“Making a Difference: Innovation and Women in Power” was held during the late afternoon on March 17, in the auditorium of the Salvation Army building, and was sponsored by The International Women’s Forum of Connecticut. Though this session was not as well attended as some of the earlier sessions in the day, those that were there were treated to a panel of internationally renowned women leaders. Moderated by Valerie Gelb, CEO of Gelb Global Business Growth Advisors, the panelist were Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, President and CEO of Global Fund for Women, Christine McConnell, Executive Coach and founder and president of The McConnell Group, Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, and Kavita Ramdas, former president and CEO of The Global Fund for Women. As moderator, Ms. Gelb asked each panelist a variety of questions regarding how women in leadership positions can affect social change, though each question was tailored to the particular expertise and experience of the panelist being asked.
Overall, the panel addressed 3 main themes: the role of technology in women's empowerment, the major issues/challenges facing those who are working towards gender equality, and how women can be leaders for change.
Technology
Technology was primarily presented by the panelists as a resource that can be uniquely suited to support women’s empowerment. Carolyn Miles shared examples of how technology can be used to reach women and children who are often missed by traditional healthcare system, including innovative uses of mobile diagnostic devices that can be used to diagnose and treat children in rural areas and deep urban slums, as well as ways that technology can bring training resources to non-traditional healthcare workers so that they can better serve needy populations. Kavita Ramdas shared examples of how technology can be used to give girls and women a public voice, even when they are not physically allowed in public spaces. This has been seen recently in both Saudi Arabia and in India. Musimbi Kanyoro explained how mobile technologies have allowed disadvantaged populations access to information and resources they have been historically be excluded from, though she also noted situations in which technology can be damaging, especially for girls and women whose images are shared publicly though social media without their consent.
Major Issues
A variety of significant issues were discussed by panelists. One of the most cited was the assumption that economic empowerment is the solution to gender inequality. As Kavita Ramdas explained, there are many places in the world where women has achieved high rates of educational and economic parity, but still lack political or cultural power to make change because of historical cultural norms. Education was frequently described as one of the single largest factors in changing the lives of women and girls. From Carolyn Miles' perspective, education improves the future not only of girls, but also their future generations. Because of this, her organization approaches education not only as an empowerment solution, but also a protective solution.
Leading Change
The panelists provided many examples of the lessons they have learned about how to lead change, and advice for women who want to be leaders in working towards gender equality. Chris McConnell emphasized how important it is for women leaders to focus on their own leadership skills, and ways in which they can empower others by empowering themselves. She also discussed the perceived differences between women who lead in the corporate world and those who lead in the non-profit world, encouraging the world to work together to achieve shared goals. Musimbi Kanyoro called for women leaders to embrace the diversity of the world that we live in and to avoid addressing issues related to equality as single-subject issues. Kavita Ramdas provided 3 practical strategies: give to women’s rights organizations, make friends who are different from you, and use your networks as safe places to have tough conversations.
Word Choice
As the panel came to a close, two important questions of word choice came up. First, Kavita Ramdas shared that she doesn’t like to use the word “empowerment”. As she explained it, power it not given, it is taken. Marginalized populations have to reclaim their rights – they aren’t given new rights by those in power – and by doing so they change the balance of power. She also talked about the often-heard statement “women’s rights are human rights” and spoke passionately about this for several minutes. As echoed by other panelists, gender equality improves not only women, but all members of society. The use of the phrase “women’s rights are human rights” calls attention to the idea that women have not been treated as fully human, when instead we should be calling attention to the fact that all humans need the same rights, regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and other factors.
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