MAKE CHANGE: Shop Your Values

I'm definitely guilty of online shopping...and I usually feel guilty after making an impulsive purchase while sitting at my computer. But here's one way to shop and feel good about supporting a cause you care about: Purchase gifts for others or, ahem, yourself, from Global Goods Partners and you can feel good in the knowledge that what you're buying is not only beautiful and unique, but supporting the woman artisan in a developing country who created it.

Visit Global Goods Partners>>

Quick Reads

On the 2nd Annual Ada Lovelace Day, here's a quick round-up of women's news from around the globe:

* A new book by Columbia University Professor Jane Waldfogel claims that, despite widespread belief that Britain's welfare programs are broken, the U.K. is actually eclipsing the U.S. in successfully fighting poverty. Waldfogel told the Guardian: "It's just not right. Progress in the United States stalled in 2000 and then child poverty rises again. The gloom and doom about the state of children and families in Britain is not justified by the data."
Britain leads in war on poverty, according to US academic

*A new law for the Iraq parliament mandates a one-fourth majority of its seats for female politicians. As the final results of the March 7 election trickle in this week, some female candidates are questioning whether the new quota will really advance women in Iraqi politics: "As long as there is a quota, people perceive women as gap-fillers and not deserving members of parliament," Maysoun al Damlouji told the Christian Science Monitor. "The perception of a man is as an individual, but for women it's as a bloc. So if one woman failed, it's as if the entire womanhood has failed."
Iraq election increases women in parliament – regardless of vote count [The Christian Science Monitor]

Woman Artist Wins Prize for....Women Artists?

Andrea Buttner

This week, artist Andrea Buttner of London and Frankfurt was announced as the winner of the Max Mara Prize for Women Artists. Receiving the prize means that Buttner, who works in mixed media (including antiquated items such as woodcuts and pressed flowers), will have the chance to disseminate her work more broadly, as well as take part in a 6-month residency program in Italy. But what about this distinction of the prize being "for women artists"? Are gender-separated prizes like the Max Mara still necessary? Are there implications that men and women artists should be judged separately, by different standards?

A fundraiser for Rush Limbaugh

It's true, we here at I.M.O.W. have actually found a charitable cause benefiting Rush Limbaugh that we can stand behind.

In response to the conservative radio host's claims that he would move to Costa Rica if health care reform passed in America, two "dudes living in Brooklyn," unaffiliated with any non-profit organization, have decided to begin raising funds so that the shock jock can do just that.

If Limbaugh refuses the first class plane ticket, all proceeds will go directly to Planned Parenthood, according to the site. Irony alert: Rush Limbaugh's proposal is to leave the country in order to protest expanded health care coverage for America by moving to a country that provides its citizens with universal health care.

Does the on-air personality do much research before making evocative announcements to the world? Our guess is no.

CLIO TALKS BACK: Why Women's History?

Here are some of Clio's favorite quotations about the importance of women's history. This topic was already discussed and debated in the nineteenth century in Europe. Since then historians in every country in the world (mostly but not all women) have made enormous progress digging out women's pasts.

The first quotation is from Jane Austen, in her novel Northanger Abbey(1803):

“…History, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. Can you?”
“Yes, I am fond of history.”
“I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all – it is very tiresome.”

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The second, published the same year, comes from the vicomte de Ségur, Women: Their Condition and Influence in Society(1803):

“The proper study of mankind includes the study of both sexes.” But, he added: “we must write their [women’s] history.”

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A third celebrated observations comes from Charles Fourier, Théorie de Quatre Mouvements(1808); this thought had been developed by Scottish historians and missionaries during the later eighteenth century, but Fourier's rendition made it famous:

“Social progress and historic changes occur by virtue of the progress of women toward liberty, and decadence of the social order occurs as the result of a decrease in the liberty of women.” … “The extension of women’s privileges is the general principle for all social progress.”

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The fourth quotation is from a Belgian feminist, Zoe Gatti de Gamond, who signed as Marie de G***, Revue Encyclopédique (December 1832). She called for a REAL history of women and better education for women. She wanted an historical resume of the condition of women in past centuries “which would serve to demonstrate the gradual improvement that has taken place in their condition: the study of the improvements realized in the past would allow conjecture on the improvements to come;” and finally “a clear picture of the present condition of women, on which one could indicate the successive improvements that the partial efforts of men could achieve, within the framework of the general views of Providence.”

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A fifth author, Henriette Wild, known as "Henriette, artiste," published her observations in La Voix des Femmes during the 1848 revolution in Paris:

“Like man, woman is called to explore the domain of history. As in all other things, there is room for both [sexes] and both also have differing and specific attributes. The best will in the world is insufficient to advance certain works, and in those places where observation is divided in a fundamental yet imperceptible manner, how could it be given to a single observer to follow simultaneously two lines that are incessantly diverging from one another? This is why, for woman, history is a lie and why the truth will only appear once feminine observation and intelligence enter into it and, specifically, link it to women’s interests.”

And, she added:

“What! such things have happened and no women were taught about them, and they were not engraved in the memories of every young girl? Women, women! And you are astonished at your own fall and your abjection. And you ignore the means of your own regeneration.”

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Our sixth witness is Jenny P. d’Héricourt, who published these lines in her book, A Woman’s Philosophy of Woman (1860, 1864 in English). Jenny was very clear about the fact that there was a sexual politics that affected all knowledge, including historical knowledge:

“Hitherto institutions, laws, sciences, philosophy [and history] have chiefly borne the masculine imprint; all of these things are only half human; in order that they may become wholly so, woman must be associated in them ostensibly and lawfully.”

Clio applauds the insights of these women and men, who knew already centuries ago that women's history was the missing element in our understanding of the past.

MAKE CHANGE: Sign a Petition to Ratify CEDAW in the U.S.

For International Women's Day (March 8) and Women's History Month, the National Organization for Women in the U.S. is spearheading a petition that calls for President Obama to take action to ratify the critically important women's rights treaty from the United Nations, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Since the treaty was introduced in 1979, hundreds of countries from every region of the world have ratified it to signal the intention to work towards gender equity. The United States has yet to ratify CEDAW.

Sign the petition now! It will be delivered to the White House at the end of March. It's a simple, effective way of showing that you support gender equity.

Women's Work: Art Around the World

Tagreed Al-Bashi

This week, we've read some great stories about women artists and exhibitions featuring women that are going on around the world.

Women's Festival Turns Five

Happy fifth anniversary to the Women's International Film Festival, held this year in Miami, Florida and chaired by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Actress Vivica A. Fox, who stars in the upcoming thriller Junkyard Dog, will be headlining the festival, which features 68 films from more than 30 different countries. In addition, the event offers a "Women's Empowerment Series" hosted by the University of Miami, that will present films dedicated to women's issues.

Yvonne McCormack-Lyons, President and Executive Director of WIFF, said, "[This] event comes on the heels of the first woman in 82 years to win the prestigious Oscar for Best Director, Katherine Bigelow. We're excited about the strides women are making in the industry and look forward to showcasing the visions, dreams and voices these woman offer the cinematic world."

According to WIFF, women represent a mere 5 percent of filmmakers globally.

This year’s films will feature notable actors from around the world such as Ali Zahoor (The EastEnders), Hassani Shapi (Star Wars I &II and James Bond: The World is Not Enough), Narinder Samra (Silver Street), Christopher Villiers (Bloody Sunday).

Women Talk Women

CREDIT: Flickr / Roy Sinai

Last week, I.M.O.W. hosted a giveaway on our Facebook fan page and through Twitter. To win, followers had to respond to the question, "Who is a woman in history that you admire, and why?"

And that opened the floodgates! It was amazing to see so many enthusiastic--and diverse--responses. I have to admit I hadn't even heard of several of the women our fans were talking about. Here are a few of my favorites:

MAKE CHANGE: GEARING Up the UN's Actions on Women's Human Rights

Much of the talk at the UN Commission on the Status of Women this week has been about the GEAR campaign, a campaign to create a stronger and more powerful entity at the United Nations to accelerate global progress on women’s human rights. The new body would combine the operational on-the-ground work to support women with responsibility for global policy. Advocates want it to have a $1 billion budget, which is five times UNIFEM’s current budget.

The GEAR campaign is pressing to accelerate the creation of this new body, and make sure it is empowered, financially secure and accountable.

Sign up for the GEAR campaign at amnesty.org.

Women Dominate the Whitney Biennial

This portrait of Faiz Mohammed, 40, and Ghulam Haider, 11, soon to be married, won American photographer Stephanie Sinclair the UNICEF Photo of the Year Award.

For the first time in the 75-year history of the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial exhibition, women represent more than half of the artists on display. From the photographs of 23 year-old Tam Tran, to 75 year-old Lorraine O'Grady's modern diptychs, female artists displayed their work in majority numbers that actually reflects the population.

Was the decision to select more women than men intentional, and can the exhibition, "2010," be called what some are referring to as "The women's biennial"?

Quick Reads

Abdur Rahman Khan, the "Iron Amir," ruled Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901. He was known for forcing an adulterer to eat his mistress, and massacring thousands in the battlefield. Today, his great grandson speaks about women's rights. (Photo courtesy of independent.co.uk)

On the first day of Women's History Month, here's a quick round-up of news and analysis on women and the changing global economy:

• Afghan's Prince Abdul Ali Seraj on the state of women in Afghanistan: "Today, all women, regardless of age or ethnicity, know the service that was rendered to their cause by my uncle. They also know that he sacrificed the throne of Afghanistan for their rights." (Via Alternet)
  

• Last week, the U.S. Congress was briefed on the dire state of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), a cash assistance welfare program that primarily affects women and children, said to be more important than health care reform for many struggling families. Organized by LIFETIME: Low Income Families Empowerment Through Education, the town hall meeting gave women the chance to voice concerns to Congress about the program, set to expire at the end of this year. (Via RaceWire)
  
  
• A column in New Orleans Magazine claims that fewer women are running for public office in the state of Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, and suggests that both men and women look to the state's first chief justice, Catherine "Kitty" Kimball, as a role model for their daughters and granddaughters. (New Orleans Magazine)
  

• In South Korea, a surge in women working for public office has made it possible for lawmakers to reverse a 1996 quota to fill positions in public office: instead of mandating that 30 percent of new hires in all government departments be women, the measure is being used for men instead.
  

REPORTING FROM BEIJING +15

Clare Winterton is currently attending the Beijing +15 conference in New York (lucky lady!). She sent us a quick recap of three moments of inspiration from the New York Commission on the Status of Women Global NGO Forum (the warm up to Beijing +15), which she attended over the weekend:

1. Cai Yipping from China, the Executive Director of Isis International: “We must speak the language of women and transform it into policy. To be good communicators we must listen with passion, for the history of the women’s movement continues to be written here in this forum.”
2. Dr Sima Samar’s rallying cry: “We have to break boundaries, we have to be united. We have to know we are part of a global female body…We are here to make a better space for our daughters and our grand-daughters and our job is not yet finished!”
3. Gertrude Mongella (President of the Pan-African Parliament) on the coming-of-age of the Beijing treaty: “At 15 years we are at a different stage of life – old enough to bear children and old enough to prepare for majority. Now we need to ask, how mature has the world become?”

Stay tuned for more from Clare and Beijing +15!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: From Beijing +15

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (held in Beijing, China, in 1995), when 189 member states adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action, laying out a comprehensive agenda for women’s political and economic empowerment. To commemorate “Beijing,” the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women are meeting on March 1-12 in New York to review what progress has been made on women’s and girls’ rights since 1995.

I.M.O.W. Executive Director Clare Winterton and Board Chair Elizabeth Colton are currently attending the "Beijing +15" conference in New York. They were both intrigued by the following question, asked by a young woman from the New York YWCA at the Global NGO Forum:

Where are the new leaders, where are the new voices and where are the young women [in the global women’s movement]? When will the girl-child be able to speak for herself?

What do you think? Any comments on how we at I.M.O.W. can support and advance a new generation of women’s leadership and voices.