes is by Madeleine Albright, “There’s a special place in hell for women that don’t support other women.” She poses the question, “How can we support other women while looking out for ourselves?” A tough one indeed.
A NCRW intern Shirley raises ...

I’m going to let my friend Laura Leischner, the Prevention Specialist at The Collins Center, blog this one out…

It’s a pretty informal setting with people finishing their lunch, but the caucus is going to ...
By Courtney • 14 years ago

Live Blogging: National Council for Research on Women Annual Conference

Hey crew. I’m here in New York City at the NCRW Annual Conference. I’ll be live blogging all the sessions for the rest of the day, with a few other posts thrown in. The first session that I’m attending is Youth: Opportunities and Challenges for Building Pipelines for Leadership.
Supriya Pillai, Executive Director (ED) of the Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing:
1. Youth leaders already exist. We need to recognize that.
2. Youth leadership has to come from the inside. Young people of color need to be empowered to make change for themselves, in their own communities, in the best way they see fit.
3. Discussions around a leadership pipeline are not new. We need to start investing ...

Hey crew. I’m here in New York City at the NCRW Annual Conference. I’ll be live blogging all the sessions for the rest of the day, with a few other posts thrown in. The first session ...
By Samhita • 14 years ago

How Will NY Senate Debacle Impact Gay Marriage?

After finally gaining control of the New York Senate, two Democrats have defected from the Democrats in the New York State Senate to join the Republican caucus, giving the Republicans a majority again. The two Senators, Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada are still technically Democrats but will be joining the Republicans and some key votes.

Republicans reclaimed control of the New York state Senate with help from two Democrats, who rebelled against a $131.8 billion budget they said was negotiated in secret.
Pedro Espada from the Bronx and Hiram Monserrate from Queens sided with 30 Republicans on key votes to change the Senate’s leadership. Democrats immediately challenged the claim and described the action as illegal. Governor David Paterson called it ...

After finally gaining control of the New York Senate, two Democrats have defected from the Democrats in the New York State Senate to join the Republican caucus, giving the Republicans a majority again. The two Senators, ...
By Courtney • 14 years ago

Feminist Fairy God Mother Blesses Colleges and Universities with Female Presidents

From the Associated Press:

It is the question on everyone’s lips in philanthropy: Who is the mysterious donor giving away millions of dollars to at least a dozen universities nationwide?
A circle of successful businesswomen? A publicity-shy billionaire? Oprah?
What is so unusual is that not even the universities know the answer. But the parlor game is afoot, with only one real clue: So far, all the universities are led by women.
Coincidence? Unlikely. Women lead about 23 percent of U.S. colleges. The odds of a dozen randomly selected institutions all having female leaders are 1 in 50 million.

The article goes on to postulate about the motivation of this woman or group of women donors. Essentially, it seems, someone wants ...

From the Associated Press:

It is the question on everyone’s lips in philanthropy: Who is the mysterious donor giving away millions of dollars to at least a dozen universities nationwide?
A circle of successful businesswomen? A publicity-shy ...

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