Paula Cordeiro and Guest Blogger Maxie Gluckman
This Friday is March 8th and we will be celebrating International Women’s Day. In honor of the day, the Global Ed Leadership team (Paula & Maxie) is happy to introduce a new multi-part series that highlights women leaders as changemakers around the world.
International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on March 8th each year, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, and political achievements of women. This day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. It was first celebrated in 1911 during a gathering of over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland, however, has roots as far back as the Socialist Party of America, the United Kingdom’s Suffragists and Suffragettes, as well as within many other groups who have campaigned for women’s equality.
The 2019 IWD campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter building on the idea of collective action for a gender-balanced world. This theme centers on the ideas that gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive and that collective action and shared responsibility is key to achieving this goal.
As shared on the IWD official website, Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist, and activist once explained “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
In a global call to action, IWD shared this vision through a social media campaign asking individuals to Strike the #BalanceforBetter pose with your “hands out: and to do what you can to truly make a positive difference for women everywhere.
If you are interested in learning more about IWD and engaging in this important work, some of these conversations are included here:
@womensday #BalanceforBetter #IWD2019 #genderequity. In addition, if you are planning to organize an event or want to find out what more you can do, IWD has shared some wonderful resources.
From the Global Ed Leadership community, we plan to engage in this work year long, with the launch of your new multi-part series: “Women Changemakers around the World.” You will have an opportunity to hear from women leaders in Pk-12 as well as higher education.
Included here are some of the posts to look forward to throughout 2019. If you have any ideas for additional content we also welcome your support and feedback.
Women in Global Development: How to “win ugly” through the tradeoffs of family, career, and life
- The journey’s we take that lead us to what we love: Karen Sherman’s story
- Q&A: The top 5 questions asked by women about working in international development (we welcome you to submit your questions to us via email)
- Introduction to Global Ed Development work through a personal memoir: BRICK BY BRICK: Building Hope and Opportunity for Women Survivors Everywhere
Students from Akilah’s women’s leadership program take on global challenges through a Global Social Innovation Challenge
- The Akilah Education model: What set’s us apart
- The road through their eyes towards this summit hosted at the University of San Diego’s by the Peace and Commerce Center in June, 2019
- San Diego and beyond: Akilah students in action for global change
- Moving forward: Reflections from the GSIC and on our roles as global change leaders
We hope you enjoy the series and look forward to sharing more and to building a better world through #BalanceforBetter.
Paula and Maxie
Meet Paula A. Cordeiro
https://globaledleadership.org/paula-cordeiro/
Meet Maxie Gluckman
https://globaledleadership.org/guest-blogger-maxie-gluckman/
Photos courtesy of © Photograph: Jorge Oviedo / EyeEm