Global Women’s Initiative Conference to advance women and girls’ leadership
Now this is an event we can get behind.
Many of us know that there’s a big gap in women’s leadership; in short, there simply aren’t enough of us. Women and girls are largely underrepresented in media, government, business, and nearly every other major sector of society you can think of — and for a ton of systemic and cultural reasons. But one conference seeks to look at the way that popular culture specifically has a direct influence on women and girls’ ability to lead — and what we can do about it. Womenetics contend (you should also check out Jennifer Siebel Newsom for much more on this):
While many factors influence women’s ability to lead around the world – education, personal freedoms, role models, individual empowerment and determination – changing cultural perceptions and portrayals of female worth is a critical step to help bolster the number of women who choose to lead. Gender stereotypes about women’s roles are pervasive in 21st century global popular culture and 24/7 media. Typically females are poorly represented both in the number of women decision-makers in business as well as in the types of female characters and images of women and girls portrayed in film, television, current popular music and print media.
In short, there’s a serious need for action on this issue, which is why on October 4, 2012 in Atlanta and on November 1, 2012 in Chicago, Womenetics is hosting their Global Women’s Initiative Conference titled, “Creating Effective Leadership for the 21st Century: Popular Culture and Positive Role Models for Women and Girls.” And our own Pat Mitchell will be Atlanta’s keynote speaker to boot!
What’s perhaps the most exciting about this event is that Womenetics is also holding an essay contest and giving out Advancing Aspirations Global Scholarships (a total of $22,000!) to 10 undergraduates in the spirit of honoring their investment in women’s empowerment and helping to advance their future leadership. Find out more about eligibility requirements and the contest here, including updates on their Facebook page, and spread the word to any young women you know who would be interested in participating!
Simply put, we’re pretty amped that the end of this year is going to hold such incredible events – between the Global Women’s Initiative Conferences in October and November and our own upcoming TEDxWomen event on Nov 30th and Dec 1st, it’s going to be a busy fall season! And we couldn’t be more excited.
