Women of the World | Be Bold for Change
March 7, 2017 Kosmos Community News


International Women’s Day 2017 | UN Women

Changing world, changing work

The world of work is changing fast, through innovation, increasing mobility and informality. But it needs to change faster to empower women, whose work has already driven many of the global gains in recent decades. Women still predominantly occupy jobs that pay less and provide no benefits. They earn less than men, even as they shoulder the enormous—and economically essential—burden of unpaid care and domestic work. Realizing women’s economic empowerment requires transformative change so that prosperity is equitably shared and no one is left behind.


Be Bold for Change – the importance of international campaigning and solidarity

By Stevi Jackson and Victoria Robinson via Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York, UK

As we approach International Women’s Day it is worth celebrating feminism’s achievements as well as acknowledging how much still needs to be done. The theme for 2017’s campaign is ‘Be Bold for Change’, which necessitates, we would argue, being bold in how we frame and celebrate past and current feminist achievements, in how we continue theoretically to frame our gendered understandings, as well as how we protest and organise against gendered inequality.


VIDEO | The Girl Effect – The Clock is Ticking

The Girl Effect | The Clock is Ticking is a classic must-see short video for anyone concerned about the plight of young girls in the world. The video brings to life the alternative futures girls face when they reach adolescence – and the impact child marriage has on their life chances.


Trail of Fears | The Harrowing Plight of Women Refugees

Two Reports shed light on the perils women face when fleeing violence in their homelands.

Excerpt | Central American women risk sexual violence en route to U.S. for ‘a better life’, an investigation by Maria Zamudio | Photos by Jack Jones

Report of #WomensVoices, A European Open Space with female refugee and migrant activists, Summary of Conclusions (full report available)


Water Song | Indigenous Women and Water in Canada

PHOTO | Lake Winnipeg Water Walk. Katherine Morrisseau-Sinclair, an Indigenous woman who, inspired by Grandmother Josephine Mandamin, started the Lake Winnipeg Water Walk.

‘Indigenous women across the country are raising their voices to draw attention not only to water issues faced in Indigenous communities, but also water issues that affect all Canadians. The following are a few inspirational illustrations of specific events and initiatives from across Canada. These activities empower and support Indigenous women, building a movement of understanding about the role Indigenous women play with regards to water, the inequities in the involvement of women in water governance, and the need for restoring women’s rightful place in these processes.’


Sparking Transformations for Women in Bangladesh

By Jane Sloane, via The Asia Foundation

In reflecting on International Women’s Day and the women’s rights movements across Asia in the past year, I am reminded of a trip to Bangladesh I took in November. My trip coincided with discussions that were happening in the government on draft legislation that would allow child marriage in “special circumstances,” such as accidental or unlawful pregnancy, without setting a minimum age for such marriages.


Reader’s Essay | The Way of the Wild Feminine

By Marilyn Steele, Ph.D.

‘The wild feminine is not only sustainable in all worlds, it sustains all worlds.’
– Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The map of the psyche and the map of the world are drawn from the same story: The deeply rooted myth of a separate, independent, and autonomous self. The 5,000 year old story we live by is a story of fragmentation, estrangement, alienation from each other, from Nature and from the vast mystery and beauty of our own wild souls. It is a patriarchal story, too narrow, sterile, shallow for any of us to thrive.