Imagine you’re a seamstress with a bustling business and a loving family. Suddenly, your husband dies. Soon after, his brother invokes traditional law, taking all of your possessions back to his village. According to this tradition, everything you worked hard for now belongs to your late husband’s family. If you were a character in Neria, a popular Zimbabwean film, you get a lawyer.

In Neria, named for the film’s title character, the actors navigate the controversial path between traditional and modern forms of law, as the title character risks social alienation to take her brother-in-law to court. This risk initially dissuades Neria from claiming her rights, but a persuasive friend eventually convinces her to do so. Watching the film, it occurred to me that the story does more than just entertain. It also serves as a public service announcement, showing widows and divorcees a proud way forward. As the highest grossing film in Zimbabwe’s history, it clearly has found a rapt audience.
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April 24th marked the closing session of the 2-week training program, “African Women’s Leadership in Public Life” supported by ExxonMobil.

I had the good fortune of observing the conclusion of this program at American University in Washington DC.

When I arrived to the campus in mid afternoon, I was greeted by a group of women leaders and 2 aspiring youth who, together, represented every region throughout Africa.

The energy in the room was incredible- one sensed that the participants had forged a strong camaraderie throughout the course of the program. As the session progressed, however, it became apparent that these leaders had established far more than friendships—they had, in fact, been successful in building a collaborative working group dedicated to promoting women’s leadership in public life.

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Tonight Vital Voices honors women of stature, women of consequence, women of conviction, women of courage, and women of compassion. From different regions, sectors, and generations, the leaders chosen to accept Vital Voices’ prestigious Global Leadership Award are, in the deepest meaning of Maya Angelou’s timeless prose, phenomenal women.

Over delicious dinners, high-profile events, and informal roundtables, the honorees spoke articulately with Vital Voices staff, members of the international community, and the media, sharing their invaluable advice and insights on the impact of women around the world. Continue Reading »

A campaign is a wide-reaching endeavor to engage people from all sectors, professions, ages, genders, and ideals to support a position, a person, or an ideal. Though campaigns may start out small - an idea perhaps of a single individual or entity, the phenomenon of a campaign is its ability to grow and expand beyond the individuality of its inception, sometimes in unexpected ways.

At Fairfield University, a class of women’s studies students is breathing life into the Women Can in the most inspiring way - designing a collaborative, sustainable and purposeful way to communicate the message of investing in women to improve the women. Continue Reading »