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Sep

17

What did you do today: Getting women into the political pipeline


The White House Project expects to offer training in 2008 for Ohio women interested in running for office. To that end, I spent over an hour on a mega-conference call working to make it a reality.

But throughout the year, WHP offers programs, like this one in New York City with Governor Jennifer Granholm and conducted through WHP’s Corporate Council, that utilize women who’ve already overcome common barriers and become elected officials. Their free weekly newsletters highlight information about women taking the lead and leading that I almost never have heard about anywhere else. (And with nearly 300 feeds, I have to ask, What’s up with that?)

For example, WHP’s newsletter last week highlighted the PBS national broacast of A Woman Among Warlords, which traces the path of a woman who campaigns to be a member of parliament in Afghanistan. As WHP says,

The film is based on the award-winning documentary Enemies of Happiness, which follows outspoken Afghani women’s rights activist, Malalai Joya, during the final weeks of her riveting campaign for a seat in the newly formed democratic parliament of Afghanistan. Women Make Movies—a non-profit media arts organization and the world’s leading distributor of independent films by and about women—has created the film to shed light on the state of politics in war-torn Afghanistan, but also to call attention to global issues of women’s human rights, democracy, and social justice.

Makes you wonder why we complain, but of course, we can always do better.

And, I must note, I didn’t read about the airing anywhere on the ‘net or in the blogs. Boo.

Likewise, I didn’t know that Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, had died. From the WHP newsletter:

The Body Shop cosmetics store founder Anita Roddick, nicknamed the “Queen of Green” for her eco-friendly business practices, died yesterday [9/10/07] at the age of 64. An entrepreneur at heart, Roddick was a pioneer in “corporate social responsibility” before that concept came into vogue. She developed her environmental ethos as her business grew, in part by observing women’s beauty treatments while traveling in developing countries. In 2003, The Queen of England made Roddick a dame, the female equivalent of knighthood. Her favorite saying was: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” Roddick demonstrated that one person truly can make a difference.

Finally, I do have a recollection of hearing about the launch of Skirt! Magazine, but I had never heard about this neat competition for girls in grades 5 through 8 to write about why they should be President:

Check out page 80: in preparation for 2008, Skirt! is seeking creative campaign packages from girls in grades 5 through 8 that state why they should be President. The deadline is November 15, 2007. If you can’t find Skirt! on the newsstand, look it up online at www.SkirtMag.com.

Hmm, just in case my daughter doesn’t have enough homework…

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:07 pm September 17th, 2007 in Announcements, Elections, Politics, Women 

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