By Suzanne Ehlers and Elizabeth Becker
Originally published on Grist.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an important new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included. This is unfortunate because women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate solutions.
Crossposted from the Huffington Post
Monrovia, Liberia, March 7, 2009. The "International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security 2009" is about to get started. Presidents Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia) - The first woman president in Africa! - and Tarja Halonen (Finland) are hosting us. It's International Women's day tomorrow. This is a good place to spend it. Even sitting in my warm clothes from cold USA weather (luggage still in transit) and a bit sticky in this tropical weather, I'm nonetheless excited, expectant and hopeful for the two days ahead. About 500 of us are sitting in the middle of the sunny football field. There is no convention hall in Monrovia - this stadium works well, has nice rooms for breakout sessions and safety barriers to protect the four Heads of State here. We don't notice the distant empty stadium seats surrounding us. We're enjoying the shade created by the attractive thatched roof of palm leaves with bamboo poles - creating an "open air tent," the plastic chairs are comfortable, the music is fun. We're waiting for the Heads of State to arrive. One organizer tells us that there were no tents big enough in Liberia for this event - it was a woman's ingenuity that came up with our protective and sweet smelling roof of palm leaves. By the end of this colloquium, I realize not much stops Liberian woman and the good men that work by their side.
Jennifer Johnson is Writer/Editor at Population Action International.
"One seething trembling sea of women." These were the words Russian revolutionary and feminist Aleksandra Kollontai used to describe the one of the first International Women's Day celebrations in 1911. The first events were organized by German socialist Klara Zetkin to call attention to the plight of the female worker. As the year wore on, a whole series of marches and strikes were organized as news of these demonstrations spread across Europe like wildfire.
Odunola Ojewumi is a student at Howard University. She is serving as List Management Intern at Population Action International for the Spring 2009 semester.
On February 21st, I attended a meeting sponsored by Friends of The Congo. "It is our call to action to save the Congo" stood as the message and slogan for this conference. The meeting offered a great amount of information about the devastating tragedy in the Congo. There were four key speakers including a Congolese speaker who fled from the violence there.
Esraa Bani is an Administrative Assistant in the International Advocacy and U.S. Government Relations departments of Population Action International.
A little four year old lay in bed wrapped in blankets. Her teeth were chattering and her body was warm with fever because she lost too much blood. She laid still in her bed as tears rolled down her face. Days passed by without her sleeping or eating because the pain was too much for her frail body to bear.
