21st Century Women's Leadership

An important cross-cutting issue. Curious how religious, political, and business institutions can have so much say over women's bodies, while at the same time trying to challenge women's rights in this respect. I hope that Angelina Jolie also points out that such procedures, like this gene test and a double mastectomy, should be affordable to all women, not just the rich. With the test being close to $4000 alone, this is not a procedure that most families and women can afford.

Referred to us "Occupy Movement's Greatest Artist" - "There's a trippy quality to almost all of her paintings, ...sometimes-violent scenes, and moralistic warnings in the imagery (the evil, debt-issuing, top-hat-wearing banker-cats) ... the subjects of her giant, impassioned panoramas are  dissident bloggers in Tunisia and the rise of rightist movements in Greece and  the Occupy protests. ...The Occupy movement may be fading in the minds of some, but this is a  reminder that what happened in 2011 awakened people all around the globe to the  possibilities of a different way of life. There was something beautiful about it, just for a moment, and these paintings capture that"

Here is a good review of her work and upcoming exhibitions in a recent Rolling Stones article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/molly-crabapple-occupys-greatest-artist-opens-show-this-weekend-20130411

This poem is by a wonderful friend of mine, Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff. She is a professional storyteller, coach, writer, and performer, specializing in Jewish history. This poem strikes at so much of women's history and the need for their voices of pain to be heard, acknowledged, and shared. Thank you,  Jennifer, for writing with such honesty and creatively about an important issue.

Not sure if I agree with Sheryl's notion that it's up to women to change in order for things to get better at the top of organizations. Also, she's what Anne-Marrie Slaughter called "Superwomen" who are above average in all respects, in which case she not only makes us feel guitly, but also conscious of the fact that what she has done is pretty much impossible for the rest of us to achieve or be, because we don't have the "perfect resume/career/life trajectory."

When it comes to war, everyone is quick to speak of the fallen heroes, as well the villains, most of whom are always men. We forget the thousands of children, wives, and families left in the wake of this violence, regardless of who is right or wrong. This book, by Victoria Brittain, called "Shadow Lives" reminds us about these essential and tragic stories. Perhaps, if we spent more time on such news, we would become less inclined to wage war in the name of justice and democracy, but try to resolve our differences in the name of healthy children, families, and relationships.  

Inside the walls of the new Kakenya Center for Excellence in a remote district of Kenya, 155 girls are thriving thanks to the determination, optimism and sheer will of National Geographic Emerging Explorer Kakenya Ntaiya. Once a village girl herself, Kakenya bargained with her father to continue her education past the tradition age of 13 in exchange for participating in the local tradition of female genital circumcision. Today, in the region's first and only primary school for girls, students learn about health and leadership in addition to rigorous academics.

The inimitable Margaret Thatcher passed away at the age of 87 yesterday. She will be remembered as the first female PM of England and a Western nation in the 20th century. Today, as we listen to various news coverage on her political and social legacy, it's important to remember her distaste of feminism. While she publically denounced feminism and loudly proclaimed her belief in "merit over quotas," it's important to remember that she was herself considered a "token woman" in the English political quarters. Whether she liked feminism or not is besides the point, though news coverage and Margaret, herself, liked to focus on that, rather than on the structural inequalities that women faced in the workplace and society at large. She ought to have remembered that men had created a political and social system that discriminated against working women and stay at home Moms. While fighting for neoliberal individualism, she ought to have tried to create the same opportunities for women in the workplace, by easing the cost of child care for instance. Then again, she had all the money in the world to not have to worry or even think about who was going to take care of her twins and put food on the table while she was out proclaiming that "pennies don't fall from the sky; they must be earned!" And yet, as history and market economies have shown, Margaret didn't fight for the working mothers, fathers, and families of England.