One Woman’s Voice: And How Using Yours Can Start a Revolution

Since I first began my work on the concept for One Woman's Voice, much has changed in the current landscape and outlook for the rights of women and girls, here in 2013 -- changed for the better! In 2008, a woman was almost selected to be a presidential contender. She was later elevated to U.S. Secretary of State, the highest Cabinet position in the United States government. Yet another was made the first female president of Brazil, in a highly male-dominant country and culture, where “machismo” traditionally has ruled the land. Additionally, political figures and individual women aside, there is now a huge movement to improve the lives of women and girls everywhere around the globe, and to improve the way they are viewed in society.
One example of this is the movement began by the film “Miss Representation” - a documentary by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, with collaborators such as Jane Fonda, Jennifer Pozner, Pat Mitchell, and Geena Davis. Their movement of the same name now strives to spread its message around the globe. The premise of this film is that women’s portrayal in TV, movies, video, and all forms of media is very poor, often degrading and not up to the standards that it should be in this, the twenty-first Century. Female role models whose lives and successes do not revolve around their looks are extremely lacking in today’s society. The roles that women actors portray (with a very few exceptions, relative to men’s) tend to be secondary and minor when compared to their male contemporaries. This needs to change if we want our girls of today to grow up to be the leaders of tomorrow. They must have a new type of role model to look up to – of intellectual, driven, and other-than-image and youth-centric. Of women with integrity, who are striving in the fields of science, mathematics, education, the arts, or biotechnology. How will we instigate this change?

I think the ways in which we can affect girls’ lives (both at home and abroad); in our own families and in the families of the world, are vast and so extremely important. With Sheryl Sandberg's 'Lean In' movement, and Hillary Clinton's now infamous quote, it is now widely understood that "The plight of women and girls is the unfinished business of the twenty-first century."
So, I'm inviting women to d i v e in! To help shape the next generations of young women into the leaders and productive members of society they were always meant to be, is part of the aim of this book. Beginning with the women who will enable them to do so – us! I believe that women – by speaking up and speaking their minds, contributing to the conversation – are a great part of the solution, here.

To have a voice in society; to speak our minds and speak up for ourselves and the injustices in the world that are committed against women; that is our mission, that is our job, that is our privilege. With topics such as "What Inspires You in Others" or "Travel as a Means of Discovering Oneself" you will explore all the ways that you, as a woman, interact with and positively affect our world. “(We) are not here merely to make a living. (We) are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. (We) are here to enrich the world, and (we) impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” (Woodrow Wilson) I believe this is true; and it inspires me every day. By speaking up, using your women’s voice no matter where you are, even in your own household -- it all starts with us. We can, (in the words of the late, great Mahatma Gandhi), be the change...the change our girls in this nation and all nations need, today.