Leadership in Government, Politics, and Business

May 27, 2009 posted by Linda Basch After nearly a month of anticipation, President Obama has finally announced his nomination for Supreme Court justice—and what a nomination!  The President tapped Sonia Sotomayor, a New York federal appeals justice born to Puerto Rican parents and raised in housing projects in the South Bronx.     In a world where most Latinas are far less likely to go on to college than any other group of women, only 2.9 % of Latina Women hold advanced graduate degrees, 10% of all Latina women are unemployed, and the number of female Hispanic Federal Court Judges can be counted on one hand, Sotomayor has risen above those odds to become the first ever Hispanic woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Her ascent from humble beginnings mirrors President Obama’s personal narrative; both overcame incredible obstacles to become role models for generations.  For those in the Hispanic Community, her appointment is a glimmer of hope that the often silenced voice of the Hispanic, female minority has a better chance of being represented in public debates and decision-making.

May 15, 2009 posted by admin

This past year has been a whirlwind for women and politics!  The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin demonstrated that sexism in the media is far from dead. A number of powerful women are playing vital roles in the new administration.  And Obama’s first 100 days proved to be very woman-friendly. Of course, our work is far from done. 

March 11, 2009 posted by admin This just in: by executive order President Obama has created a White House Council on Women and Girls.  As NOW stated in their press release, "We asked for a Cabinet-level office to work on women's issues, and we got the entire cabinet." The Council will headed by Valerie Jarrett and include every Cabinet secretary and head of every Cabinet-level agency.  This is obviously a huge step.  What do you think the first

February 11, 2009 posted by admin According to a recent report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the United States ranks 69th in the world in female representation in our national legislature (just below Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which tied for 68th). And the situation isn’t improving quickly; it’s been estimated that if we continue adding women in Congress at the current rate, we will reach parity in about 500 years. Women are grossly underrepresented not only in politics but in business; while we make up 51.3% of the population, but we account for only 15.7% of Fortune 500 corporate officers and 2% of Fortune 500 CEOs. This is not only a flagrant waste of brainpower, it’s dangerous; a number of people have made the observation that a higher proportion of women on Wall Street might well have prevented the economic meltdown we’re all suffering from. In other words, we have a leadership problem in this country,

Februrary 5, 2009 posted by admin Dear President Obama, I was one of the “super volunteers” for the Duluth, MN area throughout your campaign. I’ve always been interested in history, culture and politics, and I had the opportunity to attend JrNYLC (Junior National Young Leaders Conference) in Washington, DC. Working on your campaign was one of the most memorable experiences of my life! It has already led me to new political experiences because of the people I met campaigning. I recently attended “Camp Wellstone” to learn more about working effectively on political campaigns. One of my supervisors, Drew Sandquist, worked on your inauguration team.

January 23, 2009 posted by Shyama Venkateswar, Kyla Bender-Baird, and Lisa Rast The room was filled to capacity at Demos’ latest panel for their Women’s Leadership Initiative.  Women (and a few men) from all sectors joined together to discuss gender equality as an investment concept.  Anne Black from Goldman Sachs discussed their 10,000 Women initiative.  The driving idea behind this timely initiative is that investing in women’s business skills is the fastest way to grow GDP.  Joe Keefe from Pax World Mutual Fund, which recently took over Pax’s Women’s Equity Fund, argued that gender equality should be framed as an investment imperative, not a moral one. In fact, gender equality helps to grow the bottom line.  Finally, Ritu Sharma, co-founder of Women Thrive Worldwide, demonstrated the importance of building crucial infrastructure to aid women across the globe, who otherwise spend much of their day gathering water and fuel, and caregiving.

January 6, 2009 posted by admin Next up in our New Year's Resolutions for the Nation--here’s a link to this post by NCRW alums Gwendolyn Beetham and Tonni Brodber.  Write Gwen and Tonni, Since the U.S. has proved that anything in politics is possible, it’s time for the rest of the world to showcase its political potential and prowess! It’s more than just quantity its quality. There is a long list of women in politics who we could really do without. Some of us are still waiting for Condi to emerge from the Dark Side…What we need are men and women in politics who will deliver on the promise of gender equality.  Read the rest over at Girl with Pen. This post is part of a forum

January 2, 2009 posted by Kyla Bender-Baird The Real Deal blog at NCRW has only been live for three months. However, the posts people have shared have been so rich we thought we’d take a moment to highlight 2008 at The Real Deal for those coming to us for the first time.  During the election, we highlighted voices from Idaho, Michigan, and Ohion in our Views from the Swing States forum.

December 8, 2008 posted by admin

Kyla Bender-Baird: What message would you like to send to Hillary Clinton, our next likely Secretary of State?