(February 4, 2020)wiseHer and Vital Voices Collaborate to Accelerate Impact of Women Entrepreneurs Across the Globe
New partnership provides personalized advice and financial support to Vital Voices’ network of social entrepreneurs and women business leaders, expands wiseHer’s global reach
Vital Voices and wiseHer have announced a new collaboration aimed at helping women business owners with mentoring and professional development. (Image Credit: wiseHer)
Framingham, MA: wiseHer, a female-founded global knowledge marketplace that helps women business owners and professionals advance through 1:1 access to expert advice, is proud to announce a new partnership with Vital Voices, a global movement that invests in women leaders who are solving the world’s greatest challenges.
Film and fashion represent two industries where the misrepresentation of women and minorities still runs rampant. However, fashion industry leader American Eagle is taking active steps to change that.
American Eagle/Aerie welcomes Beanie Feldstein to the #AerieREAL Role Models and announces a new initiative for community change. (Photo Credit: Andrew Buda/Aerie)
This year, as part of their Aerie lingerie line, American Eagle rolled out the #AerieREAL Role Models program: a group of ideas-forward young women with a wide range of backgrounds, body types, and lifestyles who model Aerie’s products. The kicker? The models in #AerieREAL photos are not touched up, digitally edited, or misrepresented in advertising. In an industry where impossible standards of beauty are often airbrushed, the prominent featuring of real women with real bodies, real disabilities, and real “flaws” (if you want to call them that) speaks to an encouraging new wave of body-positive empowerment for girls.
New City-Based Initiative to Increase Women in Tech in the U.S. Kicks Off in Chicago
January 28, 2020 Pivotal Ventures, together with Break Through Tech, SecondMuse, and several leading social organizations, announced today a new initiative, Gender Equality in Tech (GET) Cities, designed to accelerate the representation and leadership of women in tech through the development of inclusive tech hubs across the U.S. With a $50 million investment from Pivotal Ventures, the initiative will focus on three U.S. cities over five years – kicking-off in Chicago in January 2020.
The GET Cities project will invest $50 million in three cities over five years. (Image credit: Pivotal Ventures)
As local tech ecosystems grow, GET Cities looks to engage students from the first college course, to women in the current workforce, to female founders and investors. The initiative aims to create collaborative models that can be replicated in other growing innovation hubs by bringing together key stakeholders to invest and align resources and create shared goals for women in tech across academia, non-profit, government, venture capital, and business sectors in each selected city. The goal is to maximize the impact of local women-in-tech efforts, crowd in other funders, and foster local coordination that can accelerate the pace of change, nationally.
The PepsiCo Foundation is collaborating with the International Youth Foundation (IYF) on a digital life-skills course to help young people, particularly women, succeed in the workplace.
Game-based learning program Passport to Success helps young women develop skills for the workplace. (Image Credit: IYF)
The IYF Passport to Success program is a game-based program that can be accessed by youth worldwide using a mobile device. The 10-hour 18-unit program is designed to be “gender-smart” and includes women serving in various professional and non-traditional roles, as well as in positions of authority. The country-specific curriculum also targets barriers to gender equality as they exist in different regions.
Jeannie Sager, Incoming Director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the University of Indiana Lilly School of Philanthropy. (Photo credit: WPI)
An established philanthropy leader, Sager brings a wealth of expertise and more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership and development experience in a variety of fields, including higher education, independent schools and healthcare. She has held key executive positions at several large nonprofit organizations.
Washington, DC—Emerge, the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, announced today that it has named A’shanti Gholar as its next president. In this role, Gholar will lead the organization and steer its overall strategy and direction, overseeing a national staff as well as affiliates across the country. This announcement comes after an extensive, nationwide search for candidates across the country.
A’shanti Gholar will serve as President of Emerge, an organization which trains Democratic women candidates. (photo credit: Emerge)
“The board and I are extremely confident that A’shanti is the right person to lead Emerge into the future,” said Rashmi Yadav Marya, Emerge’s National Board Chair. “She is a highly respected political leader and has a deep understanding of the organization. We are extremely fortunate to have her as our next president.”
Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL (F-GIRL) series features Lori Sokol, PhD, Executive Director & Editor-in-Chief of Women’s eNews. This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Women’s eNews, to be celebrated on May 4 at their annual Women’s eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Awards.
1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?
Lori Sokol, PhD, Executive Director & Editor-in-Chief of Women’s eNews (Photo by Eva Mueller)
I entered the media industry immediately after graduating from college, but looking back I should have gone straight to graduate school instead. I didn’t become a graduate student until nine years later, when I was already pregnant with my first child. As a result, I had to attend graduate school part-time while becoming a new mother, and running my own media business simultaneously. It took me twelves years of attending grad school at night to earn my PhD.
WOMEN’S FUNDING NETWORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
San Francisco, Calif. ― After six years at the helm of one of the oldest women’s philanthropy organizations in the world, Cynthia Nimmo will be stepping down from her role as President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), effective Feb. 17, Julie Castro Abrams, Governance Chair of the organization’s Board of Directors announced today.
Elizabeth Barajas-Roman will be the incoming President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (Image Credit: WFN)
“I am so proud of what we have accomplished at WFN,” Nimmo said. “We are on a strong trajectory for continued growth and expansion. After 13 years with the organization, the last six as President and CEO, I believe that this is the right moment to create space for new leadership to build off of this momentum and take WFN into 2020 and beyond.”
Editor’s Note: The following statement comes from the Rhode Island Women’s Democratic Caucus, which split off from the Democratic party in Fall 2019.
The Women’s Caucus voices our strongest support for the women who come forward with their own stories of workplace harassment and abuse. It is a vulnerable place, to be brave and tell one’s story in these circumstances. The Women’s Caucus extends its gratitude to all those who do so. We stand in support of all women, and we will fight for a government in which all women will be safe, empowered, and equal.
House Speaker Nick Mattiello (Photo Credit: Upriseri.com)
The Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus believes that no woman should experience harassment in the workplace, and that no one should fear retaliation for speaking truth to power. In a Democratic state such as ours, one would expect the principles of equality, fairness, and integrity to be exemplified by the leaders of our party, especially those with the most political clout. Yet – as revealed this week in stories from WPRI and GoLocalProv – misogyny and moral ambiguity appear to guide the current Democratic state party leadership as it fails to rise to the level of ethics that our party platform demands.
For those naysayers who think #MeToo is a passing fad with no effect on society, a CBS poll has news for you. Men, and particularly young men, have been moved to rethink how they behave toward women since #MeToo and Time’s Up came to town.
Young men in particular are being influenced by #MeToo and Time’s Up. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
More than half (52%) of young men age 18-29 say that these movements have caused them to rethink their own behavior, and 36% of young men say they’re talking about the issue now more than ever.
Overall, 63% of Americans believe these movements have been instrumental in raising awareness about sexual harassment.
For women in philanthropy looking to influence gender equality movements, this CBS News poll provides important ideas for how to direct strategy in order to impact sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
