March 5, 2010

Spreading the word is powerful

One of my former students sent me a link to Nicholas Kristof’s latest op-ed piece in the New York Times. He explores the world of child marriages and makes a correlation between societal violence and the degree of female repression in that society.

It’s hard to imagine that there have been many younger divorcées — or braver ones — than a pint-size third grader named Nujood Ali.

Nujood is a Yemeni girl, and it’s no coincidence that Yemen abounds both in child brides and in terrorists (and now, thanks to Nujood, children who have been divorced). Societies that repress women tend to be prone to violence.

Not only was I excited to read yet another piece by Kristof detailing the global injustices waged against girls and women, I was excited that Samantha had sent me that link the morning after I had attended the Half the Sky event in celebration of International Women’s Day. The event created  an educational platform to foster dialogue about global women’s rights violations, make these violations center stage and offer solutions and examples of triumph. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn authored the book that inspired the movement and last night’s event.

Last night’s event and this morning’s message from Samantha linking me to Kristof’s article came after an inspiring morning with my classes yesterday and the women from Global Girl Media and Heroica Films. The morning was an inspiring mix of presentation and brainstorming. The power of the new media, online social networking and spreading the word became inspiring themes, themes that are not unfamiliar to many of us but themes that came alive for many for the first time and became alive again for many others (myself included).

These 3 events combined have stoked the fire anew. After decades of activism and consciousness-raising, I can never be reminded enough about the power of community, the connections that spark our imaginations and hearts and the power of spreading the word by any means necessary.

February 24, 2010

Half the Sky Event

Filed under: Event,Gender,Politics — Tags: , , — Melanie @ 8:53 pm

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Half the Sky: A One Night Event, inspired by the stories from the book with the same title, will take place Thursday, March 4.