LEADERSHIP: International Women's Day

Today is our day to celebrate how far we've come as WOMEN and the amazing contributions we are making throughout the world.

In Dr. Helen Fisher's book, THE FIRST SEX: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World, she reminds us that we learning how powerful our "friendly pressures" can be on changing things for good. "As [women] use their innate talents to unite behind common causes, they are becoming a political force." She goes on to note just a few achievements she had noted:

• Women of Serbian, Bosnian,and Croatian background, self-named The Women in Black,lay down together in a square in Belgrade every Wednesday for several months to call for peace in 1997.
• In the Middle East, Palestinian and Israeli women have joined to rebuild safe areas for children.
• The Green Belt movement in Kenya has led more than 50,000 women to plant trees in their yards to combat desertification.
• In Ukraine, women are fighting nuclear pollution.
• Muslim women have worked together to write a manual, "Claiming Our Rights".

GREEN PICKING UP STEAM
This powerful movement of women's leadership has been on the move and picking up steam. One BRIGHT SPOT is women across the world leading the way for GREEN. One clear front-runner is a remarkable woman, Melinda Kramer, co-founder of the Women's Global Green Action Network.  In a San Francisco article by Gregory Dicum [SFGate.com], she inspires us all. 

"Women are inextricably linked to issues of environmental sustainability," Melinda Kramer explains, "as mothers, as caretakers, as food producers, as consumers and as nurturers." Kramer, who had been working with women leaders in Africa, China and Siberia, founded the organization to provide training and resources to female grassroots environmental advocates around the world.

"In order to ensure their own health, and that of their family and communities, women really need to manage and influence environmental policies," she says. "For a lot of women, environmentalism is too narrow a term for their work -- social justice and human rights have a lot to do with women's everyday responsibilities."

Women in the Lead at the Global Dialogue Center will be launching a new podcast interview with Melinda Kramer later this month. In this personal interview, she will inspire you and give you a whole new perspective on following one's heart and dream. Keep a lookout!

Remember as you celebrate our accomplishments one and all...

Welcome the unexpected.
Look for the uncharted path that bears your name.
Lead the way!

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead