Women in the lead

Amy Richards:

Author or co-author of several books on feminism, including her book on femininity and motherhood called, "Opting In." Works for various organizations including Planned Parenthood New York.

Research shows that women value connection and community. Is this something that you base your work on?
I spend a good part of my year traveling and lecturing on college campuses -- and my primary audience is women. From those gatherings alone, I know that women get so much from connecting with other women -- this happens both in real time, but also virtually as well as through books and radio. Women stay after my lectures exchanging emails, setting up coffee dates, telling each other about something they just read.

Do you believe that the world could become better connected if women had more power or voice?
Women enjoy sharing their stories and experiences because for them it's a means of connecting with others, letting them know that they aren't alone. And women enjoy strength in numbers, which sadly comes mostly as a consequence of them not trusting their own voice and thus needing others to validate their own. I also think that women better understand that "expertise" is as much based on lived experience as it based on "hard data" and thus see this connecting as a part of something bigger than just sharing. They see it as political -- a means to a much better end.

If women had more power, we would value connection more. As is, we value difference more than connection and prioritize the ways that we are different rather than celebrating the ways that individuals are similar. Women better understand that they need other human beings in order to survive -- they need this human connection, to make them feel less isolated from each other and often from themselves. Women want to connect with others as a way of deepening their own understanding of things, but also to gain confidence in what they do think, believe, feel.

What are some of the barriers you face today as a woman in your position?
My main barrier is often myself -- believing that I am worthy of the change that I imagine or believing that my perspective matters. I overcome this insecurities when I am with other women who are challenging me and encouraging me.

Joan Blades:

Co-founder (with her husband) of Berkeley Systems (software company), and the liberal political group MoveOn.org. Also co-founder of MomsRising.org, a group dedicated to building "a more family-friendly America." Deals with motherhood and family issues, especially relating to labor and the workplace.

Research shows that women value connection and community. Is this something that you base your work on?
Connection and Community are a key starting point for MomsRising.org. Friends telling friends about how to join us in supporting the Fair Pay Restoration Act, or ways to protect our families from toxics in toys, is core to our success. MomsRising communities have been successful passing paid family leave in WA state and getting hearings scheduled for after school programs. Moms in particular depend upon community to care for kids, and when it comes time to take action that community is the best place to start.

Do you believe that the world could become better connected if women had more power or voice?
I believe we desperately need more women in leadership. Studies show that women in leadership in corporations reduce the wage and career disparity between men and women in that corporation. If women had more power and voice in the media I believe we would see comparable improvements in the public sphere. Additionally, we're woefully behind the rest of the world in terms of women's representation in our national legislature-- last I checked we were tied with the principality of Andorra at a low 121st of all nations.

What are some of the barriers you face today as a woman in your position?
I am fortunate to be working for a profoundly family-friendly organization. I work virtually at MomsRising.org. This means I work at home online with the MomsRising staff that is also at home. It is amazingly effective and efficient. It is also family-friendly, I can get kids to school and work with the flow of my day. And if I get sick or a child gets sick I can still get the basics done or more. I will add that this is also environmentally great.

Abigail Disney:

(Of the Disney family). Philantropist. Producer of upcoming documentary, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell"( http://www.praythedevilbacktohell.com). Founder of the Daphne Foundation, which supports grassroots organizations that work with low-income communities in New York City.

Research shows that women value connection and community. Is this something that you base your work on?
It has been my experience that in general women organize themselves around community and so as managers and as activists they rely more heavily on consensus-building to arrive at their plans of action. So yes, my work has always been organized around the idea that women's tendency to make community a priority has a positive effect on everything that they touch, and the more we bring them and their voices to the fore the more our society will benefit in the long term.

Do you believe that the world could become better connected if women had more power or voice?
Clearly the world is suffering because of the dearth of representative voices in the highest corridors of power. Because of the way that power arranges itself around money and access, and how money arranges itself around power, the voices of those most greatly in need of representation are the ones least likely to find their way to the center of decision-making processes. But more than this it is women's voices that need to be raised. We have seen that for the most part women have different skill sets, different approaches to management and problem-solving, different orientations toward compromise and conflict resolution, and different priorities. It is all of these differences that are likely to cause women to lead in entirely different and healthier ways--away from war, away from toxic neglect of ongoing problems and away from wanton disregard for natural resources. It is entirely likely that the addition of women's voices to the chorus of power would be extremely enriching for all people

What are some of the barriers you face today as a woman in your position?
I have been very lucky not to have been terribly affected by prejudice in my life. But there is no question that in my family and in my community the fact that I am a woman means that my enthusiasm is often mistaken for aggressiveness, my strength for arrogance and my wish to bring my heart to every decision for sentimentality. I think we all, also, are as harmed by the way we limit ourselves as women as as we are limited by others. I know that I have held back from speaking for fear of being misinterpreted or seen as pushy or shrill, and fear more than anything the idea that my children will think that I have chosen my life outside of my home over a life at home with them--a fear I don't know a lot of men to suffer from.

Zainab Salbi:

Founder and CEO, Women for Women International. Author of "Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam" and "The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope."
http://www.womenforwomen.org/zainab.htm

Research shows that women value connection and community. Is this something that you base your work on?
Absolutely, Women for Women International's work model is centered around building women's communities, locally, nationally and internationally.

In countries like Kosovo, Bosnia and Nigeria having a community of women and access to a support network has enabled women to transfer private issues such as domestic violence to the public sphere thus making them community issues. In Kosovo, Women for Women International participants have walked into one of their group member's home when she was being beaten by her husband and physically made him stop. In Bosnia, groups have surrounded the house of the abuser and called the police when they heard the beatings taking place. This way the blame is with the group and all of the women are protected from retaliation. In Nigeria groups of women enter the house the abuser, sit on the floor and peel melon seeds as a sign of shame and protest. This community and network for women is enabling them to impact social and community change faster than if they were working on their own.

In America, women in neighborhoods like Newark, New Jersey are organizing themselves through women circles and mobilizing their resources and energy to sponsoring women survivors of war worldwide. These women's circles see themselves as part of a larger community of women and international issues become community issues.

Do you believe that the world could become better connected if women had more power or voice?
The balance of power and peaceful and better connected societies is only possible with the balance of women and men's voices and resources in decision making positions.

What are some of the barriers you face today as a woman in your position?
My biggest barrier I face in my life at the moment is balancing between my private/personal life and my work. I think we live in a world where work is defined from a masculine perspective. There is little acknowledgement of women's needs and realities. For women to succeed in this masculine world, we often have to overextend ourselves and often sacrifice the personal part of our lives. We need not only have a balance of power in the political sphere but the work place as well. Work ethics need to better reflect women's reality and have better balance of expectations and demands in a way that is reflecting women and men's reality