There's Always Someone There to Help

Today was the first day of the Amazing Women monologues. Everybody did very well, and we supported everyone if they felt nervous at all. Through listening, I learned things that I never knew before - for example, that Mother Teresa was Albanian by ethnicity and that Mary Wollstonecraft experienced all kinds of abuse at the hands of various men in her life.

We watched a film called about women in politics today, which brought attention to the shocking dilemma of the low numbers of women in national public office. The United States ranks 85th in the world in terms of female representatives, while developing countries such as Rwanda and Chile are making astonishing improvements with gender equality in political representation. Although Rwanda suffered through a devastating genocide in 1994, it has made great political and economic advances in recent years. 

Why hasn't the United States made such improvements? Jeanne Sheehan, former governor of New Hampshire and current US Senator, told her interviewer that she sees what's happening in other countries but that she believes change at home will happen slowly but surely. Anna Hidalgo, a former TA for Women and Leadership, led a debriefing after the film and urged us repeatedly to consider running for political office in the future. She told us that it is very hard to run for office, and that there's a 98% rate of success for incumbents, but that the biggest obstacle for women in public service is not the outside world, but their own lack of self-confidence. About 2/3 of men rate themselves as having basic leadership qualities, but women consistently rate themselves lower though they may have these qualities already.

Personally, I am very interested in political science, and I took her suggestions into serious consideration.

Here are two youth leaders named Kakeena Castro and Susan Anderson after their presentation to us. They introduced us to their organization, Youth in Action, which advocates for youth rights in the Providence area. They showed us a "Youth Bill of Rights", which asserted that, among various things, all youth should have access to free health care, healthy and enjoyable school lunches, a voice in the selection of their teachers and administration, and affordable public transportation. I agree with all those points. I wouldn't say that decisions should be left to youth and only to youth, but  I believe that we should be allowed to have input which should be valued by adults. Kisa serves on their joint adult-youth board and they stressed the importance of finding and utilizing mentors who can help you every step of the way. It opened my eyes to the fact that there's always someone there to help. I'm very glad that I heard these two women present.

After class, I went to the Partner Scholars gathering for Summer@Brown students who came here on a scholarship or with a group. It was lots of fun - we ate pizza while we asked questions of the 4 panelists who were all first-generation college students. I met Mo, who I believe is a Leadership Fellow here, and Soyoung, who is a student like me.

Pizza and Women in Politics!!

Class has gone great, today we had another very interesting day. It was lots of fun as always to contribute our perspectives on the issues and topics we talk about. As on most days, today we had a couple of guest speakers one of which was Anna Hidalgo, a Brown Alumni and an old participant of the Women and Leadership course.

Ms. Hidalgo came to class to present to us a video, from PBS's show called "Now" on Women, Power, and Politics, and then an analysis of it and how it relates to our lives as women today. The movie concentrated on the topic of women in politics. The movie was interesting and brought to my attention how even though the U.S. is considered an advanced nation it has fallen behind when it comes to women participation in government. The U.S., according to the video, is ranked 69th in the percentage of women holding office, which according to Ms. Hidalgo we found has become worse because now we are the 85th. 

In the movie we got a good analysis of the ex president of Chile who was a woman and her perspective on the issue of women involvement in politics. In addition, we got to see the great progress of an African nation after its genocide and how in its parliament women form almost half of the representatives. It was very impressive to see how a nation that not long ago was devastated to such a great degree rose back and progressed in such a great aspect. There, women involved in politics are not put down or viewed wrongly because they believe in a woman's ability to lead and make important decisions. Additionally, they understand the great contributions that women make to society. 

In the movie, we also got to see a girls debate competition and its participant's view on the subject of being an unspoken woman. Moreover, we got the chance to see the campaign efforts of a New Hampshire Senator as she ran for office. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were also mentioned in the film. What all the women shared in this video was the determination to represent and share their opinions with the world.

After, the video was over we got into a little discussion of the issues and themes that it presented. One very interesting thing that Ms. Hidalgo said while she was speaking to us is that for a woman it is necessary to hear the words, "run for office," or something along those lines, at least six/seven times for them to listen. Therefore, throughout the time she spent with us she told us that around four times and Kisa told us once. I guess we all just need around one or more of these encouragements and we will be off for mayor or something (according to her fact). In addition, Ms. Hidalgo mentioned what exactly is viewed or criticized in women politicians. She mentioned how a lot of attention is placed on their wardrobe and femininity. 

The time passed and it turned out that today we went for lunch at around 12:20 PM instead of 12:00 PM. Nevertheless, it was well worth it.

After lunch time, we had two more guest speakers, this time from Youth in Action, a non-profit organization from Providence. They spoke to us about their organization and its history. In addition, they went into detail on some of their actions and goals. To me this organization sounds like a really active one, but it is only located here in Providence. One of my classmates spoke about beginning another one of these organizations in Chicago, which to me does not sound bad at all. One speaker said that they would surely gladly aid if that became the case. According, to what they told us the organization really aims to help youth in different manners from expression to activism.

Class ended around 3:30 PM as always. Today, however, there was an event planned just for students like us, the ILC, that came here to Brown through some program. It was great to meet a couple of new people, eat pizza, and speak to first generation students as many of us are. The Brown students that were present told us a bit about themselves and their history. Afterwards, we were divided up into three different groups in which one or two of the students answered some of the questions we had asked through index cards when we had first arrived. The student who lead the group I was on was coincidentally from San Leandro, California! She was really nice and informative, just as Ryan, one of the organizers of the Leadership academy, and the other college grads in the room.

More to come later!!

If you want to see the video that we watched today in class follow the link below:

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/437/index.html