94: The Self-Empowered Woman: Eve Ensler/Congo

Dear Followers,

Last year, Good Housekeeping Magazine named Eve Ensler one of the "125 Women Who Changed Our World." Why? Because among other accomplishments (she is an activist, author, performer, philanthropist and playwright) she created THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, which has been translated into 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries.

Today, Ensler's activist movement (V-Day), which supports anti-violence against women and girls, has joined with UNICEF and Panzi Foundation to establish the City of Joy. Based in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, it will support survivors of sexual violence and help them to heal both physically and emotionally. For many of these women, the center will be their first opportunity to receive an education.

Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped (often violently and sadistically with objects ranging from rifles to wood) by the armed militant groups who travel through Eastern Congo. Three years ago Ensler came up with the idea to create a safe place where women can learn life skills. Her hope is to create "an army of women."

In her words "...when you have enough women in power, they take over the government and they make different decisions. You'll see...they'll put an end to this rape problem fast." City of Joy is a new compound with classrooms where Congolese women (many of whom have been raped more than once) will learn self-defense, farming technology, leadership techniques and computer skills. Google is donating a computer center.

There will be about 200 "leadership recruits" each year, and most of them are illiterate. The center, which cost about $1 million, was partly built by the hands of many of the Congolese women who plan to live there. A former UNICEF official, who admitted that neither diplomacy, academia or the Congolese government had been able to adequately protect women, admitted that "Maybe this is the moment where women on the ground show they can turn this around."

If you would like to support City of Joy, here's the link http://drc.vday.org/city-of-joy

Looking forward to your comments...

93: The Self Empowered Woman: Wikipedia

Dear Followers,

Today's post, just like #82, is not about a particular woman, but is about an important issue that should be of interest to all of us. Thanks to New York Times contributor Noam Cohen, I learned that out of Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of contributors only 13% are female.

The Wikipedia Foundation discovered this lopsided statistic thanks to a study by a joint center of the United Nations University and Maastricht University, The executive director of the Wikipedia Foundation, Sue Gardner, has set a goal to raise "the share of women contributors to 25% by 2015."

The gender disparity on Wikipedia shows up in the different way that topics are covered. For example, a topic that is of interest to boys (say, baseball cards) will have lengthy posts in numerous categories while a topic like friendship bracelets will only have four brief paragraphs.

"Sex and the City" has brief episode summaries while "The Sopranos" has detailed, lengthy articles about each episode. Jane Margolis, who co-wrote "Unlocking the Clubhouse" (a book about sexism in computer science) says that Wikipedia is merely a reflection of women's reluctance to assert their opinions, on- or off- line.

In the words of Catherine Ornenstein, the founder and director of a New York organization that monitors the gender breakdown of contributors to public forums (The OpEd Project) "When you are a minority voice, you begin to doubt your competencies."

She says that when it comes to members of Congress as well as contributors to the Op-Ed pages of the Washington Post or the New York Times, the 85/15 ratio persists.

Ms. Gardner is hoping to use "subtle persuasion and outreach through her foundation to welcome all newcomers to Wikipedia." Maybe today would be a good time for you to contribute information to Wikipedia about a person, place or thing that would be of interest to female readers. After all, 53% of adults who regularly use the Internet now look for information on Wikipedia.

Looking forward to your comments...

92: The Self-Empowered Woman: Stirring The Fire

Dear Followers,

Below are photos of three women who have been agents of change in their cultures and countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Afghanistan). To learn about a group that is devoted to empowering women and girls worldwide, keep reading this blog.

As most of you know, for the past year I've tried to introduce readers to women in different parts of the world who are making a difference. Today, however, I'd like to tell you about an organization that is designed to help students become advocates for those who need help, volunteer their help and/or study abroad in the developing world where women and girls can benefit by becoming more empowered.

Stirring The Fire is a movement designed to restore balance between the feminine and masculine qualities and values that affect cultures, institutions and our lives. The pictures above above are part of Stirring The Fire: a global movement to empower women and girls, which is a multimedia exhibition by Phil Borges.

The photography and films are designed to inspire those who want to get involved with specific women's issues internationally. In the words of Isabel Allende, this work brings us "...face to face with heroes - remote and mostly unknown women - on the edge of a slow but steady transformation, bringing social and economic justice to women and girls worldwide."

The United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff understand that empowering women (which helps fight poverty and builds stability in the developing world) is crucial to our security as well.

Did you know that in much of the world women support and care for their families, grow and prepare the food, collect fuel and water, and yet (because of social and economic discrimination) are unable to attend school, earn money or take part in civic (i.e., governmental) life?

Stirring The Fire brought these statistics to my attention, and I want to share them with you:

• 
  
  Out of the 900 million illiterate adults on the planet, 2/3 are women.


• 
  
  Half of the world's food is produced by women, but they only own 1% of the farmland


• 
  
  Only 15% of the elected legislatures in the world are female.

Phil Borges feels passionately about the need to improve the lives of women and girls everywhere. According to him, "When women are free to make the most of their skills and ideas, they create a rising tide that lifts all boats."

If you would like to be a part of this movement, click on http://www.stirringthefire.org/.

Looking forward to your comments...

91: The Self Empowered-Woman: Bibi Aisha Update

Dear Followers,

Back in August (Blog #76) you learned about the tragic story of an 18-year-old Afghan woman who had been disfigured by her angry husband and his vengeful family. Bibi Aisha had been the victim of a "Baad," which is a tribal custom of using young daughters to settle disputes between angry opponents.

When she was a little girl, Bibi Aisha's mother died, and her father (Hajji Muhommed Zai) offered Aisha and her younger sister as "compensation" to a family whom he had dishonored. But when Aisha could no longer tolerate the abuse her "husband's" family (Sulaiman) dished out, she ran away. Her husband, his father and brother, tracked her down, took her to a mountain side, cut off both of her ears as well as her nose, and left her to bleed to death.

Aisha somehow made her way to a women's refugee camp run by Women for Afghan Women. Eventually, Aisha was flown to America where the Grossman Burn Foundation in California planned to donate reconstructive plastic surgery on the now-20-year-old refugee.

Her story, however, has become more complicated because Afghan authorities have arrested her father-in-law (officers had to chase him on foot for over a mile) after he took her amputated nose and proudly showed it off at the village market. Now Afghan authorities (and Aisha's father) want her to return to Kandahar and testify at the court proceedings.

Meanwhile, Aisha's operation has been postponed because physicians feel that she is emotionally unprepared to deal with surgery. The harsh reality is that Aisha has been abused physically and emotionally for most of her life, and continues to suffer the after-effects of that harsh treatment. She continues to suffer from seizure-like episodes that appear to include flashbacks, and cause her to pull at her hair and cry. She has been moved among host families, staff, and volunteers in an attempt to help her adapt to her new reality. The girl who grew up without electricity or indoor plumbing, and never attended school, is now living on the East Coast and adapting to life in America.

Today, Aisha uses a cell phone, sends text messages, watches YouTube and is using the Internet to teach herself English. She uses supplies purchased at a local Michael's craft store to create jewelry and has been given a prosthetic nose (which she applies herself with a Q-Tip dipped in glue)created by Dr. Stefan Knauss. In October, she attended a fund raiser for the Grossman Burn Foundation and met former First Lady Laura Bush and Maria Shriver.

If you wish to help Aisha (and others like her) log on to http://www.womenforafghanwomen.org/.

Looking forward to your comments...

90: The Self-Empowered Woman: Dr. Hawa Abdi

Dear Followers,

Today's posting comes to you courtesy of my dear friend, Susan Schorr, who is visiting from Santa Barbara. We took a brief hiatus from talking, laughing and eating to bring you the story of an amazing woman who lives near Mogadishu in Somalia.

Unlike the women in today's Somalia, Dr. Abdi grew up at a time when females were allowed opportunities. At age 17, she won a scholarship to study medicine in Kiev, which is now the Ukraine rather than the Soviet Union. She was the only female among 91 other Somali students. Because her mother had died in childbirth when Dr. Abdi was twelve years old, her goal from that age forward was to become a doctor (2. An Early Sense of Direction).

After graduation, Dr. Abdi worked in government-run hospitals in Somalia, married, and had three children. Her only son died in 2005 (aged 23) in a car accident; her two daughters (one named Amina aged 30, the other Deqa, 35) became doctors and still work with their mother (16. Intensive Motherhood).

In 1983, with the permission of Mohammed Said Barre (the last President of Somalia's government), Dr. Abdi opened a one-room clinic on property that her family owned, and persuaded nomadic women to let her help deliver their babies. Today (18 years later) Hawa Abdi Hospital has three operating theaters, six doctors, 43 nurses, 400 beds and an 800-student school/adult education center to help teach women how to make clothes and prepare healthy meals (7. Magnificent Obsession).

Last May, her hospital was surrounded by over 700 Islamic militants who held her at gunpoint and let their teenaged recruits ransack the hospital and destroy equipment and supplies. The militia commanders taunted her and asked, "Why are you running this hospital? You are old. And you are a woman!" (13. More Than Meets the Eye)

The militants did not care that 90,00 refugees have flocked to her medical center, which is only 15 miles outside of Mogadishu and one of the few safe places in southern Somalia. It is practically the only place refugees can receive free treatment for everything from measles and malaria to life-threatening malnutrition and tuberculosis.

As the militants held her at gunpoint, Dr. Abdi yelled at them, "I'm not leaving my hospital. If I die, I will die with my people and my dignity. You are young and you are a man, but what have you done for your society?" (5. Life Is Not a Popularity Contest)

Last year, Glamour magazine named Dr. Abdi and her two daughters 2010 Women of the Year, and described Dr. Abdi as equal parts Rambo and Mother Teresa. According to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, Dr. Abdi is about the only person doing any effective humanitarian work in Somalia. In her words, "Women can build stability. We can make peace."

Looking forward to your comments...

89: The Self-Empowered Woman: CCSVI

Dear Followers,As you may have noticed, I've only posted one blog in December. My explanation has nothing to do with research or inspiration (you should see the huge pile of "Blog subjects" waiting to be attacked!), but everything to do with our medically motivated trip to New York. The photo above is of Tony and me in Albany, and was taken the night before my CCSVI procedure.

CCSVI stands for Chronic Cerebro Spinal Venous Insufficiency, a term coined by Dr. Paolo Zamboni of Ferrara, Italy. When his wife developed MS, he explored the disease from a Vascular rather than Neurological perspective, and discovered that most people with MS have a congenital restriction of several major veins. This stenosis interferes with the venous blood flow, and that causes a back flow of iron molecules.

This angioplasty-like procedure is (finally) being performed in the U.S., and after spending 54 weeks in search of a skilled American doctor, Tony and I hit the jackpot. Our friend Bea Lewis introduced us to Dr. Gary Siskin, who has performed more of these procedures than any physician in North America.

We travelled to Albany with Ed Broderick, and learned that both Jugular veins and the Azygous were all compromised. Dr. Siskin and his staff completed the CCSVI procedure the next day, and two days later we flew back to Florida.

There are several CCSVI YouTube videos (see The Reformed MS Society) where patients have had dramatic improvements. In my case, I'm having small positive changes in my ability to move my right hand and left foot. And even though it's hard to explain, I just generally feel better and a bit stronger. In theory, if the veins remain open the improvements will continue.

Next week The Self-Empowered Woman blog will continue with more stories about amazing women, but for now here's hoping 2011 will be a fabulous year for all of us.

Looking forward to your comments...

88: The Self Empowered Woman: Angelina Jolie

Dear Followers:

This blog was started before the trip to Albany, but completed after the New Year. Apologies for the numerical mix up and the delay...

Even though she is always controversial, Angelina Jolie is the topic of today's blog because she will be starring in the film adaptation of Stacey Schiff's (Blog # 83) biography of Cleopatra.

Jolie is the daughter of the late actress Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight and her godparents are Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. When Angelina Jolie was only a year old her parents separated (1. No Paternal Safety Net), and she remained estranged from her father for many years (14. Selective Disassociation). As a child, she lived in Palisades, New York with her mother and brother, and during this time (after regularly attending movies with her Mom), she decided that becoming an actress would be a good career choice (2. An Early Sense of Direction).

When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to Los Angeles and she enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, where she trained for two years. When Jolie was 14, she began modeling, and appeared in several music videos. She also quit her acting classes, dyed her hair purple, adopted a black wardrobe, and toyed with the idea of becoming funeral director.

Jolie attended Beverly Hills High School and Moreno High School, but felt “isolated” (5. Life Is Not A Popularity Contest), particularly because her mother didn’t have much money and her clothes were second-hand. The other kids teased her because of the way she looked, and the fact that she was extremely thin, wore glasses, as well as braces (6. Life Is Also Not A Beauty Contest).

By the age of 16, Jolie was living in a small apartment near her mother’s home and returned to her acting classes. Her brother was attending film school at USC, and she appeared in five of his student films before landing her first leading role in the independent film “Cyborg 2.” Jolie is famous for doing many of her own movie stunts, and has admitted that she is “fearless to a fault” (11. Risk Addiction).

During her first Hollywood movie (Hackers) in 1995 she met her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller, but their marriage was short lived. And the same was true for her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton (15. Forget About Prince Charming). For the past five years, she has lived with Brad Pitt (ergo Brangelina) who is the father of her three biological children: they also have three adopted children (16. Intensive Motherhood).

Here are a few things you may not know about Angelina Jolie:

• She has thirteen tattoos
• As part of her work for the United Nations , she has visited over 20 countries
• She has received one Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards
• She has donated millions of dollars for Afghan refugees, Haiti earthquake victims, relief organizations in Chad and Darfur, Global Action for Children, Doctors Without Borders and a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia
• Her children are being exposed to Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism so they can decide for themselves which religion they want to follow
• Jolie has a private pilot license (with instrument rating) and owns a Cirrus SR 22 airplane
• She has no agent and no publicist

Looking forward to your comments...