by Former President Jimmy Carter
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I am posting this today, Women's Equality Day, as a powerful statement promoting women's equality - the first such statement by a U.S. President
Women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the word of God.
I have been a practicing Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.
This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries.
At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met.
In some Islamic nations, women are restricted in their movements, punished for permitting the exposure of an arm or ankle, deprived of education, prohibited from driving a car or competing with men for a job. If a woman is raped, she is often most severely punished as the guilty party in the crime.
The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in the West. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family.
It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and outdated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where
women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.
I understand, however, why many political leaders can be reluctant about stepping into this minefield. Religion, and tradition, are powerful and sensitive areas to challenge. But my fellow Elders and I, who come from many faiths and backgrounds, no longer need to worry about winning votes or avoiding controversy - and we are deeply committed to challenging injustice wherever we see it.
The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building,
help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity. We have decided to draw particular attention to the responsibility of religious and traditional leaders in ensuring equality and human rights and have recently published a statement that declares: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable."
We are calling on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women. We ask, in particular, that leaders of all religions have the courage to acknowledge and emphasize the positive messages of dignity and equality that all the world's major faiths share.
The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.
I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same Scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted Holy Scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the
religious hierarchy.
The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Students Active for Ending Rape
An Interview with Margaret Mikkelsen, Executive Director of S.A.F.E.R. - Students Active For Ending Rape
By Jennifer Lauren, Fifty-Fifty Volunteer and Master's Degree Student
1. How did you come to work on raising awareness about rape, did you work on other issues or in other fields prior to working with SAFER?
I worked on this issue in college, and again during graduate school. I've also worked in the fields of education reform and maternity care policy.
2. Can you explain the specifics of your position at SAFER.
From 2006 through 2008, I was the Executive Director of SAFER, running the day to day operations, managing our programs, and leading our fundraising efforts. I am now on the Board of Advisors.
3. Is the main goal of Students Active for Ending Rape to raise awareness amongst youth, or is it also to change school policies that do not address this issue? Please share what you see as the agenda of this organization.
The main goal of SAFER is to have every college implement effective sexual assault policies. We work toward our goal by helping students build campus reform movements. Awareness-raising is part of our work, certainly, but policy reform is really the heart of it.
4. I was recently in attendance at the WAM! (Women, Action & Media) Conference in Cambridge, Boston. It was an informative, inspiring experience during which there was sessions that addressed rape, reproductive health, and other pertinent issues. However most of the people in attendance were activists, writers and students already aware of the importance of these issues. Is it important to SAFER? to reach out to diverse audiences beyond the feminist community? And if so, how does this organization approach that goal?
It's crucial that we do so, or we will not achieve our goal. Part of our training for students includes training on building diverse movements and reaching out to people who may not identify as feminist, womanist, or even activist. It's about finding common ground that sexual assault is a problem that can be addressed. But it's also about helping people understand the varying, intersecting oppressions that support rape culture.
5. Furthermore, is there a goal to reach out and educate men and boys about rape, and not just women and girls? If so, how does the educational campaign that is designed to reach males differ from the one that targets women and girls?
Since we're not an education organization, we don't do work that is specifically designed to educate men and boys. All our work is designed to help the activist, of any gender, who wants to make a difference on his or her campus. We do include some advice for men who are working in these movements who may not be aware of the privilege they bring to the table as men.
6. As an organization that deals specifically with the making the college campus more healthy and equal, how has the experience of working with different colleges and universities been? From your experience, how important is it to school administrators that they have an acceptable school policy and network on dealing with rape?
It really varies widely. I've encountered a broad spectrum of administrators, from those who are passionate about addressing the problem, to those who just don't see what we're talking about. Part of our work is helping students convince administrators that it is in the school's best interest to have a strong policy. Some administrators would rather deny the problem than face it head on. Students have to be savvy about how to approach these administrators.
7. What do you find is the most looming or most often encountered impediment in creating change in faulty school policies, and also changing mindsets?
There are so many, it's hard to pick! Victim-blaming culture is a huge one. It makes people feel safe and unaccountable if they can blame sexual assault on victims. Then they feel it won't happen to them, because they won't do whatever the victim did to "deserve" the assault, and they don't have to step up and take a stand against violence in their communities. Taking that first step, of saying no one "asks" to be assault, and admitting that the larger community has a role to play in stopping sexual violence, is a big first step, but it's a necessary one.
8. On the SAFER. website, students, concerned citizens and burgeoning activists can download a manual “Change Happens: A Guide to Reforming Your Campus Sexual Assault Policy.” There is also a SAFER. campus activist mentoring program and workshops. Can you speak about how you see the college landscape today in regard to activism, and in particular activism on this issue. Do you feel a difference in climate between activists of this current generation with those of past years?
Well, I'm really too young to comment on past generations! I graduated from college in the late 90s, and there was certainly a fair bit of campus activism going on. However, we weren't very sophisticated or organized. I think student activists today are very media-aware, and have access to amazing organizing training and tools. Different campus movements struggle with different things. Some with issues of diversity and privilege, others with a lack of clear goals or targets, some are co-opted too easily by administrators. But overall, I'm always impressed with the college activists I meet.
9. What are your thoughts on the growing role of the Internet and social media in the activist community?
I think it's great, but we can't over look the power of personal contact. I'm personally a big fan of that 20th century mainstay, the telephone.
10. Recently, on March 18, 2009, The New York Times published an article, “Teenage Girls Stand by Their Man” in which the writer Jan Hoffman found that the female high school students in the New York City school she interviewed largely sympathized with the singer Chris Brown who, as widely publicized, was arrested for domestic violence against his girlfriend. They also seem to blame the victim, singer Rihanna. The article goes on to discuss how their response is in keeping with the learned social signals we are taught as girls, that “What really matters is that we don’t destroy boys.” How does an organization like SAFER confront these problematic social signals?
See number 7! We have to always be talking about these issues, confronting them, asking hard questions, challenging each other. We do a lot of this on our blog, and also in trainings with students.
11. Does SAFER work in unison with other organizations that support the rights of women and girls, locally and internationally?
Absolutely. We've collaborated with the ACLU Women's Rights Project, FAIR Fund, Men Can Stop Rape, Gender PAC and others.
12. Rape is difficult for many to speak about, yet it continues to happen and most be dealt with. Are you optimistic or concerned about the current discussion going on now about what needs to be done about rape? Are you confident we are on the right path in confronting this issue and the more subtle social signals Hoffman talks about in her article?
Honestly, it depends on the day of the week. When I watch television, often I'm horrified. For example, we're big American Idol fans in my house. But when Ryan Seacrest referred to a group of female dancers as a male performer's harem, I was so angry. But then when I see a great article about sexual violence in a student newspaper, I'm hopeful. I guess I wouldn't do this work if I didn't believe we had a chance of winning!
13. What is one thing that the readers of Fifty-Fifty Leadership and The Equality Standard can do to raise awareness about this issue?
Speak up. Speak up when you see an ad that equates sexual violence with sex. Speak up when your kids are headed to college. Speak up when you learn an abstinence-only sex ed class is perpetuating traditional gender norms. Speak up when you hear someone blame a victim for being assaulted. Speak up when you hear someone excuse someone for committing assault. Call your alma mater, find out what they're doing about sexual violence. Withold your money if they aren't doing enough.I guess that was more than one thing!
By Jennifer Lauren, Fifty-Fifty Volunteer and Master's Degree Student
1. How did you come to work on raising awareness about rape, did you work on other issues or in other fields prior to working with SAFER?
I worked on this issue in college, and again during graduate school. I've also worked in the fields of education reform and maternity care policy.
2. Can you explain the specifics of your position at SAFER.
From 2006 through 2008, I was the Executive Director of SAFER, running the day to day operations, managing our programs, and leading our fundraising efforts. I am now on the Board of Advisors.
3. Is the main goal of Students Active for Ending Rape to raise awareness amongst youth, or is it also to change school policies that do not address this issue? Please share what you see as the agenda of this organization.
The main goal of SAFER is to have every college implement effective sexual assault policies. We work toward our goal by helping students build campus reform movements. Awareness-raising is part of our work, certainly, but policy reform is really the heart of it.
4. I was recently in attendance at the WAM! (Women, Action & Media) Conference in Cambridge, Boston. It was an informative, inspiring experience during which there was sessions that addressed rape, reproductive health, and other pertinent issues. However most of the people in attendance were activists, writers and students already aware of the importance of these issues. Is it important to SAFER? to reach out to diverse audiences beyond the feminist community? And if so, how does this organization approach that goal?
It's crucial that we do so, or we will not achieve our goal. Part of our training for students includes training on building diverse movements and reaching out to people who may not identify as feminist, womanist, or even activist. It's about finding common ground that sexual assault is a problem that can be addressed. But it's also about helping people understand the varying, intersecting oppressions that support rape culture.
5. Furthermore, is there a goal to reach out and educate men and boys about rape, and not just women and girls? If so, how does the educational campaign that is designed to reach males differ from the one that targets women and girls?
Since we're not an education organization, we don't do work that is specifically designed to educate men and boys. All our work is designed to help the activist, of any gender, who wants to make a difference on his or her campus. We do include some advice for men who are working in these movements who may not be aware of the privilege they bring to the table as men.
6. As an organization that deals specifically with the making the college campus more healthy and equal, how has the experience of working with different colleges and universities been? From your experience, how important is it to school administrators that they have an acceptable school policy and network on dealing with rape?
It really varies widely. I've encountered a broad spectrum of administrators, from those who are passionate about addressing the problem, to those who just don't see what we're talking about. Part of our work is helping students convince administrators that it is in the school's best interest to have a strong policy. Some administrators would rather deny the problem than face it head on. Students have to be savvy about how to approach these administrators.
7. What do you find is the most looming or most often encountered impediment in creating change in faulty school policies, and also changing mindsets?
There are so many, it's hard to pick! Victim-blaming culture is a huge one. It makes people feel safe and unaccountable if they can blame sexual assault on victims. Then they feel it won't happen to them, because they won't do whatever the victim did to "deserve" the assault, and they don't have to step up and take a stand against violence in their communities. Taking that first step, of saying no one "asks" to be assault, and admitting that the larger community has a role to play in stopping sexual violence, is a big first step, but it's a necessary one.
8. On the SAFER. website, students, concerned citizens and burgeoning activists can download a manual “Change Happens: A Guide to Reforming Your Campus Sexual Assault Policy.” There is also a SAFER. campus activist mentoring program and workshops. Can you speak about how you see the college landscape today in regard to activism, and in particular activism on this issue. Do you feel a difference in climate between activists of this current generation with those of past years?
Well, I'm really too young to comment on past generations! I graduated from college in the late 90s, and there was certainly a fair bit of campus activism going on. However, we weren't very sophisticated or organized. I think student activists today are very media-aware, and have access to amazing organizing training and tools. Different campus movements struggle with different things. Some with issues of diversity and privilege, others with a lack of clear goals or targets, some are co-opted too easily by administrators. But overall, I'm always impressed with the college activists I meet.
9. What are your thoughts on the growing role of the Internet and social media in the activist community?
I think it's great, but we can't over look the power of personal contact. I'm personally a big fan of that 20th century mainstay, the telephone.
10. Recently, on March 18, 2009, The New York Times published an article, “Teenage Girls Stand by Their Man” in which the writer Jan Hoffman found that the female high school students in the New York City school she interviewed largely sympathized with the singer Chris Brown who, as widely publicized, was arrested for domestic violence against his girlfriend. They also seem to blame the victim, singer Rihanna. The article goes on to discuss how their response is in keeping with the learned social signals we are taught as girls, that “What really matters is that we don’t destroy boys.” How does an organization like SAFER confront these problematic social signals?
See number 7! We have to always be talking about these issues, confronting them, asking hard questions, challenging each other. We do a lot of this on our blog, and also in trainings with students.
11. Does SAFER work in unison with other organizations that support the rights of women and girls, locally and internationally?
Absolutely. We've collaborated with the ACLU Women's Rights Project, FAIR Fund, Men Can Stop Rape, Gender PAC and others.
12. Rape is difficult for many to speak about, yet it continues to happen and most be dealt with. Are you optimistic or concerned about the current discussion going on now about what needs to be done about rape? Are you confident we are on the right path in confronting this issue and the more subtle social signals Hoffman talks about in her article?
Honestly, it depends on the day of the week. When I watch television, often I'm horrified. For example, we're big American Idol fans in my house. But when Ryan Seacrest referred to a group of female dancers as a male performer's harem, I was so angry. But then when I see a great article about sexual violence in a student newspaper, I'm hopeful. I guess I wouldn't do this work if I didn't believe we had a chance of winning!
13. What is one thing that the readers of Fifty-Fifty Leadership and The Equality Standard can do to raise awareness about this issue?
Speak up. Speak up when you see an ad that equates sexual violence with sex. Speak up when your kids are headed to college. Speak up when you learn an abstinence-only sex ed class is perpetuating traditional gender norms. Speak up when you hear someone blame a victim for being assaulted. Speak up when you hear someone excuse someone for committing assault. Call your alma mater, find out what they're doing about sexual violence. Withold your money if they aren't doing enough.I guess that was more than one thing!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Who’s Responsible for Discrimination?
According to author Jackson Katz, despite the substantial gains made through the various take-back-the-night rallies, educational program and general political activism, women will never be able to end the rampant, global sexual discrimination and abuse directed towards their gender...
...at least not by themselves.
That’s because the source of male-on-female abuse arises entirely from the modern understanding of masculinity - a fact that Katz examines in his recent groundbreaking book The Macho Paradox: Why some men hurt women and how all men can help. According to Katz, the impetuous for almost all sexual discrimination lies primarily with men: “it is one thing to focus on the ‘against women’ part of the phrase; but someone’s responsible for doing it, and (almost) everyone knows that it’s overwhelmingly men. Why aren’t people talking about this? Is it realistic to talk about preventing violence against women if no one even wants to say out loud who’s responsible for it?”
Although The Macho Paradox centers on a topic that is generally seen to be a ‘women’s issue,’ Jackson repeatedly emphasises that its target is young males. His goal is to stimulate these men to examine the various facets of popular culture they participate in – the hyper-masculinity portrayed in video games, the rampant sexuality of TV commercials, the re-enactment of abuse in pornography – to determine how these forms of media construct an unrealistic, often violent, notion of manliness. He takes a critical look at a number of structures in North American society – from sports to the education systems – and points to the way in which they train (or facilitate the training of) young men to participate in a larger sexist culture, stopping occasionally to examine the influence of specific individuals such as rap artist Eminem or radio host Howard Stern.
The facts presented in the book alone are staggering. From his chapter on “Facing the Facts,” Katz gives clear evidence for the existence of a widespread, often unacknowledged pandemic of male violence against women. Here are just a few of his findings:
- The Journal of the American Medical Association published one study in 2001 which found that 20 percent of adolescent girls were physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at one point in their lives.
- An estimated 17.7 million women in the United States, nearly 18 percent, have been raped or have been the victim of attempted rape.
- Studies show that between 15 to 38 percent of women and 5 to 16 percent of men experienced some form of sexual abuse as a child.
- The average age at which a child is abused sexually is ten years old.
- In 2000, intimate-partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of murders of women.
- One study found that 70 percent of women with developmental disabilities had been sexually assaulted, and that nearly 50 percent of women with mental retardation had been sexually assaulted ten or more times.
- The estimated annual health-related costs, lost productivity costs, and lost earnings due to intimate partner violence in the U.S. is $5.9 billion.
Through an examination of these figures Katz makes way for the second major theme of the book; it is not enough to simply acknowledge the trend. The book attempts to link social knowledge with social action by outlining some things men can do about these startling trends. The message is clear and direct; men must take an active role in not only changing their own personal actions which perpetuate discrimination against women, but also in engaging the wider culture around them. In essence, this amounts to walking a fine (and sometimes confusing) line between taking an active role in stopping sexism, and supporting those women already existing in anti-sexist leadership/activist positions. Instead of letting women shoulder all of the responsibility for anti-sexist activism, men should strive to become equal partners in ending gender-based violence.
Although no simple laundry list could do the message and arguments of the book justice, according to Katz there are ten major ways that all males can be become active in promoting social gender equality. Taken from his website, they are:
1. Approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers
2. If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner -- or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general -- don't look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don't know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counsellor. DON'T REMAIN SILENT.
3. Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don't be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence, and work toward changing them.
4. If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.
5. If you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women, or have been in the past, seek professional help NOW.
6. Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women's centers. Attend "Take Back the Night" rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centers and battered women's shelters. If you belong to a team or fraternity, or another student group, organize a fundraiser.
7. Recognize and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism (e.g. the sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned; a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them. This is a key reason few men do so).
8. Attend programs, take courses, watch films, and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence. Educate yourself and others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.
9. Don't fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any Web site, or buy any music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner. Protest sexism in the media.
10. Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don't involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men's programs. Lead by example.
The last of these points is the most important. If the current trends of violence and discrimination arise from a cultural ideal which males ‘buy into,’ then only males will be able to reverse them. The first step for change, however, is to recognize who owns the responsibility for the discrimination. As Jackson himself states, “isn’t it about time we had a national conversation about the male causes of this violence, instead of endlessly lingering on its consequences in the lives of women?”
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Renee Bergen - Film Maker
Renee Bergan is a co-producer, co-director, director of photography and editor of the upcoming documentary “Poto Mitan.” Her talent and activism is inspiring and hers is simply a refreshing voice in the world of filmmaking. She has developed and made several documentaries that relate to issues such as domestic violence, the underside of the garment industry, and the plight of Afghan women. In 2003, she created Renegade Pictures, Inc. with the “sole goal of educating, inspiring and advocating change through her films.”
Jennifer Lauren recently interviewed Renee about her work and about “Poto Mitan”, a powerful film that sheds light on the global economy through telling the stories of five women in Haiti.
Questions:
1. According to your bio on www.potomitan.net, you studied film in Paris and later at the University of California in Santa Barbara, with a mission to utilize the medium as film as a means of advocating for greater social justice. Can you speak more about how you came to turn to filmmaking as an alternative to “rallies and other forms of protest”?
I guess from an early age I knew that I wanted to make a difference. I remember when I was 5 I stated I wanted to be the first woman president! (I’ve since then decided against that!) But that shows I had some drive and political, even gender awareness at a young age. I was always drawn to imagery, still photography as well as moving…but was not attracted to Hollywood and it’s lack of substance. Simultaneously, I’ve always felt an innate sense that I needed to do something to help make an affect in this world—but didn’t want that to be purely from my ego. I wanted (and still do) to help others. When I got older and was starting to think about what I wanted to do with my life, I knew it had to fall under the arts, but it also had to jive with my desire to help the world be a better place. So, using film as a medium to help others tell their stories and/or influence people to take action seemed a perfect mesh with my dreams/goals.
Also, did the academic environment in Paris and Santa Barbara provide a stimulating foundation for that goal to merge film and social justice? How did your studies inform your later work?
My political awareness started when I was a senior in high school but it was at UCSB that my activism fostered and developed. Being there during the first gulf war, I was heavily involved in the anti-war movement. I was also part of the hunger strike which made an ethnic/gender class an undergrad requirement. There were countless other groups I was involved with from ant-sweatshop, to feminist orgs (I was the 2nd editor in chief for Herstory and on the Women’s Commission), to countless more. I think these years made it clear to me that being an activist was not a temporary thing but now a part of my life…and whatever I could incorporate it in my work, again in order to make this world a better place..all the better. I think it was at this time that the power of media really hit me too. I decided I needed to be on the positive, truthful side of that medium.
2. Your prior work, such as the short documentary “Persistent Discretion” about domestic violence, and the fictional short “Girl in the Window”, about Afghan women, and certainly the in=progress documentary “Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy” illuminate upon the struggles women face internationally. Can you pinpoint when you realized you wanted to work toward greater social justice and on supporting the plight of women or the disenfranchised?
If I could have minored in women’s studies, I would have, but at that time UCSB only offered double majors. I was not ready to commit that scholastically or financially (fees tripled when I was at UCSB). My mother grew up in the era where women were told to be quiet, look pretty, not disagree. My generation was very different… I think my earlier note about being the first woman president again points out my sense of gender equality at a young age. At that time I never felt like there was nothing I could not do because of my gender. On the contrary, I was a very determined girl and believed I could do anything I set my mind to. I learned this was not really the case as I got older. We are 50% of the population in this country…it never made sense to me why we should be treated any differently. I am a woman and I am affected by this so I wanted to change it. As the Revolutionary Assoc. of Afghan women states: “”No woman is free, until all women are free.”
I must note tho, that in cases of my work in other countries, I make sure not to export my Western feminism on these other womens’ agendas. On the contrary, I am there to learn from them.
3. It is not very often that filmmakers complete both narrative and documentary works, yet you have done both. Can you speak a little about your experiences in both and the strengths and difficulties with both?
I’m mostly a documentary filmmaker but I’m not opposed to working in the narrative format if the film has meaning/substance. To be frank, it’s been a long time since I’ve worked on a narrative film, but I’ve seen a rise in documentary filmmaking in the last 8 years, part of that I think is due to documentaries taking on a more narrative approach with their arc or “storyline”. This works well with main stream audiences and allows documentaries to be have a wider reach, I believe.
4. Can you expand on how you came to create Renegade Pictures, your film company, and its mission?
After graduating in the early 90’s, I worked a variety of industry jobs, some being down in Hollywood. I was kind of aghast at the fact that I got a degree to yell out “Rolling! Cut!” (tho I know you gotta start somewhere!). I realized quickly that if I continued down the Hollywood line, I’d have to make a decision about whether I would pursue editing or cinematography…I liked both and wanted to do both. Also, I knew Hollywood was not for me, so this helped me to realize that if I really wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I had to just do it myself. I found a great project via an article in the LA times that started me on my way…it was about a Thai sweatshop in LA. Sadly I never finished this film (a variety of reasons and a lesson about how determined documentary filmmakers need to be), but this got me on my way. I worked independently for years, as a self employed filmmaker among other part time jobs. It was after I completed my first major film, Sadaa E Zan, that I went official and realized I could do this full time as a career. As far as my mission goes, I think it was explained above…my goal with filmmaking is to inform, educate, inspire and provoke action, most of all.
5. Filmmakers often struggle to fund their projects, and Ken Burns famously said that a filmmaker’s style “in the end, just becomes a description of how one solves the problems of production.” (From The Art of the Documentary, by Megan Cunningham). Please explain the funding process for the new film “Poto Mitan” and some of the challenges that have arisen, financially or otherwise.
This was a completely grass roots film. We raised over $50,000 from donations and fundraisers alone. We received only one grant from the University for $4,000 when Mark was still a student. We did receive a $10,000 matching grant but that was from a personal friend of mine. We applied for over 20 film grants and received none. So we got creative about targeting audiences who would benefit from the film…Ultimately I think we were lucky in that we had a lot of people that believed in us, some who gave substantial donations. Also, we could not have made this film without the support of the Center for Black Studies Research and the Santa Barbara Community.
For me this project was particularly hard, financially. When I was living in Santa Barbara, I was able to supplement a lot of my work on the film with other film work. But I moved to NY in the middle of the project, where I no longer had connections. The film could only afford to pay me for some of my time, so I worked some on deferment. This has been a real hardship for me this past year…not easy at all.
As far as the budget dictating the style, we knew from the outset that we had to be frugal all along the way. We were a very small crew, mostly me and Mark and occasionally a third person when we were in Haiti. Luckily with the current digital age, one can make a film for a lot cheaper than they could before. And in the end we just steamed ahead, knowing that we’d eventually make our money back. I think compared to other films, we did pretty good with how little we ended up dishing out.
6. The co-producers, consultants and Advisory Board for “Poto Mitan” having interesting and diverse backgrounds. How has the collaborative process been for this film and what has your role been in the making of this film?
Some of the advisory board member were obviously more active then others. Ultimately they were a wonderful support system. At times when we weren’t sure about the dirction the film was going or about our process, their support carried us through those difficult times (what I call the “rough cut blues”) and helped us to see that the film we were making was an important story to be told. Again, without their support, it would have been difficult to continue. I think it’s really important to have these outside support systems, particularly when you are such a small team. You can get too close and lost in your film, having those outside eyes occasionally helps bring you out of that downward spiral and refresh your perspective and attitude.
7. “Poto Mitan” takes on such an important and often overlooked subject, that is the role of women in the socio-economy and furthermore, the roots of Haiti’s perilous condition, and how the international economy has played a role in that. As viewers, we learn of the lives of these five courageous women along with an intimate history of Haiti-personal and national histories that need to be heard by the broader world.
What drew you and your fellow collaborators to this much-needed project, and has it been an educational process for you all as well to work with the women of the Committee to Defend Working Women’s Rights and Women in Action?
Mark probably already mentioned this to you, but it was the women in the film who created this project. Mark was working on his PHD dissertation down in Haiti for several years. His focus was on two female NGO’s (non-governmental organizations). One group was particularly astute to the power of media and told him: “That’s great you want to write about us but we know no one will read it….if you really want people to know our story then you need to make a movie about us!”. Mark, dedicated, dutifully complied. He returned to UCSB and through the film studies dept., he found me. So really, without the women, this film would not exist…we have them to thank for it. I also want to note that we kept them involved along the process, showing them works in process, so they could lend their opinion of the direction of the film. So it’s not like they had the idea and we took it and ran, it was collaborative all along the way.
For me it’s been an extremely educational process. Mark has spent year in Haiti, he’s an expert in the field. I came to the project with minor understanding of the country. These women, like the women in many under-developed countries I meet, are amazing, strong, resilient beings, women that I’m honored to know.
8. The website for the film speaks about the image of Haiti in the media, the structural causes for the poverty and division in the nation, and how doings of the international economy-such as when the World Trade Organization lifted quotas on Chinese textiles, greatly effected the Americas. How important was it to you to offer the viewer a broader as well as historical context for what is going on today in Haiti and beyond?
We certainly could not assume that most viewers had an understanding about the political, historical or cultural understanding of Haiti. To understand this perspective was to understand the women’s situation better as well as our role, as global citizens, and our affects on peoples of other countries.
9. I love that the subjects of the film-Solange, Frisline, Therese, Marquise and Helene-as poto mitan, or central pillars, are such strong examples of how to be a successful activist, with organization and deep conviction. Haiti itself has a strong history of activism. Can you speak about these five compelling, inspiring activists and what you think is the role of the activist, in Haiti or anywhere?
I think Mark can answer this question better than I—but I’ll try. The role of the activist is to consider the community or the future before one self. The activist puts their time and often lives on the line, in order to make their world a better place. They will sacrifice themselves, their time to make this happen. It is a difficult an arduous task, but one that some feel compelled to do.
10. You had previously done a film called “Fashion Slaves” about the garment industry. With “Poto Mitan”, we learn a great deal about how industrialization in 1980s Haiti meant a shift from the “family-run factory owner producing local foodstuffs to the foreign-owned export-processing zone.” Solange, for example, organizes and leads a union in her factory that produces shirts for Fruit of the Loom until in 2006 her and her co-workers were laid off, yet she remains active in her community. What is your view of the factory system and labor unions given your prior experience with both films’ relation to this issue?
The factory system is usually based on a triangle with a few at the top (executives) reaping most of the profit while the majority (labor) is at the bottom making pennies….and in between is the manufacturers, the middlemen. I think this is a pretty, forgive my French, fucked up system. It’s never made sense to me why companies can’t take just a hair less profit to give their workers a living wage…or if necessary (which I don’t’ think it is) pass this cost onto the consumer. Instead they prefer to have modern day slaves or indentured servants. Workers are afraid and wont’ leave their jobs because it’s possibly the only descent income in their area. Despite how bad the working conditions are…they’ll stay because they have no choice. With the profits the top execs are making, it should not be this way…they should pay their workers a living wage and have them work in safe and descent environments.
11. Helene in particular is described as a “true leader, inspiring others-especially women-to speak out and become involved.” Among her works, she organized a public health training program and after a friend almost died from her husband’s beatings, Helene created a campaign against violence upon women and founded Women in Action. Can you speak about the impact of women’s leadership in Haiti and beyond, and perhaps speak also to the political climate in the United States?
As the title Poto Mitan (which means center post, and is a metaphorical representation of how women are the center post or back bone of the culture) insinuates, women are the heart of Haiti’s culture. Yet in part of their world they are treated as dirt. These are strong, vibrant and resilient women (as were the women in Afghanistan) that won’t take this kind of injustice and they stand up and fight for themselves (not all of course, but many). The women leaders help those that are afraid or not sure what to do…they educate, support them. Both in Haiti and Afghanistan, these women are some of the strongest women I’ve met…so much so, I ask myself if I would have been like them had I been born in their countries. It really is us that should be learning from them.
12. In the clips from “Poto Mitan” on the website, we hear from the five subjects about the depth of the economic turmoil and violence in Haiti. Due to a dramatic price change of essential items, we learn that “you can’t buy anything” and that it is “destroying the country”. When there are literally 50,000 people behind you eyeing your job, it is hard to speak up for worker’s rights. We learn in the clips from Helene (????) that “us women, we carry everything” and that the problems affecting Haiti are “problems that attack women, who don’t have a man to help them out, and it’s all our burden”. It is hard hitting to hear from them directly how deeply they have been affected by the world’s economy.
Is part of the mission of “Poto Mitan” to awaken the international community to the depth of these issues?
Yes indeed, one of the main goals of the film is to show the effects of globalization or our legislative policies in the North on those in the South…people we never think that are affected by our actions. But this is a small world now and actions cross borders. Another purpose is to see the similarities between other countries crisis’ and our own. What is happening in Haiti that is similar in our own backyard? What can we as citizens do about that?
13. With the success of the Grameen Foundation and the attention Muhammad Yunus has received for his groundbreaking microfinance program, and other studies that underline the important and perilously undervalued role of women in the workforce and the economy, this is certainly the time for such an intimate view of that dynamic, which we see in “Poto Mitan”. Paul Collier’s “The Bottom Billion” and books like “Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World” by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart really call for a change in how the often called “First World” deals with the “Third World”, or how the G-8 deals with failing states and the world’s poorest nations. Has any of these works or studies inspired or influenced your work on “Poto Mitan”?
14. Are you still in touch with the five amazing women in “Poto Mitan”? Please share with us the next step for the film and your experience working on this timely project.
Mark is more in touch with them than I….being that he returns to Haiti several times a year. I look forward to seeing them when I’m not behind a camera and just hanging out!
We are currently entering the film in film festivals, working on creating the DVD, and looking for a distributor so we can get the film out there. This will take another 1-2 months. Ultimately, if we can get the funding, we’d love to bring some of the women to the US for a screening/speaking tour, where we have the hopes of creating a dialogue between the women and students, labor, women’s and faith based organizations.
Jennifer Lauren is a writer and researcher from New York City. She represents the NGO Globe Aware at the United Nations, and has worked with organizations such as Open Society Institute on research projects related to human rights and international law. She has worked as a grant writer for the development of several local and international projects. She can be reached at lauren.jenn@gmail.com
Jennifer Lauren recently interviewed Renee about her work and about “Poto Mitan”, a powerful film that sheds light on the global economy through telling the stories of five women in Haiti.
Questions:
1. According to your bio on www.potomitan.net, you studied film in Paris and later at the University of California in Santa Barbara, with a mission to utilize the medium as film as a means of advocating for greater social justice. Can you speak more about how you came to turn to filmmaking as an alternative to “rallies and other forms of protest”?
I guess from an early age I knew that I wanted to make a difference. I remember when I was 5 I stated I wanted to be the first woman president! (I’ve since then decided against that!) But that shows I had some drive and political, even gender awareness at a young age. I was always drawn to imagery, still photography as well as moving…but was not attracted to Hollywood and it’s lack of substance. Simultaneously, I’ve always felt an innate sense that I needed to do something to help make an affect in this world—but didn’t want that to be purely from my ego. I wanted (and still do) to help others. When I got older and was starting to think about what I wanted to do with my life, I knew it had to fall under the arts, but it also had to jive with my desire to help the world be a better place. So, using film as a medium to help others tell their stories and/or influence people to take action seemed a perfect mesh with my dreams/goals.
Also, did the academic environment in Paris and Santa Barbara provide a stimulating foundation for that goal to merge film and social justice? How did your studies inform your later work?
My political awareness started when I was a senior in high school but it was at UCSB that my activism fostered and developed. Being there during the first gulf war, I was heavily involved in the anti-war movement. I was also part of the hunger strike which made an ethnic/gender class an undergrad requirement. There were countless other groups I was involved with from ant-sweatshop, to feminist orgs (I was the 2nd editor in chief for Herstory and on the Women’s Commission), to countless more. I think these years made it clear to me that being an activist was not a temporary thing but now a part of my life…and whatever I could incorporate it in my work, again in order to make this world a better place..all the better. I think it was at this time that the power of media really hit me too. I decided I needed to be on the positive, truthful side of that medium.
2. Your prior work, such as the short documentary “Persistent Discretion” about domestic violence, and the fictional short “Girl in the Window”, about Afghan women, and certainly the in=progress documentary “Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy” illuminate upon the struggles women face internationally. Can you pinpoint when you realized you wanted to work toward greater social justice and on supporting the plight of women or the disenfranchised?
If I could have minored in women’s studies, I would have, but at that time UCSB only offered double majors. I was not ready to commit that scholastically or financially (fees tripled when I was at UCSB). My mother grew up in the era where women were told to be quiet, look pretty, not disagree. My generation was very different… I think my earlier note about being the first woman president again points out my sense of gender equality at a young age. At that time I never felt like there was nothing I could not do because of my gender. On the contrary, I was a very determined girl and believed I could do anything I set my mind to. I learned this was not really the case as I got older. We are 50% of the population in this country…it never made sense to me why we should be treated any differently. I am a woman and I am affected by this so I wanted to change it. As the Revolutionary Assoc. of Afghan women states: “”No woman is free, until all women are free.”
I must note tho, that in cases of my work in other countries, I make sure not to export my Western feminism on these other womens’ agendas. On the contrary, I am there to learn from them.
3. It is not very often that filmmakers complete both narrative and documentary works, yet you have done both. Can you speak a little about your experiences in both and the strengths and difficulties with both?
I’m mostly a documentary filmmaker but I’m not opposed to working in the narrative format if the film has meaning/substance. To be frank, it’s been a long time since I’ve worked on a narrative film, but I’ve seen a rise in documentary filmmaking in the last 8 years, part of that I think is due to documentaries taking on a more narrative approach with their arc or “storyline”. This works well with main stream audiences and allows documentaries to be have a wider reach, I believe.
4. Can you expand on how you came to create Renegade Pictures, your film company, and its mission?
After graduating in the early 90’s, I worked a variety of industry jobs, some being down in Hollywood. I was kind of aghast at the fact that I got a degree to yell out “Rolling! Cut!” (tho I know you gotta start somewhere!). I realized quickly that if I continued down the Hollywood line, I’d have to make a decision about whether I would pursue editing or cinematography…I liked both and wanted to do both. Also, I knew Hollywood was not for me, so this helped me to realize that if I really wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I had to just do it myself. I found a great project via an article in the LA times that started me on my way…it was about a Thai sweatshop in LA. Sadly I never finished this film (a variety of reasons and a lesson about how determined documentary filmmakers need to be), but this got me on my way. I worked independently for years, as a self employed filmmaker among other part time jobs. It was after I completed my first major film, Sadaa E Zan, that I went official and realized I could do this full time as a career. As far as my mission goes, I think it was explained above…my goal with filmmaking is to inform, educate, inspire and provoke action, most of all.
5. Filmmakers often struggle to fund their projects, and Ken Burns famously said that a filmmaker’s style “in the end, just becomes a description of how one solves the problems of production.” (From The Art of the Documentary, by Megan Cunningham). Please explain the funding process for the new film “Poto Mitan” and some of the challenges that have arisen, financially or otherwise.
This was a completely grass roots film. We raised over $50,000 from donations and fundraisers alone. We received only one grant from the University for $4,000 when Mark was still a student. We did receive a $10,000 matching grant but that was from a personal friend of mine. We applied for over 20 film grants and received none. So we got creative about targeting audiences who would benefit from the film…Ultimately I think we were lucky in that we had a lot of people that believed in us, some who gave substantial donations. Also, we could not have made this film without the support of the Center for Black Studies Research and the Santa Barbara Community.
For me this project was particularly hard, financially. When I was living in Santa Barbara, I was able to supplement a lot of my work on the film with other film work. But I moved to NY in the middle of the project, where I no longer had connections. The film could only afford to pay me for some of my time, so I worked some on deferment. This has been a real hardship for me this past year…not easy at all.
As far as the budget dictating the style, we knew from the outset that we had to be frugal all along the way. We were a very small crew, mostly me and Mark and occasionally a third person when we were in Haiti. Luckily with the current digital age, one can make a film for a lot cheaper than they could before. And in the end we just steamed ahead, knowing that we’d eventually make our money back. I think compared to other films, we did pretty good with how little we ended up dishing out.
6. The co-producers, consultants and Advisory Board for “Poto Mitan” having interesting and diverse backgrounds. How has the collaborative process been for this film and what has your role been in the making of this film?
Some of the advisory board member were obviously more active then others. Ultimately they were a wonderful support system. At times when we weren’t sure about the dirction the film was going or about our process, their support carried us through those difficult times (what I call the “rough cut blues”) and helped us to see that the film we were making was an important story to be told. Again, without their support, it would have been difficult to continue. I think it’s really important to have these outside support systems, particularly when you are such a small team. You can get too close and lost in your film, having those outside eyes occasionally helps bring you out of that downward spiral and refresh your perspective and attitude.
7. “Poto Mitan” takes on such an important and often overlooked subject, that is the role of women in the socio-economy and furthermore, the roots of Haiti’s perilous condition, and how the international economy has played a role in that. As viewers, we learn of the lives of these five courageous women along with an intimate history of Haiti-personal and national histories that need to be heard by the broader world.
What drew you and your fellow collaborators to this much-needed project, and has it been an educational process for you all as well to work with the women of the Committee to Defend Working Women’s Rights and Women in Action?
Mark probably already mentioned this to you, but it was the women in the film who created this project. Mark was working on his PHD dissertation down in Haiti for several years. His focus was on two female NGO’s (non-governmental organizations). One group was particularly astute to the power of media and told him: “That’s great you want to write about us but we know no one will read it….if you really want people to know our story then you need to make a movie about us!”. Mark, dedicated, dutifully complied. He returned to UCSB and through the film studies dept., he found me. So really, without the women, this film would not exist…we have them to thank for it. I also want to note that we kept them involved along the process, showing them works in process, so they could lend their opinion of the direction of the film. So it’s not like they had the idea and we took it and ran, it was collaborative all along the way.
For me it’s been an extremely educational process. Mark has spent year in Haiti, he’s an expert in the field. I came to the project with minor understanding of the country. These women, like the women in many under-developed countries I meet, are amazing, strong, resilient beings, women that I’m honored to know.
8. The website for the film speaks about the image of Haiti in the media, the structural causes for the poverty and division in the nation, and how doings of the international economy-such as when the World Trade Organization lifted quotas on Chinese textiles, greatly effected the Americas. How important was it to you to offer the viewer a broader as well as historical context for what is going on today in Haiti and beyond?
We certainly could not assume that most viewers had an understanding about the political, historical or cultural understanding of Haiti. To understand this perspective was to understand the women’s situation better as well as our role, as global citizens, and our affects on peoples of other countries.
9. I love that the subjects of the film-Solange, Frisline, Therese, Marquise and Helene-as poto mitan, or central pillars, are such strong examples of how to be a successful activist, with organization and deep conviction. Haiti itself has a strong history of activism. Can you speak about these five compelling, inspiring activists and what you think is the role of the activist, in Haiti or anywhere?
I think Mark can answer this question better than I—but I’ll try. The role of the activist is to consider the community or the future before one self. The activist puts their time and often lives on the line, in order to make their world a better place. They will sacrifice themselves, their time to make this happen. It is a difficult an arduous task, but one that some feel compelled to do.
10. You had previously done a film called “Fashion Slaves” about the garment industry. With “Poto Mitan”, we learn a great deal about how industrialization in 1980s Haiti meant a shift from the “family-run factory owner producing local foodstuffs to the foreign-owned export-processing zone.” Solange, for example, organizes and leads a union in her factory that produces shirts for Fruit of the Loom until in 2006 her and her co-workers were laid off, yet she remains active in her community. What is your view of the factory system and labor unions given your prior experience with both films’ relation to this issue?
The factory system is usually based on a triangle with a few at the top (executives) reaping most of the profit while the majority (labor) is at the bottom making pennies….and in between is the manufacturers, the middlemen. I think this is a pretty, forgive my French, fucked up system. It’s never made sense to me why companies can’t take just a hair less profit to give their workers a living wage…or if necessary (which I don’t’ think it is) pass this cost onto the consumer. Instead they prefer to have modern day slaves or indentured servants. Workers are afraid and wont’ leave their jobs because it’s possibly the only descent income in their area. Despite how bad the working conditions are…they’ll stay because they have no choice. With the profits the top execs are making, it should not be this way…they should pay their workers a living wage and have them work in safe and descent environments.
11. Helene in particular is described as a “true leader, inspiring others-especially women-to speak out and become involved.” Among her works, she organized a public health training program and after a friend almost died from her husband’s beatings, Helene created a campaign against violence upon women and founded Women in Action. Can you speak about the impact of women’s leadership in Haiti and beyond, and perhaps speak also to the political climate in the United States?
As the title Poto Mitan (which means center post, and is a metaphorical representation of how women are the center post or back bone of the culture) insinuates, women are the heart of Haiti’s culture. Yet in part of their world they are treated as dirt. These are strong, vibrant and resilient women (as were the women in Afghanistan) that won’t take this kind of injustice and they stand up and fight for themselves (not all of course, but many). The women leaders help those that are afraid or not sure what to do…they educate, support them. Both in Haiti and Afghanistan, these women are some of the strongest women I’ve met…so much so, I ask myself if I would have been like them had I been born in their countries. It really is us that should be learning from them.
12. In the clips from “Poto Mitan” on the website, we hear from the five subjects about the depth of the economic turmoil and violence in Haiti. Due to a dramatic price change of essential items, we learn that “you can’t buy anything” and that it is “destroying the country”. When there are literally 50,000 people behind you eyeing your job, it is hard to speak up for worker’s rights. We learn in the clips from Helene (????) that “us women, we carry everything” and that the problems affecting Haiti are “problems that attack women, who don’t have a man to help them out, and it’s all our burden”. It is hard hitting to hear from them directly how deeply they have been affected by the world’s economy.
Is part of the mission of “Poto Mitan” to awaken the international community to the depth of these issues?
Yes indeed, one of the main goals of the film is to show the effects of globalization or our legislative policies in the North on those in the South…people we never think that are affected by our actions. But this is a small world now and actions cross borders. Another purpose is to see the similarities between other countries crisis’ and our own. What is happening in Haiti that is similar in our own backyard? What can we as citizens do about that?
13. With the success of the Grameen Foundation and the attention Muhammad Yunus has received for his groundbreaking microfinance program, and other studies that underline the important and perilously undervalued role of women in the workforce and the economy, this is certainly the time for such an intimate view of that dynamic, which we see in “Poto Mitan”. Paul Collier’s “The Bottom Billion” and books like “Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World” by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart really call for a change in how the often called “First World” deals with the “Third World”, or how the G-8 deals with failing states and the world’s poorest nations. Has any of these works or studies inspired or influenced your work on “Poto Mitan”?
14. Are you still in touch with the five amazing women in “Poto Mitan”? Please share with us the next step for the film and your experience working on this timely project.
Mark is more in touch with them than I….being that he returns to Haiti several times a year. I look forward to seeing them when I’m not behind a camera and just hanging out!
We are currently entering the film in film festivals, working on creating the DVD, and looking for a distributor so we can get the film out there. This will take another 1-2 months. Ultimately, if we can get the funding, we’d love to bring some of the women to the US for a screening/speaking tour, where we have the hopes of creating a dialogue between the women and students, labor, women’s and faith based organizations.
Jennifer Lauren is a writer and researcher from New York City. She represents the NGO Globe Aware at the United Nations, and has worked with organizations such as Open Society Institute on research projects related to human rights and international law. She has worked as a grant writer for the development of several local and international projects. She can be reached at lauren.jenn@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
President Obama Launches White House Internship Program
President Obama Launches White House Internship Program
President Obama today launched the White House Internship Program for his administration and announced that applications are currently being accepted for the summer of 2009. Those selected to participate in the program will gain valuable job experience and an inside look at the life of White House staff while building leadership skills.
"This program will mentor and cultivate young leaders of today and tomorrow and I'm proud that they will have this opportunity to serve," said President Obama. "I look forward to working with those that are selected to participate and I want to commend all who apply for their desire to help through public service to forge a brighter future for our country."
In addition to normal office duties, interns will supplement their learning experience by attending a weekly lecture series hosted by senior White House staff, help at White House social events, and volunteer in community service projects.
The 2009 Summer Internship program runs from May 22nd to August 14th and the submission deadline is March 22, 2009.
Those interested in applying to the White House Internship Program must be:
* US Citizens
* Eighteen years of age on or before the first day of the internship.
* Enrolled in a college or university (2-4 year institution) or must have graduated from college in the past two years.
Interns will be placed in a departmental office for their internship. Below is a list of departments in the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President where interns could be placed.
White House Department of Scheduling and Advance
The Office of Cabinet Affairs
The White House Communications Department
The White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs
The Office of the First Lady
The White House Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA)
The Office of Political Affairs
The Office of Management and Administration
The Office of White House Counsel
The Domestic Policy Council=2 0
The White House Office of Presidential Personnel
Office of the Vice President
More information on the White House Internship Program, including application instructions, can be found at: www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships
THE WHITE HOUSE, February 26, 2009.
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Disclaimer
SFBLF is merely a platform to share information and ideas. Information distributed from this website doesn't necessarily reflect the views of this organization. We reserve the right to decide which information is disseminated.
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Membership
If you are interested in membership, please send an email to: sfblf2002@yahoo.com
Respectfully,
Suncerray Hudson, SFBLF Secretary
Cedric Jackson
SFBLF President
Monday, March 2, 2009
Where Are The Women's Voices?
Ellen Snortland, Author, Actor,Feminist wrote the following letter to an organization in which she participates. She graciously gave us permission to reprint it here.
I came into adulthood with the stand: A world with no one and nothing left out.
As I look at the “forest,” one thing is pretty consistent; women’s voices are gone missing, generation after generation with a concurrent almost virtual non-curiosity about that from a lot of people. (Are the women simply not speaking? Are they speaking but not published? Do they know they are not speaking and stay quiet on purpose? What’s up with the silence?)
Do most women and girls know that our being public is a relatively new human phenomenon; that Virginia Woolf was not allowed to study at the university library simply because she was a woman? Knowing that has made a deep difference in how I “be”. It encourages and inspires me to know my history as it pertains to the public voice and public discourse of women.
I have been relatively involved in the United Nations system since 1995 and women’s voices — including their writing which I consider to be a form of voice — are missing. Whether it’s the membership of the Security Council, the General Assembly or lesser committees, we are missing. And then if we’re not missing completely, there might be a token woman but I’ll watch her be pretty quiet and reserved and/or having her focus on being not kicked out of the primarily male group.
I know without a doubt that I make a huge difference with individuals in and out of my community. I get e-mails all the time from people who have read my book or seen my play and they’ve taken what I’ve thought through and made a difference in their lives and the lives of their families. But I don’t think I’ve been able to impact the culture of my community. I’m practicing what it takes to make a global difference. So far, as a for instance, I haven’t made any difference that I can see in the quotes that are used. I have been requesting that women’s voices be included in the examples of leadership, not because I’m a brat but because I am a stand that it makes a difference to be able to see yourself in other people’s leadership. And if the only woman whose leadership is cited is Mother Teresa, we get yet another example of a woman who had to attain almost saintly status before she’d be listened to. I say that makes a difference in women’s and men’s listening for female leadership.
Fundamentally, knowing that I stand on some pretty powerful female shoulders in the arena of leadership has made a profound difference; knowing what Margaret Sanger, Jeanette Rankin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, et. al. went through to be seen and heard has given me the strength to not go away, to hang in there, to work to inspire other women to show up, lead and play with carving out what it means to be human; invent who they are and what they can say that has never been said before. Gandhi got his ideas for non-violent social change from observing the women in the U.S. and Great Britain go after the vote. Talk about an enrollment conversation!
There’s a United Nations resolution, 1327, that is something that’s never been said: that women must be included at the table in peace negotiations. Women and children are disproportionately impacted by war and refugee status due to the movement AWAY from combatant to combatant conflict in wars and yet, (wars now kill more civilians than anyone else) their lives, experience, needs, vision are largely missing from what “peace” looks like or how it can be attained and/or maintained. That’s an extreme example. Now implementation of 1327 has been another matter. The councils can’t see how including women’s voices might make a difference; they don’t get it; they don’t see how “hearing and seeing” women at the table, (and not just one woman but a critical mass) could have something new happen.
That’s the macro level as for the forest I’m talking about.
My micro level, the place where I practice making a difference so I can go into the global-difference-making domain, I see women missing from the public discourse there too. And I’m curious about the “how come” women’s voices missing doesn’t show up as missing for very many people. One analogy may be listening to a chorus of tenors, baritones and basses a lot and wondering not only why there aren’t any altos and sopranos joining in but that they haven’t even shown up for choir practice. And yes, I’m proud and encouraged that there are so many women who lead in my community. That doesn’t mean necessarily that they know their own history of whose shoulders they stand on. They grew up in the same male-centric educational institutions that we all did.
One thing I observed as a professor at Cal State LA is that the women were almost ALWAYS reluctant to engage, and/or to risk looking stupid, or to insist on inserting themselves into the conversation. Not so for the men. Their strength oftentimes was the willingness to risk. They know men have engaged publicly and I say that makes a difference for a person’s willingness to participate. I would read quotes by women and they, women AND men were amazed that a woman could say such a thing and then, how come they’d never heard of her? Intellectual curiosity begets intellectual curiosity.
One of my missions is to prick people’s “what’s missing?” chord. But the trick here is of course, if you don’t know something is missing how do you know it’s missing?
Is everyone so sure that it doesn’t make a difference to find out what might be said, or learned, by including women? I’ve asked a few men to consider what it might be like for them if (almost) everything they read, heard, considered philosophically or intellectually had been generated by men; the books, the quotes, philosophy, etc. were all generated by women. Would they notice? Would they wonder where men had gone? If men were just not all that bright, or not “good” in those areas? Does it have any meaning? Would it make a difference if their presence were there? What if probing the meaning of life was the exclusive domain of women? And if so, how did that happen?
Anyway, these are the areas that I long to explore and be heard in... mostly because I feel called to be that voice that wonders about missing female voices and what difference it make in transforming what it means to be human.
I came into adulthood with the stand: A world with no one and nothing left out.
As I look at the “forest,” one thing is pretty consistent; women’s voices are gone missing, generation after generation with a concurrent almost virtual non-curiosity about that from a lot of people. (Are the women simply not speaking? Are they speaking but not published? Do they know they are not speaking and stay quiet on purpose? What’s up with the silence?)
Do most women and girls know that our being public is a relatively new human phenomenon; that Virginia Woolf was not allowed to study at the university library simply because she was a woman? Knowing that has made a deep difference in how I “be”. It encourages and inspires me to know my history as it pertains to the public voice and public discourse of women.
I have been relatively involved in the United Nations system since 1995 and women’s voices — including their writing which I consider to be a form of voice — are missing. Whether it’s the membership of the Security Council, the General Assembly or lesser committees, we are missing. And then if we’re not missing completely, there might be a token woman but I’ll watch her be pretty quiet and reserved and/or having her focus on being not kicked out of the primarily male group.
I know without a doubt that I make a huge difference with individuals in and out of my community. I get e-mails all the time from people who have read my book or seen my play and they’ve taken what I’ve thought through and made a difference in their lives and the lives of their families. But I don’t think I’ve been able to impact the culture of my community. I’m practicing what it takes to make a global difference. So far, as a for instance, I haven’t made any difference that I can see in the quotes that are used. I have been requesting that women’s voices be included in the examples of leadership, not because I’m a brat but because I am a stand that it makes a difference to be able to see yourself in other people’s leadership. And if the only woman whose leadership is cited is Mother Teresa, we get yet another example of a woman who had to attain almost saintly status before she’d be listened to. I say that makes a difference in women’s and men’s listening for female leadership.
Fundamentally, knowing that I stand on some pretty powerful female shoulders in the arena of leadership has made a profound difference; knowing what Margaret Sanger, Jeanette Rankin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, et. al. went through to be seen and heard has given me the strength to not go away, to hang in there, to work to inspire other women to show up, lead and play with carving out what it means to be human; invent who they are and what they can say that has never been said before. Gandhi got his ideas for non-violent social change from observing the women in the U.S. and Great Britain go after the vote. Talk about an enrollment conversation!
There’s a United Nations resolution, 1327, that is something that’s never been said: that women must be included at the table in peace negotiations. Women and children are disproportionately impacted by war and refugee status due to the movement AWAY from combatant to combatant conflict in wars and yet, (wars now kill more civilians than anyone else) their lives, experience, needs, vision are largely missing from what “peace” looks like or how it can be attained and/or maintained. That’s an extreme example. Now implementation of 1327 has been another matter. The councils can’t see how including women’s voices might make a difference; they don’t get it; they don’t see how “hearing and seeing” women at the table, (and not just one woman but a critical mass) could have something new happen.
That’s the macro level as for the forest I’m talking about.
My micro level, the place where I practice making a difference so I can go into the global-difference-making domain, I see women missing from the public discourse there too. And I’m curious about the “how come” women’s voices missing doesn’t show up as missing for very many people. One analogy may be listening to a chorus of tenors, baritones and basses a lot and wondering not only why there aren’t any altos and sopranos joining in but that they haven’t even shown up for choir practice. And yes, I’m proud and encouraged that there are so many women who lead in my community. That doesn’t mean necessarily that they know their own history of whose shoulders they stand on. They grew up in the same male-centric educational institutions that we all did.
One thing I observed as a professor at Cal State LA is that the women were almost ALWAYS reluctant to engage, and/or to risk looking stupid, or to insist on inserting themselves into the conversation. Not so for the men. Their strength oftentimes was the willingness to risk. They know men have engaged publicly and I say that makes a difference for a person’s willingness to participate. I would read quotes by women and they, women AND men were amazed that a woman could say such a thing and then, how come they’d never heard of her? Intellectual curiosity begets intellectual curiosity.
One of my missions is to prick people’s “what’s missing?” chord. But the trick here is of course, if you don’t know something is missing how do you know it’s missing?
Is everyone so sure that it doesn’t make a difference to find out what might be said, or learned, by including women? I’ve asked a few men to consider what it might be like for them if (almost) everything they read, heard, considered philosophically or intellectually had been generated by men; the books, the quotes, philosophy, etc. were all generated by women. Would they notice? Would they wonder where men had gone? If men were just not all that bright, or not “good” in those areas? Does it have any meaning? Would it make a difference if their presence were there? What if probing the meaning of life was the exclusive domain of women? And if so, how did that happen?
Anyway, these are the areas that I long to explore and be heard in... mostly because I feel called to be that voice that wonders about missing female voices and what difference it make in transforming what it means to be human.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Fitness Challenge - Fun Ideas and Resources to Help you reach your goal!
Fit Mommy Bootcamp is a fun encouraging fitness bootcamp for busy Moms and professional women. We provide a fun, effective and encouraging alternative to health and fitness.
We are the ONLY bootcamp to guarantee your results in 90days or your money back!
To find out where you can get your FREE 2 week trial and sign up for our FREE Saturday Camp contact Matt Holmes at 818-574-6273 or e-mail Contact@FitMommyBootcamp.com
Be part of the 5050Leadership team at the run walk helping domestic violence victims on April 19th. Email:Events@5050Leadership.org for more info.
We are the ONLY bootcamp to guarantee your results in 90days or your money back!
To find out where you can get your FREE 2 week trial and sign up for our FREE Saturday Camp contact Matt Holmes at 818-574-6273 or e-mail Contact@FitMommyBootcamp.com
Be part of the 5050Leadership team at the run walk helping domestic violence victims on April 19th. Email:Events@5050Leadership.org for more info.
Need a Resource to Help You Take Care of Yourself?
Whatever you need to take care of yourself, chances are there was a vendor at the Love Yourself event last month. So before looking elsewhere, contact these businesses, you’ll be glad you did:
♥ Aneka Design – Unique Handcrafted Jewelry & Glass Art. anekadesigns@sbcglobal.net
♥ Arbonne – Pure Swiss Skin Care. Infinity888@myarobonne.com
♥ Audrey Yeboah – Accountant. ayacpa@sbcglobal.net
♥ Barbara Schiffman – Life Balance Coach. Barbara@HypnoSynergy.com
♥ Beauti Control – Home Spa Products. Sannmac@aol.com
♥ Bee Gorgeous - Organic Skin Care. Samfoorganics@yahoo.com
♥ Bell Photography – Capture the beautiful you. Bell@l-photography.com
♥ Carol Wilshire, CFP – All Things Financial. carol.wilshire@ubs.com
♥ Edara Dancing – Bellydance items, handmade crafts. Edaradancing@msn.com
♥ Ellen Snortland – Self Defense Expert. ellensnortland@mac.com
♥ Feng Shui by Kartar Diamond - kartar@fengshuisolutions.net
♥ Janet Montgomery Hypnotherapist. Hypnojanet@janetmontgomeryhypnoherapy.com
♥ Klean Bath & Body – Soothing Home Spa Products. Jennifer@kleanbathandbody.com
♥ Liota’s Traveling Massage – Healing naturally. soyyomml@mac.com
♥ Little Green Birdy – “Green” Items for you and your home. info@thelittlegreenbirdy.com
♥ Magnolia Grille in Burbank- 10530 Magnolia Blvd, Burbank. www.magnoliagrille.com
♥ Metamorphosis: Transforming Space/Events – Henna Tattoos. artbykd@earthlink.net
♥ Mommy Boot Camp – Get Fit with Matt Holmes. Contact@FitMommyBootcamp.com
♥ Patricia Perry, MD, Dermatologist. Protect your skin. skinclear@yahoo.com
♥ Pro Make Up by Naz – Look your very best. nazely@promakeupbynaz.com
♥ Safoa’s Fare – Tantalize Your Taste Buds with Gourmet Food. safoasfare@yahoo.com
♥ Soul Notes – Affirmation Jewelry Vessels. iamsoulnotes@yahoo.com
♥ Sweet Dreams by KK – Aromatherapy eye and neck pillows. kkalensky@yahoo.com
♥ Sweets by Rose –Cakes and cookies that taste –and look – great. akarosea@gmail.com
♥ Tech Daddy – Sound For All Events; Computer help any time. Ken@gruberworld.com
♥ Violet Berkenkamp – Wellness Practitioner. violetsjinshinjyutsu@yahoo.com
The Tech Daddy™, a.k.a. Ken Gruberman, has a Mac-Makeover package and is also available for PC clean-ups. Think about it -- computers now contain so much of our lives — clients, work product, sometimes thousands of hours of work, and yet many of us drive our computers until they crash. Few of us would treat our cars as badly as we do our computers. Avoid disaster and be preventative. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Guaranteed woman friendly computer guy. Contact Tech Daddy at Ken@gruberworld.com.
My First Book Coach, Ellen Snortland, says, “If I had a dollar for every person I’ve met who says they want to write a book, I’d be rich.” Do you have a book that’s screaming to get out of you but you always make everything else a priority? Maybe you need an expert first time book coach. Don’t feel guilty! Every writer has to deal with making their book more important than other commitments. Visit www.snortland.com or E-mail Ellensnortland@mac.com to discuss fees and a serious yet fun plan to “birth” your first book.
♥ Aneka Design – Unique Handcrafted Jewelry & Glass Art. anekadesigns@sbcglobal.net
♥ Arbonne – Pure Swiss Skin Care. Infinity888@myarobonne.com
♥ Audrey Yeboah – Accountant. ayacpa@sbcglobal.net
♥ Barbara Schiffman – Life Balance Coach. Barbara@HypnoSynergy.com
♥ Beauti Control – Home Spa Products. Sannmac@aol.com
♥ Bee Gorgeous - Organic Skin Care. Samfoorganics@yahoo.com
♥ Bell Photography – Capture the beautiful you. Bell@l-photography.com
♥ Carol Wilshire, CFP – All Things Financial. carol.wilshire@ubs.com
♥ Edara Dancing – Bellydance items, handmade crafts. Edaradancing@msn.com
♥ Ellen Snortland – Self Defense Expert. ellensnortland@mac.com
♥ Feng Shui by Kartar Diamond - kartar@fengshuisolutions.net
♥ Janet Montgomery Hypnotherapist. Hypnojanet@janetmontgomeryhypnoherapy.com
♥ Klean Bath & Body – Soothing Home Spa Products. Jennifer@kleanbathandbody.com
♥ Liota’s Traveling Massage – Healing naturally. soyyomml@mac.com
♥ Little Green Birdy – “Green” Items for you and your home. info@thelittlegreenbirdy.com
♥ Magnolia Grille in Burbank- 10530 Magnolia Blvd, Burbank. www.magnoliagrille.com
♥ Metamorphosis: Transforming Space/Events – Henna Tattoos. artbykd@earthlink.net
♥ Mommy Boot Camp – Get Fit with Matt Holmes. Contact@FitMommyBootcamp.com
♥ Patricia Perry, MD, Dermatologist. Protect your skin. skinclear@yahoo.com
♥ Pro Make Up by Naz – Look your very best. nazely@promakeupbynaz.com
♥ Safoa’s Fare – Tantalize Your Taste Buds with Gourmet Food. safoasfare@yahoo.com
♥ Soul Notes – Affirmation Jewelry Vessels. iamsoulnotes@yahoo.com
♥ Sweet Dreams by KK – Aromatherapy eye and neck pillows. kkalensky@yahoo.com
♥ Sweets by Rose –Cakes and cookies that taste –and look – great. akarosea@gmail.com
♥ Tech Daddy – Sound For All Events; Computer help any time. Ken@gruberworld.com
♥ Violet Berkenkamp – Wellness Practitioner. violetsjinshinjyutsu@yahoo.com
The Tech Daddy™, a.k.a. Ken Gruberman, has a Mac-Makeover package and is also available for PC clean-ups. Think about it -- computers now contain so much of our lives — clients, work product, sometimes thousands of hours of work, and yet many of us drive our computers until they crash. Few of us would treat our cars as badly as we do our computers. Avoid disaster and be preventative. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Guaranteed woman friendly computer guy. Contact Tech Daddy at Ken@gruberworld.com.
My First Book Coach, Ellen Snortland, says, “If I had a dollar for every person I’ve met who says they want to write a book, I’d be rich.” Do you have a book that’s screaming to get out of you but you always make everything else a priority? Maybe you need an expert first time book coach. Don’t feel guilty! Every writer has to deal with making their book more important than other commitments. Visit www.snortland.com or E-mail Ellensnortland@mac.com to discuss fees and a serious yet fun plan to “birth” your first book.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Welcome To The 5050Leadership Fitness Challenge 2009
Congratulations! You have signed up for the Fitness Challenge 2009 at the Love...Yourself event and are ready to be in great physical shape.
Come to this site regularly and post your successes, chat with others who are taking the challenge and get inspired and motivated all over again!
On the right side, you will see there is a Fitness tip of the day - check it out, there will be some great tips in there.
Good luck!
Pauline Field
Come to this site regularly and post your successes, chat with others who are taking the challenge and get inspired and motivated all over again!
On the right side, you will see there is a Fitness tip of the day - check it out, there will be some great tips in there.
Good luck!
Pauline Field
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Centered leadership-McKinsey 2008
Re-defining Leadership
Centered leadership: How talented women thrive
A new approach to leadership can help women become more self-confident and effective business leaders.
September 2008 • Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston, And Rebecca A. Craske
Women start careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education, and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top echelons.
This gap matters not only because the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also because the world has an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. All men and women with the brains, the desire, and the perseverance to lead should be encouraged to fulfill their potential and leave their mark.
With all this in mind, the McKinsey Leadership Project—an initiative to help professional women at McKinsey and elsewhere—set out four years ago to learn what drives and sustains successful female leaders. We wanted to help younger women navigate the paths to leadership and, at the same time, to learn how organizations could get the best out of this talented group.
To that end, we have interviewed more than 85 women around the world (and a few good men) who are successful in diverse fields. Some lead 10,000 people or more, others 5 or even fewer. While the specifics of their lives vary, each one shares the goal of making a difference in the wider world. All were willing to discuss their personal experiences and to provide insights into what it takes to stay the leadership course. We have also studied the academic literature; consulted experts in leadership, psychology, organizational behavior, and biology; and sifted through the experiences of hundreds of colleagues at McKinsey.
From the interviews and other research, we have distilled a leadership model comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions (exhibit):meaning, or finding your strengths and putting them to work in the service of an inspiring purpose; managing energy, or knowing where your energy comes from, where it goes, and what you can do to manage it; positive framing, or adopting a more constructive way to view your world, expand your horizons, and gain the resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen; connecting, or identifying who can help you grow, building stronger relationships, and increasing your sense of belonging; andengaging, or finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent risks they bring, and collaborating with others.
We call this model centered leadership. As the name implies, it’s about having a well of physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength that drives personal achievement and, in turn, inspires others to follow. What’s particularly exciting is that we are starting to discover ways women can actively build the skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders. Centered leadership also works for men, though we have found that the model resonates particularly well with women because we have built it on a foundation of research into their specific needs and experiences.
Centered leadership emphasizes the role of positive emotions. A few characteristics particularly distinguish women from their male counterparts in the workplace. First, women can more often opt out of it than men can. Second, their double burden—motherhood and management—drains energy in a particularly challenging way. Third, they tend to experience emotional ups and downs more often and more intensely than most men do. Given these potentially negative emotions, centered leadership consciously draws on positive psychology, a discipline that seeks to identify what makes healthy people thrive. Although none of the women we interviewed articulated her ideas in precisely those terms, when we dived into the literature and interviewed leading academics, we found strong echoes of what our female leaders had been telling us.
Meaning
‘To love what you do and feel that it matters—how could anything be more fun?’
Meaning is the motivation that moves us. It enables people to discover what interests them and to push themselves to the limit. It makes the heart beat faster, provides energy, and inspires passion. Without meaning, work is a slog between weekends. With meaning, any job can become a calling.
It starts with happiness. Positive psychologists (including Tal Ben-Shahar, Jonathan Haidt, and Martin Seligman) have defined a progression of happiness that leads from pleasure to engagement to meaning. Researchers have demonstrated, for example, that an ice cream break provides only short-lived pleasure; in contrast, the satisfaction derived from an act of kindness or gratitude lasts much longer. Katharine Graham, the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 enterprise (the Washington Post Company), famously said, “To love what you do and feel that it matters—how could anything be more fun?”
Why is meaning important for leaders? Studies have shown that among professionals, it translates into greater job satisfaction, higher productivity, lower turnover, and increased loyalty.1 The benefits also include feelings of transcendence—in other words, contributing to something bigger than yourself generates a deeper sense of meaning, thereby creating a virtuous cycle. Finding meaning in life helped some of the women leaders we interviewed take new paths and accept the personal risks implicit in their goals.
Shelly Lazarus, the chairman and CEO of the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, described how she “just followed [her] heart, doing the things that [she] loved to do.” This sense of meaning inspired her, early in her career, to jump from Clairol to Ogilvy. Lazarus commented that everyone she knew thought that her decision to go from the client side to the agency side was a strategic move. But “it wasn’t really like that,” she says. “I just loved the interaction with the agency because that was the moment I could see where the ideas came to life.”
People seeking to define what is meaningful can start, as one interviewee put it, by “being honest with yourself about what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing.” Building these signature strengths into everyday activities at work makes you happier, in part by making these activities more meaningful. Although there is no simple formula for matching your strengths to any single industry or function, you can look for patterns in jobs that have and haven’t worked out and talk with others about your experiences.
The connection between signature strengths and work can change because priorities do; sometimes, for example, a job is better than a calling, especially for young mothers. Our interviews show that this ebb and flow is natural and that the key to success is being aware of the shifts—and making conscious choices about them—in the context of bigger goals, personal or professional.
To read more on meaning:
Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment,
Martin E. P. Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment,
Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want,
Managing energy
‘Flow’—a sense of being so engaged by activities that you don’t notice the passage of time Actively managing energy levels is crucial to leaders. Today’s executives work hard: 60 percent of the senior executives toil more than 50 hours a week, and 10 percent more than 80 hours a week.2 What’s more, many women come home from work only to sign onto a “second shift”—92 percent of them still manage all household tasks, such as meal preparation and child care.3
We’ve found that work–life balance is a myth—so the only hope women have is to balance their energy flows. This means basing your priorities on the activities that energize you, both at work and at home, and actively managing your resources to avoid dipping into reserves. Burnout is a reality for men and women alike, but for women who can opt out, so too is throwing in the towel.
But work doesn’t have to be exhausting. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a founder of positive psychology, studied thousands of people, from sculptors to factory workers. He found that those who frequently experienced what he called “flow”—a sense of being so engaged by activities that you don’t notice the passage of time—were more productive and derived greater satisfaction from their work than those who did not. Further, it energized rather than drained them.
Zia Mody, a top litigator inIndia, described how she gained energy from a life that most people would see as exhausting. Even when her three daughters were young, she put in 16-hour days to prepare her cases. A woman among thousands of men at court, she lit up as she told us, “I love it! I love winning. I love being in court. . . . It excites me—I cannot tell you how much.”
One useful tactic is to identify the conditions and situations that replenish your energy and those that sap it. Self-awareness lets you deliberately incorporate restorative elements into your day. It can also help you to space out your energy-sapping tasks throughout the day, instead of bundling them all into a single morning or afternoon. A particularly useful tip, we have found, is to give yourself time during the day to focus without distractions such as blinking lights and buzzing phones. Your productivity will benefit several times over.
To read more on managing energy:
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,
Edy Greenblatt, “Work/Life Balance: Wisdom or Whining,”Organizational Dynamics, 2002, Volume 31, Number 2, pp. 177–93.
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal,
Positive framing
No matter how pessimistic you are by nature, you can learn to view situations as optimists do
The frames people use to view the world and process experiences can make a critical difference to professional outcomes. Many studies suggest that optimists see life more realistically than pessimists do, a frame of mind that can be crucial to making the right business decisions. That insight may be particularly critical for women, who are twice as likely to become depressed, according to one study.4Optimists, research shows, are not afraid to frame the world as it actually is—they are confident that they can manage its challenges and move their teams quickly to action. By contrast, pessimists are more likely to feel helpless and to get stuck in downward spirals that lead to energy-depleting rumination.
Martin Seligman, a psychologist who was an early proponent of positive psychology, found, for example, that optimists are better able to deal with the news that they have cancer. Confident that they can handle the prognosis, they immediately start to gather facts and dive into treatment plans; pessimists, on the other hand, become paralyzed with fear. Seligman also shows that optimism can be learned—an important insight that underlies positive framing.
Positive framing and positive thinking, we would emphasize, are two different notions. The latter tries to replace adversity with positive beliefs. The former accepts the facts of adversity and counters them with action. Talking yourself into a view contrary to the facts has a temporary effect at best.
The experience of Andrea Jung, the chairman and CEO of
No matter how pessimistic you are by nature, you can learn to view situations as optimists do. The key is self-awareness. If a meeting goes badly, for example, you should limit your thoughts about it to its temporary and specific impact and keep them impersonal. It helps to talk with trusted colleagues about the reasons for the poor meeting and ways to do better next time. These discussions should take place quickly enough for you to make a specific plan and act on it. You should also undertake some activity that will restore both your energy and your faith in yourself—perhaps having a hard workout, going out with friends, or spending time with your children.
To read more on positive framing:
Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom,
Martin E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life,
Connecting
‘We were supporting each other, and there was power in the many’
People with strong networks and good mentors enjoy more promotions, higher pay, and greater career satisfaction.5 They feel a sense of belonging, which makes their lives meaningful. As Mark Hunter and Herminia Ibarra have noted in the Harvard Business Review, what differentiates a leader from a manager “is the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.”6 Yet not all networks are equal. Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist who studies social belonging and rejection, believes that men tend to build broader, shallower networks than women do and that the networks of men give them a wider range of resources for gaining knowledge and professional opportunities.7 This theory is a matter of substantial debate among academics. Our experience with hundreds of women at McKinsey, however, offers additional evidence that women’s networks tend to be narrower but deeper than men’s.
The experience of Dame Stella Rimington, who in the late 1960s joined MI5, theUK’s domestic intelligence organization, offers an example of the power of broad networks to get things done. Rimington, later the agency’s director general, says that “women were definitely second-class citizens” in those days. They weren’t allowed to do fieldwork, for example, yet “many of the women were completely indistinguishable from the men: they had the same kind of education.”
She continues: “So we women—there were quite a few of us by then—we sort of ganged up and did a kind of round-robin thing and said, ‘Why is it that we have a completely different career than men who are exactly like us?’ And for the first time, the powers that be started to scratch their heads because they suddenly had to find an answer. . . . And in the end, of course, they decided that they would have to promote a few women.” She later concluded that “no one of us would have asked that question on her own. We were supporting each other, and there was power in the many.”
The leaders we interviewed also talked about the importance of having individual relationships with senior colleagues willing to go beyond the role of mentor—someone willing to stick out his or her own neck to create opportunity for or help a protégée. Such a person is what Ruth Porat, a vice chairwoman at Morgan Stanley, called a “sponsor.”
A number of studies have shown that women who promote their own interests vigorously are seen as aggressive, uncooperative, and selfish. An equal number of studies show that the failure of women to promote their own interests results in a lack of female leaders. Until one of these conditions changes, sponsors, we believe, are the key to helping women gain access to opportunities they merit and need to develop.
Porat explained how a managing director took a chance on her when she was a second-year associate, asking her to present to a client’s board of directors. “The consumer client wanted a woman to be present. I had never been in a boardroom, let alone presented in a boardroom. ‘Sink or swim,’ he told me. ‘You’re in.’ I still remember to this day a mistake I made and that it was, overall, a good presentation. He took a real chance on me.”
One surprising thing we learned as a result of talking with female leaders was that they often fail to reciprocate and find expectations that they should do so distasteful. A senior partner at McKinsey noted that men naturally understand that you must “give before you get,” but women don’t. This tendency—which other leaders have described to us as well—combined with the sometimes awkward sexual politics, real or perceived, between senior men and younger women, makes it harder for women to find sponsors.
Yet women can learn reciprocity. To start, it’s important to assess your comfort level with the people you know through work, as well as how influential they are professionally. Most women we’ve worked with typically find that the colleagues they are close to are not influential—and vice versa. Explicit planning and some risk taking are needed to change this.
One approach is to provide and ask for help on a regular basis. Finding ways to forge connections through interests outside of work is another. Over and over, we heard, “Make it personal,” in the sense that others will get along with you more easily if they see your human side. You can express this in all kinds of ways at work, without inappropriately blending your professional and personal lives. The female leaders we interviewed acted on this insight both to find sponsors and to build networks.
To read more on connecting:
Catalyst, Creating Women’s Networks: A How-To Guide for Women and Companies,
Monica Higgins and Kathy Kram, “Reconceptualizing Mentoring at Work: A Developmental Network Perspective,” Academy ofManagementReview, 2001, Volume 26, Number 2, pp. 264–68.
Lois J. Zachary, The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships,
Engaging
‘You did the work, so you’ve got to talk about it’
Many people think that hard work will eventually be noticed and rewarded. That can indeed happen—but usually doesn’t. Women, our interviewees repeatedly told us, need to “create their own luck.” To engage with opportunities by taking ownership of them, you must first find your own voice, literally. Julie Daum, a prominent Spencer Stuart recruiter who specializes in board placements, told us that even senior women on boards still lose out by not speaking up: they hang back if they think that they have nothing new to say or that their ideas fall short of profound.
One senior woman we interviewed told us how she learned to join in: “Every Monday, we had a senior-management meeting. In the beginning, I just listened. I learned from the guys because they were all there. And after a while I started to speak up. You did the work, so you’ve got to talk about it. And I did.”
Women who want to grow as leaders should also take ownership of their professional development. Mary Ma, Lenovo’s former chief financial officer, said that she drew inspiration from using the Japanese auto industry as a metaphor, reshaping herself to become more competitive by identifying what she had to change and then actually changing it. As Ma noted, she didn’t complain to her boss or to her colleagues but rather looked inward to see how she could be a more effective leader. Instead of waiting for someone to tell her what to do, she took a systematic approach to self-improvement.
Engagement is equally about risk taking. The women we interviewed accept risk as a part of opportunity. Some have the confidence and courage to dive in; others use analytic problem solving to assess risks and then proceed to action. Psychologist Daniel Gilbert says his research indicates that people who make a choice for risk and work with it, rather than avoid it, report a greater degree of happiness than others do.
Shona Brown, Google’s senior vice president of business operations, described how she handles opportunities and the risks that accompany them. “I’ll use a skiing analogy because I like to jump off cliffs,” she says. “But I generally jump off cliffs from which I’m relatively confident I’m going to land—or if I don’t, it’s not dangerous.” Brown said she enjoys risk. “I like to be at that point where you’re about to jump. Your stomach is kind of going ‘woo’! It’s not so simple that you’re sure you’ll succeed. But you’re not in a life-threatening situation.”
Our interviews have shown us that to embrace opportunity, people must often take sharp detours and that the risks of unexpected changes commonly seem more obvious than the benefits. Reaching out to others—not to avoid making decisions yourself but to learn the best outcome from change can often help you see opportunities in the right frame and decide whether to go for them.
To read more on engaging:
Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling On Happiness,
Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation—and Positive Strategies for Change,
Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life,
Within McKinsey and in the corporate world, our work on centered leadership continues (see sidebar, “Initial results”). To understand how men and women practice it across tenures, industries, and regions, we are interviewing more female and male leaders and launching large-scale surveys—again, with female and male respondents.
Our research is exploring the hypothesis that today’s leaders can become even more effective through the model of centered leadership: a shared purpose with deep meaning for the people involved, explicit awareness and management of energy, positive framing, strong informal and formal networks, and the collaborative creation of opportunities. In time, we hope to help increase the number of female leaders significantly by giving them the tools to build leadership skills for any playing field.
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