You go, girl!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Latinas are doin' it for themselves
New survey figures show that Latinas are starting up their own businesses at a rate 6 times that of the national average. Says the article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Latina ownership (defined as over 51% of an enterprise) jumped by 121% between 1997 and 2006! And, in 2006, Latina-owned businesses generated almost $46 billion in sales.
You go, girl!
You go, girl!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Is Cosmetic Surgery the 'New Feminism' or Just More "Self-effacement" of Women?
The death of Kanye West's mother, Donda, underscores the risks of undergoing the knife for a quick body fix. This piece, which I found reprinted from Ms. Magazine on AlterNet, explores the marketing of cosmetic surgery as pro-active "new feminism." Author Jennifer Cognard-Black argues against the surgery and against the new marketing, demurring convincingly:
Is Cosmetic Surgery the 'New Feminism' or Just More "Self-effacement" of Women?
...it's feminists who have led the fight against silicone breast implants when research suggested they were dangerous. It's feminists who have pointed out that a branch of medicine formed to fix or replace broken, burned and diseased body parts has since become an industry serving often-misogynistic interests.
Is Cosmetic Surgery the 'New Feminism' or Just More "Self-effacement" of Women?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Alcohol and Breast Cancer in Women
"Women don't have to abstain from alcohol entirely, but they need to be aware of the risks they're taking when they have a few too many drinks." As if there weren't enough "don'ts" in our lives already, right? In any event, here's a story posted by the Associated Press that gives food, if not drink, for thought about the possible link between heavy drinking and breast cancer in women. I think the caveat is worth considering, but, like all supposedly scientific studies, there's always another side to the findings and debunking further research in the wings.
While we're at it, I'd like to recommend that all women investigate an alternative procedure in breast cancer examination--no hocus pocus, this is AMA doctor screened stuff--called breast thermography. It uses sensitive changes in the heat of the breast to detect areas of potential--can be up to 10 years in the future--cancerous mass formations. Breast thermography doesn't hurt, trust me, and it uses photographic imaging, not the harmful radiation of mammograms.
While we're at it, I'd like to recommend that all women investigate an alternative procedure in breast cancer examination--no hocus pocus, this is AMA doctor screened stuff--called breast thermography. It uses sensitive changes in the heat of the breast to detect areas of potential--can be up to 10 years in the future--cancerous mass formations. Breast thermography doesn't hurt, trust me, and it uses photographic imaging, not the harmful radiation of mammograms.
The Link Between Porn and War--a liberal--with a small 'l'--view
Riane Eisler asks if there a disconnect between "liberals" embracing "images of men chaining, whipping, torturing, and even killing women in the name of sexual pleasure" and their abhorrence to the violent acts of war. Her piece for AlterNet, Liberal Denial: the link between porno and war, is quite provocative. Makes you think and re-evaluate, as women, your own personal definition of womanism and women's ultimate relationship to that other gender.
If you're intrigued, there's also an AlterNet article, by Don Hazen, Pornography and the End of Masculinity, a man's view, also contrary, on the explosion of porn under the cloak of liberal views on sexuality and tolerance. Warning: in making his point about the degradation of women and exploring a recent book on porn by Robert Jensen, Hazen can be very graphic.
If you're intrigued, there's also an AlterNet article, by Don Hazen, Pornography and the End of Masculinity, a man's view, also contrary, on the explosion of porn under the cloak of liberal views on sexuality and tolerance. Warning: in making his point about the degradation of women and exploring a recent book on porn by Robert Jensen, Hazen can be very graphic.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Innovative Women’s Health Internship Program Launches
By Sarah Schmelling, at the NIH Record
"One conversation can sometimes lead to big things. Last year, after a lecture at a conference on skin and stress in New York, Dr. Esther Sternberg of NIMH started talking with Lynne Greene, global president of Clinique. When Greene said she would like to find a way to encourage young women and minority students to pursue careers in nursing and science, an idea for a new kind of internship was formed...
"The Women’s Health Summer Internship Program provided an 8- to 10-week intensive biomedical research experience here for three women who were selected through a “very competitive” process, Sternberg said. The selection committee included members of the Intramural Program on Research on Women’s Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Office of Intramural Training and Education. The internships were funded by the Foundation for NIH through a grant from Clinique..."
Read more about the program and the experiences of the three interns.
"One conversation can sometimes lead to big things. Last year, after a lecture at a conference on skin and stress in New York, Dr. Esther Sternberg of NIMH started talking with Lynne Greene, global president of Clinique. When Greene said she would like to find a way to encourage young women and minority students to pursue careers in nursing and science, an idea for a new kind of internship was formed...
"The Women’s Health Summer Internship Program provided an 8- to 10-week intensive biomedical research experience here for three women who were selected through a “very competitive” process, Sternberg said. The selection committee included members of the Intramural Program on Research on Women’s Health, the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Office of Intramural Training and Education. The internships were funded by the Foundation for NIH through a grant from Clinique..."
Read more about the program and the experiences of the three interns.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Black Women's Roundtable Plans Katrina Anniversary Events
The following is from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s women’s initiative, Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR), which is planning a series of its own events in N.O. this coming week to commemorate the anniversaries of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The group is also working in a broader coalition of organizations to promote a National Day of Presence on August 29, to call attention to the ongoing needs of the Gulf region 2 years after the storm.
The group has published a scheduled activities during the Second Anniversary of Katrina-Rita National Call to Action from August 27-29, 2007, and updated details may be posted there. We have additionally compiled their list events and actions with an extended schedule of Katrina events through September 1 on the blog of our sister site, http://blackcollegian.blogspot.com/.
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina the National Coalition on Black Civic articipation’s women’s initiative, Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR), hosted a Gulf Coast Hear Me Now Listening Sessions Bus Tour of regions hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The seven-city tour set out to learn how women directly impacted by the storms were surviving one year after enduring the life-altering affects of Katrina and Rita. The tour revealed that the storms exacerbated the already fragile social and economic existence of many African American women in the Gulf Coast region in three of the most economically depressed states in the nation—Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
After listening to our sister’s voices about their experiences in the rebuilding process, the barriers they encountered and how they were affected by this natural disaster, the National Coalition was able to identify the most pressing issues thwarting recovery and rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast region----affordable housing, education, and mental/physical health topped the list.
As we approach the second anniversary of the worst storm in America’s history, sluggish rebuilding efforts have increased despair, frustration, and stress among people already emotionally traumatized. The never-ending struggle to secure a sense of dignity and stability has aggravated the severe mental stress and physical health problems survivors of these storms are facing on a daily basis in rural and urban communities in the Gulf Coast and all across the country where displaced survivors are attempting to rebuild their lives.
In 2006 the women of Black Women’s Roundtable heard the voices of our beloved sisters in the Gulf Coast. Further, to build upon what we learned from our Gulf Coast recovery & rebuilding work and from the women of the gulf coast over the past year, NCBCP will utilize the Black Women’s Roundtable Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Initiative to assist the women of the Gulf with their civic engagement and provide vehicles for their voices to be heard by policy and opinion makers across the country.
NCBCP will incorporate the mission of BWR – to promote healthy families – as we return to New Orleans to commemorate the second anniversary of Katrina through our 2007 BWR Celebrate Our Sisters of the Gulf Coast Wellness Journey. The journey will include a full day focused on health and wellness through exercise, volunteerism, pampering, dialogue, entertainment, spiritual upliftment, recognition, and information gathering. NCBCP will host a regional organizing briefing and conduct a scientific survey/poll of survivors to evaluate their recovery/rebuilding experiences over the past year, document their stories of success and the barriers Katrina-Rita survivors continue to encounter as well as stand in solidarity with the people of the Gulf Coast for a national call to action on August 27-29, 2007 in New Orleans, LA.
The tentative schedule of events is here.
The group has published a scheduled activities during the Second Anniversary of Katrina-Rita National Call to Action from August 27-29, 2007, and updated details may be posted there. We have additionally compiled their list events and actions with an extended schedule of Katrina events through September 1 on the blog of our sister site, http://blackcollegian.blogspot.com/.
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina the National Coalition on Black Civic articipation’s women’s initiative, Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR), hosted a Gulf Coast Hear Me Now Listening Sessions Bus Tour of regions hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The seven-city tour set out to learn how women directly impacted by the storms were surviving one year after enduring the life-altering affects of Katrina and Rita. The tour revealed that the storms exacerbated the already fragile social and economic existence of many African American women in the Gulf Coast region in three of the most economically depressed states in the nation—Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
After listening to our sister’s voices about their experiences in the rebuilding process, the barriers they encountered and how they were affected by this natural disaster, the National Coalition was able to identify the most pressing issues thwarting recovery and rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast region----affordable housing, education, and mental/physical health topped the list.
As we approach the second anniversary of the worst storm in America’s history, sluggish rebuilding efforts have increased despair, frustration, and stress among people already emotionally traumatized. The never-ending struggle to secure a sense of dignity and stability has aggravated the severe mental stress and physical health problems survivors of these storms are facing on a daily basis in rural and urban communities in the Gulf Coast and all across the country where displaced survivors are attempting to rebuild their lives.
In 2006 the women of Black Women’s Roundtable heard the voices of our beloved sisters in the Gulf Coast. Further, to build upon what we learned from our Gulf Coast recovery & rebuilding work and from the women of the gulf coast over the past year, NCBCP will utilize the Black Women’s Roundtable Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Initiative to assist the women of the Gulf with their civic engagement and provide vehicles for their voices to be heard by policy and opinion makers across the country.
NCBCP will incorporate the mission of BWR – to promote healthy families – as we return to New Orleans to commemorate the second anniversary of Katrina through our 2007 BWR Celebrate Our Sisters of the Gulf Coast Wellness Journey. The journey will include a full day focused on health and wellness through exercise, volunteerism, pampering, dialogue, entertainment, spiritual upliftment, recognition, and information gathering. NCBCP will host a regional organizing briefing and conduct a scientific survey/poll of survivors to evaluate their recovery/rebuilding experiences over the past year, document their stories of success and the barriers Katrina-Rita survivors continue to encounter as well as stand in solidarity with the people of the Gulf Coast for a national call to action on August 27-29, 2007 in New Orleans, LA.
The tentative schedule of events is here.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Survey: Effects of a Dearth of Black Women in U.S. Companies
Survey Finds Low Numbers of Black Professional Women in Leadership Roles in U.S. Companies Affects Engagement and Retention
(BLACK PR WIRE) (August 20, 2007) CHICAGO - Because the lives of professional black women in America have been understudied and their contributions as leaders often undervalued, The League of Black Women (LBW) conducted its "LBW Having Our Say: Fostering the Leadership Potential of Black Women in America Survey" to help identify and eliminate the challenges black women face as they strive to fulfill their leadership potential and achieve socio-economic parity for themselves, their families and their communities.
The report includes an assessment of the key barriers to black women realizing their leadership potential; recommendations for how corporations can remove those barriers and support retention; and personal accounts of professional black women striving to rise to leadership positions despite the odds. The data found only 20 percent of black women are "very satisfied" with their overall lives, and respondents reported greater and more pervasive degrees of frustration with advancing in their careers.
"The League of Black Women is committed to supporting and developing leadership values and joyful living for the 21st century black woman," said Sandra Finley, president/CEO. "With this report we provide essential support and timely advice to corporations on specific methods and recommendations to recruit, retain and empower black women as leaders. By implementing our suggested strategies, we believe companies can improve their efforts toward achieving greater workforce diversity."
The nationwide survey, conducted between 2005 and 2007 in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, was designed to gather preliminary data on black women's views about their leadership experiences and satisfaction with their lives. The report highlights three key findings identified as critical factors that influence the level of satisfaction black women obtain in their professional and personal lives. Among the factors are Engagement, defined as institutions and people that have the greatest impact on black women's lives; Cohesion, the quality of black women's relationships with each other; and Bicultural Leadership, used to describe circumstances in which black women lead or exude authority over non-blacks in the workplace. Some specific factors of Engagement, Cohesion and Bicultural Leadership that affect and hinder the overall professional development, advancement and retention of black women in the workplace include:
Engagement
.Under-representation of black women within an organization diminishes essential networking power
.Pressure to hide authentic personal style and professional perspective results in exhaustion (affects productivity)
Cohesion
.Limited professional options that impede black women from having close relationships with each other in corporate environments
.Black women are more committed to their organizations when they are able to form close bonds with other black women
Bicultural Leadership
.Proven leadership ability doesn't reliably translate into promotion opportunities
.Underutilization of education and skill set relegates black women to lower-level jobs
Although black women report they hope to reach their goal of rising to leadership positions, they believe hard work and positive thinking are not enough to obtain the opportunities they seek. To ensure black women have the tools needed to advance, the report suggests corporations need to design distinctive and targeted strategies to develop and advance black women with high potential. Given the limited number of black women as contemporary role models, companies must understand the real time experiences of black women who aspire to obtain corporate leadership jobs and work to provide effective assistance. To combat and address these issues, The League of Black Women recommends corporate leaders promote the concepts of Engagement, Cohesion and Bicultural Leadership in the following ways to support development and retention:
Engagement
.Foster a culture of inclusion that addresses the needs of black women as defined by black women
.Implement policies and practices that respect the need for communal support within and beyond the workplace
Cohesion
.Create coaching resources, mentoring programs, networking opportunities and affinity groups for women of color
.Appreciate cultural and style differences without censure
Bicultural Leadership
.Provide early leadership coaching to help black women successfully confront negative stereotypes
.Recognize and develop black women's distinctive leadership skills
.Identify and end business practices that steer black women with high potential into dead-end jobs
According to the study, black women still see negative perceptions about race as a barrier keeping them from reaching their career goals. As professionals, they believe that others' negative views of them in the workplace hinder their ability to excel in leadership roles. Nearly 80 percent surveyed cited race bias as a hurdle affecting their effectiveness as leaders, to some extent. Respondents said race bias affects interactions with individuals who potentially could influence and advance their career track. Additionally, the report suggests, black women find themselves stagnant in mid and lower level positions that are threatened by corporate downsizing, mergers and acquisitions that cause retention rates of black women to drop.
But despite the overlapping obstacles black women face on their climb up the corporate ladder, the League of Black Women believes if corporations empower black women, their strengths and leadership abilities can be leveraged to help increase company performance and expand business growth.
For more information on The League of Black Women and the "Fostering the Leadership Potential of Black Women in America Survey," please visit www.leagueofblackwomen.org.
(BLACK PR WIRE) (August 20, 2007) CHICAGO - Because the lives of professional black women in America have been understudied and their contributions as leaders often undervalued, The League of Black Women (LBW) conducted its "LBW Having Our Say: Fostering the Leadership Potential of Black Women in America Survey" to help identify and eliminate the challenges black women face as they strive to fulfill their leadership potential and achieve socio-economic parity for themselves, their families and their communities.
The report includes an assessment of the key barriers to black women realizing their leadership potential; recommendations for how corporations can remove those barriers and support retention; and personal accounts of professional black women striving to rise to leadership positions despite the odds. The data found only 20 percent of black women are "very satisfied" with their overall lives, and respondents reported greater and more pervasive degrees of frustration with advancing in their careers.
"The League of Black Women is committed to supporting and developing leadership values and joyful living for the 21st century black woman," said Sandra Finley, president/CEO. "With this report we provide essential support and timely advice to corporations on specific methods and recommendations to recruit, retain and empower black women as leaders. By implementing our suggested strategies, we believe companies can improve their efforts toward achieving greater workforce diversity."
The nationwide survey, conducted between 2005 and 2007 in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, was designed to gather preliminary data on black women's views about their leadership experiences and satisfaction with their lives. The report highlights three key findings identified as critical factors that influence the level of satisfaction black women obtain in their professional and personal lives. Among the factors are Engagement, defined as institutions and people that have the greatest impact on black women's lives; Cohesion, the quality of black women's relationships with each other; and Bicultural Leadership, used to describe circumstances in which black women lead or exude authority over non-blacks in the workplace. Some specific factors of Engagement, Cohesion and Bicultural Leadership that affect and hinder the overall professional development, advancement and retention of black women in the workplace include:
Engagement
.Under-representation of black women within an organization diminishes essential networking power
.Pressure to hide authentic personal style and professional perspective results in exhaustion (affects productivity)
Cohesion
.Limited professional options that impede black women from having close relationships with each other in corporate environments
.Black women are more committed to their organizations when they are able to form close bonds with other black women
Bicultural Leadership
.Proven leadership ability doesn't reliably translate into promotion opportunities
.Underutilization of education and skill set relegates black women to lower-level jobs
Although black women report they hope to reach their goal of rising to leadership positions, they believe hard work and positive thinking are not enough to obtain the opportunities they seek. To ensure black women have the tools needed to advance, the report suggests corporations need to design distinctive and targeted strategies to develop and advance black women with high potential. Given the limited number of black women as contemporary role models, companies must understand the real time experiences of black women who aspire to obtain corporate leadership jobs and work to provide effective assistance. To combat and address these issues, The League of Black Women recommends corporate leaders promote the concepts of Engagement, Cohesion and Bicultural Leadership in the following ways to support development and retention:
Engagement
.Foster a culture of inclusion that addresses the needs of black women as defined by black women
.Implement policies and practices that respect the need for communal support within and beyond the workplace
Cohesion
.Create coaching resources, mentoring programs, networking opportunities and affinity groups for women of color
.Appreciate cultural and style differences without censure
Bicultural Leadership
.Provide early leadership coaching to help black women successfully confront negative stereotypes
.Recognize and develop black women's distinctive leadership skills
.Identify and end business practices that steer black women with high potential into dead-end jobs
According to the study, black women still see negative perceptions about race as a barrier keeping them from reaching their career goals. As professionals, they believe that others' negative views of them in the workplace hinder their ability to excel in leadership roles. Nearly 80 percent surveyed cited race bias as a hurdle affecting their effectiveness as leaders, to some extent. Respondents said race bias affects interactions with individuals who potentially could influence and advance their career track. Additionally, the report suggests, black women find themselves stagnant in mid and lower level positions that are threatened by corporate downsizing, mergers and acquisitions that cause retention rates of black women to drop.
But despite the overlapping obstacles black women face on their climb up the corporate ladder, the League of Black Women believes if corporations empower black women, their strengths and leadership abilities can be leveraged to help increase company performance and expand business growth.
For more information on The League of Black Women and the "Fostering the Leadership Potential of Black Women in America Survey," please visit www.leagueofblackwomen.org.
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