On International Women's Day: Closing the Gender Gap

As you know, today is International Women’s Day, a day designed to celebrate women and their progress and accomplishments. Yet as much progress as women have made, it is important that we continue to be given equal opportunities to grow and succeed. To help with this, I want to highlight one of the key inequalities currently afflicting our gender: opportunities in STEM education. Below, this infographic, created by NJIT’s Civil Engineering program, highlights the STEM industry’s gender gap, as well as celebrates women who have transcended this gap.


NJIT Online

The Evolution of Women's Sports: International Women's Day

 March 8th is International Women's Day. 

This year's theme is Pledge for Parity, serving to raise awareness and take steps towards gender equality. One of the many areas gender parity is needed is in the sports industry. While 40% of all sports participants are female, only 4% of women's sports receive sports media coverage. 

Gender inequality can even be seen at the high school sports level, where for every dollar spent on women's sports, about two and half dollars are spent on men's sports. Ohio University's Athletic Administration program created this infographic which highlights the evolution of women's sports in participation, growing fan base, and the increasing power of women's athletics.  For example, for the first time, Nike started selling jerseys for the Women's World Cup winning team in men's sizes.


OU MAA Online

Resources on International Women's Day

In honor of International Women's Day, we have been searching the 'Net for some resources that benefit women.  We hope that you may benefit from these resources, or you can pass them to someone who will. In no order, here are some of the best resources we found online.

• Kiva: A site where you can lend women in other countries money to start their own businesses.  This is a chance for women to get out of poverty to help themselves and their families.
• Small Business Administration is a site where where women can find content on business and its related issues.  Need to know how to write a business plan? What should you know about hiring employees?  Be sure to visit the SBA.
• Dress for Success provides professional wear for women looking for work or are in the workplace.  A woman can get two outfits; one for a job interview and the other to wear to work.  In fact, visit the site to find out where you can donate a suit.
• Women's Sports Foundation helps promote physical and sports activities awareness to girls and women.  This is a great site 
• Kickstarter allows you to post your creative venture idea online in hopes of getting financial supporters to make it a dream come true.  There are different categories available.  Be sure to take a look, and be inspired to create or back an idea financially.  No backing is too small.
• International Museum of Women: An online museum that curates via multimedia  arts, stories and ideas of women globally.  There are also real live events as well.  Be sure to visit it for a little taste of the cultural arts.
• Women for Women: This organization works with women who are from war torn countries.  Women are given opportunities to learn new skills and training, in hopes of rebuilding their lives with stability through work.

Be sure to list some of your favorite resources.

SAVE THE DATE: Annual Global Marathon set March 6-8

Women in Engineering and Technology: Inspire. Inform.  Change the World is the theme of the National Engineers Week Foundation’s annual Global Marathon. Set for March 6-8, 2013, the Marathon is a free, worldwide online forum for women in engineering and technology to meet virtually and share their stories of personal, educational, and professional challenges and successes. It is the only global event for women in engineering and technology offered in conjunction with International Women’s Day, March 8.

This year, the Global Marathon offers more opportunities than ever for attendees to pro-actively help shape and elevate the conversation for, by and about women. With the global platform as a launching point, participants are encouraged to champion the Marathon and create their own opportunities to expand conversations. Champions create local satellite programs – via the web, phone or in person - ranging from office coffees to visits by professional women at local universities. For more information, interested participants should visit www.inxpo.com/events/globalmarathon.  They can also email the Marathon team at engineeringwomen@eweek.org. 

Topics for the three-day event are:

·         March 6 - Leadership: Never Underestimate the Power of Example

·         March 7 - Emerging Leaders and Entrepreneurs: Inspiration at Work and University

·         March 8 - One Woman At a Time: Change the World

This year’s Global Marathon Chair is Gayle J. Gibson, Director for Corporate Operations for DuPont.  The Vice Chair is Danielle Curcio, Chief Software Engineer, Raytheon Company.

“Women remain under-represented in engineering in most parts of the world,” said Gibson.  “The Global Marathon creates a community that connects women engineers of all ages with a platform for collaboration across borders and employment sectors.  It is powerful to be part of a large group and I always tell women ‘never underestimate the power of example.’ I have met so many women in all stages of their careers who underestimate what they have to share. The Global Marathon is about empowering women both personally and professionally – it is an experience that stays with attendees long after its conclusion.”

Major sponsors of the 2013 Global Marathon include ExxonMobil, Motorola Solutions Foundation, and Bechtel.  Additional sponsors include DuPont, Motorola Mobility Foundation, and Raytheon.

To register for the 2013 main event, go to here.  Join the Facebook community.   

About National Engineers Week Foundation

The National Engineers Week Foundation works year-round to sustain and grow a dynamic engineering profession critical to public health, safety, and welfare.  The Foundation supports engineering outreach, education, and celebration through a network of thousands of volunteers in its partner coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies.

For more information, visit www.eweek.org.  

Spread Awareness About Women Facing Crisis

Today is International Women’s Day, an occasion to celebrate women and girls’ remarkable potential,
inherent worth and vital contributions to our communities. It’s also a day to recognize that millions of
women and girls still confront threats to their safety, their health, their livelihoods and their dignity - and
to advocate for solutions that can improve their lives.

Are you concerned with these issues? Then join the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Wake Up
campaign. At rescue.org/wakeup, you can read stories of real women facing crisis – like Fatuma, whose
daughter was assaulted on the daily trek for clean water in Somalia; Francine, who is working to
overcome the wounds of sexual slavery in Congo; and Angele, a Cameroonian asylee who fled political
turmoil in her home country and is slowly rebuilding her life in the United States. You can sign a pledge
affirming your support for women and girls like these all over the world who are fighting for survival and

Image via Wikipedia

struggling to endure. When you do, you’ll join the ranks of such notables as IRC Voice and “The Walking
Dead” star Sarah Wayne Callies and actresses Téa Leoni, Alyssa Milano and Morena Baccarin. And you
can use the tools in the IRC’s handy social action kit to share the pledge and raise awareness about
what can be done to help – which makes you a part of the solution.

The IRC works to protect and empower women and girls in more than 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities,
from Burundi to Baltimore. We’re joining with them on this special day, to take a stand for women and
girls. We hope that you will, too. Sign the Wake Up pledge and pass it on!

Related articles

• International Women's Day 2012 (umsuwomyns.com)
• International Women's Day 2012. (radicalglasgowblog.blogspot.com)
• Women of the Revolution (radioadelaidebreakfast.wordpress.com)

Hilary Rodham Clinton and Michelle Obama LIVE on Ustream March 8

Join host Hillary Rodham Clinton and Special Guest First Lady Michelle Obama at 11 a.m. ET on March 8 for a live Ustream at www.ustream.tv/conx  

In honor of this year’s International Women’s Day.Ustream, the leader in live online video (www.ustream.com), will broadcast live coverage of the International Women of Courage Awards.  Tune in for a broadcast of the awards ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. ET on March 8 at www.ustream.tv/conx.

This years host will be U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Other guests include First Lady Michelle Obama, and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, as well as other U.S. and foreign dignitaries.



Join Ustream at www.ustream.tv/conx for an online discussion and video webcast of the awards ceremony, and engage with a global online audience about International Women’s Day.

Stream videos at Ustream Chat embed:

Michelle Bachelet, Kathy Calvin International Women's Day Press Conference by UN Dispatch

On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, the United Nations Foundation will host a special tele-briefing for media, live from Monrovia, Liberia, with UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet.  UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin will host the conversation.  

Ms. Bachelet, former President of Chile, is joining President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – the first democratically elected woman President in Africa -- in Liberia to highlight the importance of women’s leadership in forging strong democracies, economies and re-building societies after conflict. Ms. Bachelet will be briefed by Liberian women leaders, women entrepreneurs, and women in the security sector. While in Liberia, she will launch a programme to re-build markets for women that is being supported by UN Women.

During the teleconference, Ms. Bachelet shares her vision for the newly formed UN agency and discusses the support that UN Women will provide to increase the opportunities and capacities for women to take leadership in all sectors.

“We are honored to host UN Women Executive Director Bachelet for this conversation on March 8, and hear first-hand about her experiences and conversations in Africa on this special anniversary.  There is no more fitting way to commemorate International Women’s Day’s century of advancing the global agenda for women than for us to be talking about the issues impacting all women, including the world’s adolescent girls - its next leaders,” Calvin said.

In anticipation of spending 8 March in Liberia, Ms. Bachelet noted, “I am very pleased to celebrate this milestone in Liberia, a country where women’s influence in forging peace and recovery offers lessons for all countries committed to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights.”

Women's Day Explores a Major Issue for Women 40 -64 Depression

In the November issue of Woman's Day (on newsstands October 12), the magazine offers a comprehensive report on the rise of midlife depression in women. Doctors say that recent evidence suggests that the odds of being diagnosed with depression peaks at 44 with 15% of women between 45-64 experiencing frequent depression. According to Katherine Muller, PsyD and Director of Psychological Training at Montefiore Medical Center, "When you're tense, levels of stress hormone cortisol go up. Cortisol affects the balance of mood chemicals in the brain in such a way that you're more susceptible to depression." There are many reasons sighted for this disorder but the main ones include worries about large changes happening in life like children leaving for college and doubts about relationships, high stress as women now have to deal with more than previous generations as they juggle careers, kids, marriage, and aging parents and over analyzing and holding in concerns about "life so far". Most of all, doctors emphasize that depression is very treatable and that getting help in a combination of therapy and medications is a crucial step. Director of Reproductive Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine points out that "genetics is a major risk factor for developing a psychiatric disorder" and that people with a family history should pay special attention to their behavior.

Click here to read the Women's Wear Daily article

You Are Invited to Celebrate International Women's Day

YOU ARE INVITED

TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL

WOMEN’S DAY

Since 1911, all over the world, on March 8^th, women have gathered in small and large towns and cities to commemorate their contributions to their communities

In 2010, in Chicago, The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the Chicago Foundation for Women will host a breakfast to commemorate immigrant women civic leaders

Please join us for a release of a report that will provide a snapshot of the state of immigrant women in Illinois and provide personal testimonies of women who have overcome personal obstacles to emerge as strong civic leaders in their communities

Where: Chicago Foundation for Women
1 East Wacker Drive, Floor 20
Chicago, IL 60601

When: March 8, 2010 8:30 to 10:30 am

Who: Women Civic leaders, Invited:  Iris Martinez, Senator, Illinois state senate, District 20, Elizabeth Hernandez, Illinois state representative district 24, Maria Toni Berrios, Illinois State Representative District 39, Cynthia Soto, Illinois State Representative District 4, Linda Chapa LaVia, Illinois State Representative District 83, Susana Mendoza, Illinois State Representative District 1

Please RSVP to Vivian Ramos at vramos@icirr.org, Space is limited

Did you know? That in 1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns form the Congressional Union worked towards the passage of a federal amendment to give women the vote. The group was later renamed the National Women's Party. Members picket the White House and practiced other forms of civil disobedience. The 19^th Amendment, giving women the right to vote was signed in on August 26, 1920.