The Next Generation of Young Female Leaders: Confident, In Control, and Visionary

“Many change agents focus on pathology. Instead, one must focus on vision.”

                                                                                                                                -Gail Straub

 Gail Straub, co-founder of the Empowerment Institute, held an eye-opening and profound leadership workshop with nine global scholars from Korea, Egypt, India, Afghanistan, Indonesia, South Africa, the United States, and Austria from September 17-19, 2012. Organized in advance of the launch of the Omega Institute’s new Women’s Leadership Center during the 2012 Women &Power conference near Rhinebeck, NY, Gail’s workshop imparted the tools and skills necessary to allow these dedicated young women to explore their own leadership styles and to identify the next steps for growth and empowerment.

The commonalities between the issues these women from around the world say they face are striking: across the board, the global scholars indicated that they needed help with boosting their own self-confidence, “owning” their achievements, finding a “mirror” to be able to accurately assess their efficacy as a leader, finding a balance between masculine and feminine as well as head-driven and heart-driven leadership styles, and being able to trust others. Although the women work in extremely diverse fields, including with female inmates in the United States, with sex workers in India, in interfaith and women’s empowerment projects in Indonesia, and in building shelters for women in Afghanistan,  they faced similar challenges in being able to fully claim and flourish in their leadership potential.

Gail helped the group to identify their own personal “limiting beliefs,” such as “In order to trust someone else I have to give up control,” and to redefine these beliefs to create achievable visions. She pointed out that most change agents focus on pathology—that is to say, they focus their attention on identifying and defining problems, which tends to cause the problem to grow and to limit an individual’s ability to find solutions to the problem. Instead, Gail encourages young leaders to focus on their vision—and the solution to the problem will follow.

Azza, from Egypt, has the following vision: “I want to be in control of my life—I want to get in the boat of life and guide the boat, not let the boat be guided by the waves.” Hyung Kyun, from South Korea, wants to “harvest the abundance of life.”

 

On September 22, Gail interviewed Azza, Samu (from South Africa), Manizha (from Afghanistan), and Tejaswi (from India) on stage at the Women & Power conference. These courageous young leaders got a standing ovation from the crowd as they shared their life experiences and hopes for their own future as well as for the futures of women in their communities. It is female leaders like these with whom SAVE liaises around the world to find new and sustainable ways of combating violent extremism, through the targeted and responsible inclusion of women in the security sphere.

US marks 9/11 anniversary, SAVE to launch Women of One Fabric global workshop series in New York

Thousands will gather today in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania to mark the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in a number of low key ceremonies.

The main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York’s Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people who died both on 9/11 and during the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

The New York skyline has been lit up with twin lights, filling the hole left after the collapse of the twin towers.

President Obama and his wife Michelle will observe the anniversary with a moment of silence outside the White House.

It has been more than two years since Osama Bin Laden was killed at his Abbottabad compound in Pakistan. Even though the Al Qaeda movement was largely weakened by their leader’s death, terrorist attacks are still occurring every day in Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and many other countries in the name of Al Qaeda and its affiliate organizations. Recent hate crimes, shootings and terrorist attacks in Europe and the US have also shed light on rising sentiments of intolerance towards different cultures and religions in the West.

Sisters Against Violent extremism believes that now more than ever, women around the world must take the lead in the fight against violent extremism in their communities. It is true that in times of war and insecurity women often pay the highest price, nonetheless, SAVE strongly believes that women are also driven to protect their families and best-placed to be a creative force for stability in their households, neighborhoods and cities. Women hold key strategic positions as wives, mothers, educators, social workers and community leaders and are therefore better positioned to prevent the spread of violence by advocating for peace, tolerance and non-violence.

SAVE is launching a brand new film entitled Your Mother that addresses the issue of violent extremism and its impact on mothers around the world. Find out more on our website.

On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of 9/11, SAVE will run the very first Women of One Fabric workshop in Irvington, NY, in partnership with Tuesday’s Children. The workshop will be the primary stage of a global solidarity campaign for women dedicated to creating a united front against violent extremism.

Women of One Fabric uses dialogue to highlight the commonalities of loss and tragedy that result from acts of violent extremism, and will help to create understanding for the role that women must play in order to counteract the rhetoric of revenge and terror. The international workshops form the basis of a global campaign that will attract attention to the universal threat of violent extremism and the painful human aftermath of such acts.

The participants of the Women of One Fabric workshop, New York 2012

Hosted by the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute at the Company Headquarters in Irvington, a group of women impacted by 9/11 will include pieces of a personal belonging of their loved one in the creation of beautiful sheets of hand-made paper. After the paper has dried, participants will embellish the paper under the guidance of a local artist to depict their emotions of loss, and hope for a future without violent extremism. During the workshop there will be opportunity to foster conversation, mentorship, and outreach opportunities, and subsequently the exhibit will be displayed in Atlanta, Georgia, Washington D.C., New York, and around the world.

With similar workshops in the US, Indonesia, Nigeria, Somalia, India, Pakistan and Northern Ireland, culminating in an international art exhibition, Women of One Fabric will work to create a new narrative of unity and agency instead of division and victimhood.

Has the Arab Spring Truly Benefited Women Thus Far?

By Evita Mouawad

Women show the flags of Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya painted on their palms
in the southern city of Taiz, December 2011.Credit: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

Of all the revolutions witnessed during the Arab Spring, the Tunisian transition was considered to be by far the most promising. Compared to Egypt, which endured harsh military rule for 18 months after the fall of Mubarak, Tunisia’s political change came relatively swiftly, and in October 2011, a new Constituent Assembly was elected and charged with rewriting the constitution. Women also gained an estimated 23 percent of seats in the new assembly, surpassing a great number of neighboring countries in the region.

Tunisia was often described as one of the Arab world’s most liberal countries, but it also has a long history of friction over the role of religion in society. Secular voters were especially alarmed when Ennahda, a formerly-banned Islamic party, won 41% of the total vote in the first free elections in some 25 years since Ben Ali took power by military coup.

Wary of the world’s skepticism towards Islamists at the time, the party presented itself as a modern and democratic Muslim party and looked toward the Turkish political system as a possible model to follow. Even though Ennahda has expressed support for women's rights and gender equality, the party only appointed two women in top positions. Their most famous female member, Souad Abdel Rahim, often portrayed by the media as a modern Muslim woman, has repeatedly stated that Ennahda will never suppress women’s rights by legalizing polygamy or rendering the headscarf mandatory.

Nonetheless, recent developments in Tunisia have sparked angry demonstrations. Thousands of women took to the streets of Tunis last week to protest an article from the draft of the new constitution. The proposed legislation describes women as complementary to men in the family and associates to men in the development of the country. Activists fear this new wording could lead to a decline in women’s rights in the future, some of them are even demanding that the language from the 1956 constitution be used instead, as it holds men and women equal.

Tunisian women demonstrating against gender inequality article
from draft of new constitution, August 2012

As for the other emerging Arab Spring democracies, Libya and Egypt are also facing challenges when it comes to women’s rights and their integration in the new political systems. Last month in Libya, women gained an estimated 33 seats out of 80 party seats. This awarded them with approximately 17 percent of the National Assembly, which is far more promising than the mere 2 percent of seats that women are currently holding in Egypt’s new parliament. Nonetheless, the Libyan women’s victory was largely due to quotas that were set during the elections. Some analysts have even argued that women would have never gotten this much representation if election regulations favoring them were not introduced.

It remains to be seen whether the women who have stepped foot into these transitional governments will truly have decision-making power, especially when it comes to advancing women’s status in their countries. However, the most important result of the Arab revolutions remains that the women who led them have realized the influence they can have on their governments and societies, and are henceforth prepared to make their strident voices heard when their rights are at risk.

What's Possible in Women's Leadership: Interview with Elizabeth Lesser

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 Elizabeth Lesser is the cofounder of the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, the author of the bestselling book, Broken Open, and a longstanding member of the Women without Borders network. Take a look at her inspiring interview on the vision of women and power behind the launch of Omega's new Women's Leadership Center.

Marianne Schnall, founder of Feminist.com, interviews Omega cofounder Elizabeth Lesser.
Original article posted April 25, 2012.




Marianne: What inspired the formation of the Omega Women’s Leadership Center?


Elizabeth: Since we began in 1977, Omega has offered big conferences and smaller workshops on a variety of subjects specifically for women. About 10 years ago, I began thinking about what happens when you put the words “women” and “power” together. From the beginning of recorded history, there’s been an unspoken law that it’s un-ladylike to put those words together. I wanted to turn that on its head and explore the whole issue. What is a powerful woman? As women assume more power, can we transform the way it is used? Can we help the world become more conscious about the uses and abuses of power?

We started offering Women & Power conferences and they took off in a way that surprised me—instead of just 50 or 100 people coming, hundreds of women came from around the world. By the third or fourth year, it had become one of the biggest and most influential women’s conferences in the country. We would hear how it changed the course of women’s lives. And we heard a lot about participants wanting follow up. They wanted to know how to take the inspiration from the conference and make changes in their workplace, family life, and the world. In response, we began to contemplate creating a more structured center at Omega where we could have longer trainings for women interested in becoming a different kind of leader.

Marianne: How would you describe the mission and vision behind the Omega Women’s Leadership Center?

Elizabeth:  The overarching vision is that we believe women have the potential to change the way power is used in the world for everybody. We’re not interested in women taking over the old power paradigm. We think everyone will benefit when women not only join men at the table, but also help men turn the tables over and create something new. When the rules of power were made—way back in the early stages of human society-building—women weren’t part of the conversation. They weren’t consulted on questions like, “How do we share resources? How do we deal with conflict? What should we prioritize?  What’s important for a society?” As women take on more and more powerful leadership positions—in the home, at work, in religion, and government—when enough of us get there, we might actually change what it means to be powerful and to lead. It might look more inclusive. It might look like a more care-based society. This has never been tested, because there have never been enough women in power and enough women empowered with their own voice to even test it. Our loftiest goal is to ask these questions of women leaders: “Can you show, in your leadership, a different way of dealing with conflict—a more constructive ways of sharing power? Do you have better reasons for wanting to lead then just to satisfy your own ego? Are you interested in leadership as a way of transforming our society?“

Photo credit to the Omega Institute.

Marianne: Why do you think transforming power and women’s leadership is so important and timely right now?

Elizabeth: All times in history have had their serious challenges, but it seems to us, that we are living in a pretty critical time, one that calls for a different way of being together, a different way of leading, and a different way of sharing power. If ever there was a time that a new voice was needed, it’s now, because the stakes are really high when it comes to the environment, the way we solve conflicts, the way we share resources, and the way we feed everyone. The qualities that live within the hearts of women—honoring diversity and recognizing the value of emotional intelligence—if ever those qualities were needed, it’s now.

Marianne: You also talk about the need to redefine power. Power is usually thought of as very hierarchal. What does this new power look like to you?

Elizabeth: I don’t think all hierarchy is necessarily evil or bad. Whenever human beings are together, there needs to be some kind of structure, some kind of hierarchy where decisions can be made in such a way that everyone doesn’t go crazy making them. It’s the corruption of power that bothers me. Power is just using energy in a wise way to get things done. Power has been misinterpreted to mean getting my way on the backs of other people. Getting whatever I want, forgetting that there are other beings and species and energies involved.  The OWLC will examine what it would look like if power was put in the service of everybody, as opposed to just a few people. We understand that to lead and to get things done takes a lot of organization, structure, decision making, and strength, but that does not have to equate to violence, domination, and the unconscious use of resources.

Marianne: As the cofounder of Omega, a teacher, and a best-selling author, what have you personally learned about being a leader through your experience?

Elizabeth: I was in my early twenties when we started Omega. I had very little respect for my own instincts and voice. I was in a male dominated leadership structure—which most women were then, and still are now. I was quite naive—I went into leadership thinking, ‘I’m going to learn from these guys—they have a lot of things to teach me, especially about business and finances and keeping a large organization running.’  I thought I had some interesting and important things to teach the men in my organization, about utilizing the people within the organization, taking care of the people, empowering the people, training them, bringing them up as we went along, so that we would be stronger together. It surprised and upset me in my early days that it was expected that I would learn the ropes of one power paradigm, but there wasn’t much interest on the other side, in learning about what I had to say. I didn’t know how to navigate that imbalance. I didn’t trust my own voice; I thought that because what I had to say wasn’t being respected meant that there was something wrong with me. Over the years I began to understand through a long, hard process that my instincts and vision were valid. The work I have done to gain confidence in my own voice has been so important. I learned how to speak in a way that will be heard and to know when not to back down, when to hold my ground.

Marianne: Obviously, there are many obstacles in society for women in terms of gaining leadership, but oftentimes it’s the woman herself who stands in her way. It starts in girlhood when we’re taught to devalue our true voice or focus on how we look and not know our true worth, or to even know we have power.

Elizabeth: There’s the Greek myth of Cassandra who was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo. When she refused to become his consort, he placed a curse on her—she would retain the power of foresight, but no one would believe her predictions. Cassandra foresaw the destruction of Troy but she was unable to prevent the war. No one believed what she saw or what she said. And, in a way, all women have been living out the myth of Cassandra from the beginning of time. We know important things for humanity, but we have not been listened to, and as a result, we’ve gathered some unfortunate behaviors where the way we express what we know isn’t respected. What I’ve learned over my years in leadership, is first, to trust that what I feel, know, and see is of value, and two, to learn a way to speak it in such a way that it’s listened to and acted on. One of the problems with traditional leadership training programs is that they don’t take into account this deep obstacle that many women have, this pervading, yet unconscious feeling within, bolstered by society, that what you have to say really isn’t of value. If family and society tell you its unfeminine, not really womanly, to be aggressive, to speak up, to have strong opinions, to take up space, then women won’t trust their own voice, because to be heard and to be influential, you’ve got to have a way to sing out with passion and love and self-trust—to sing out your song for everyone to hear. Women leaders are at a disadvantage, because we are actually taught not to sing out with strength and conviction.

Photo Credit to the Omega Institute.

Marianne: On the flip side are women in leadership positions that decide to speak out that wind up getting harsh backlash—that’s another element of the problem.

Elizabeth: Then why would you want to do it? It’s hard enough. It’s hard for men to lead. It’s hard to lead. It’s scary to lead. It’s hard for everyone. Men struggle with it, too. But they have the winds of culture behind them because that is the way it is supposed to be. Everyone in leadership has to deal with the same difficulties--you risk not being liked, you risk making mistakes.

Marianne: What unique qualities do you think women bring to leadership that are most essential for the world today?

Elizabeth: I do want to first speak to this problem of generalizations because not all women are the same and not all men are the same. Many men today will say with great eagerness—this is so exciting what you’re doing with Omega’s Women Leadership Center. It’s so necessary. They feel trapped, as well, in an old paradigm of leadership. They see that it’s not working. Women have other ideas? Great! What are they? They feel hungry to develop parts of themselves that have been sleeping, or have not been allowed to come out. Men and women have within themselves both masculine and feminine qualities. This Jungian way of looking at people is the way I view human beings. There’s a feminine energy and a masculine energy at play in the world. And men, of course, often have more of the masculine; women often have more of the feminine, but that doesn’t mean that to be a woman is to be all soft, sweet, caring, doily, and pretty, and to be a man is to be firm, strong, decisive, and warrior. It’s not as easily broken down the middle like that. Yes, women are more traditionally carriers of the feminine—that part of the human that cares about other people, that nurtures other people, that takes the long view, that values everyone working together. That’s feminine energy. If that energy is respected and paired with the masculine energy, which is more about the explorer, the discoverer, and the warrior, then things are in balance and a new kind of leader can be born. I’m not talking about replacing patriarchy with matriarchy. I’m talking about getting out of the whole “archy” paradigm altogether and becoming human together, becoming full human beings. For thousands of year 51% of the population has been left out of the big decisions. I don’t know exactly what it will look like when there’s full inclusivity of women, but I have to assume that any group who has been left out for that long, has something really important to add to the whole picture to balance things out. People often say, well look at Sarah Palin or Margaret Thatcher—they didn’t add anything different. But that’s a very small-minded way of looking at this. Those are just a few leaders. A critical mass of women of all different points of view is going to make a difference.

Marianne: What do you personally do to kind of keep yourself centered and in touch with your authentic self?

Elizabeth: One practice I rely on all the time is basic meditation which allows me to strip away the noise. Its like the old-fashioned dial on the radio, where you were getting static and then you found that clear, sweet spot on the dial, where the music would come through. That’s what meditation is for me. Dialing out the static, the noise, the anxiety, the fear, and coming into a place that’s deep and quiet. It’s like dropping into a well of inspiration and wisdom. I also continually read from wisdom traditions from around the world and across the ages—poetry, holy books, and novels. Anything that connects me to the best in the human spirit. I gain a lot of strength from nature and from other people who are courageous enough to be seekers, not just living in a rut that society has carved out as the way to be.

Marianne: Many women these days are overwhelmed with responsibilities and feeling so overextended that we can’t find time to nurture ourselves, much less change the world.

Elizabeth: I think that all of humanity is finding itself in this position. Things have sped up and we’re able to do so much more in a day. It’s a very different way to be a human right now then it was 50 years ago. The first thing I would say would be to take a nice, big breath and realize it’s not that there’s something wrong with you, you’re not doing anything wrong, everyone is going through this right now. Don’t layer on top of it some sense that ‘If I was doing it differently, I would be okay.’ This seems to be the nature of life right now.

That being said, it is amazing how even 10 minutes without your cell phone or computer or TV or iPod—just you and silence—can wake you up and fill your empty well. Just shutting the door and telling everybody, don’t bother me for 10 little minutes. Your sacred time to either sit nice and tall, breathe or stretch, or do some physical exercise that awakens the energy inside of you. Even 10 minutes a day is really helpful and I absolutely do not believe that anyone doesn’t have 10 minutes a day. If you clocked your day and saw how much time you were just sort of surfing the web, or watching television, or talking on the phone, or having fruitless conversations—you would find you do have time, but it takes some degree of discipline. This is why most spiritual paths are called a discipline or a practice. A practice is something that you have to make yourself do, but the result is becoming better at the art of living.
I think we are out of balance now as a species--and women know this more than men do—because there’s something in our makeup and in our bodies that really wants to luxuriate more in just the joy of being alive and not always consuming, creating, building. There’s something inside of us that wants desperately to stop and experience and just be—not just always do. We want to explore this at the OWLC: Can women lead us out of this compulsive behavior driving us crazy as a species? Taking time out of the frenzy might feel selfish or even indulgent, but I believe it may actually save the world.

Marianne: One of the things I heard you say recently that I thought was intriguing, was how you felt there was a hunger for a new kind of feminism.  Can you talk a little bit about that?

Elizabeth: I’m talking about American feminism, because in some parts of the world the feminism of my mother’s time, and even her mother’s time, is what is needed today. When American women rose up in the early 20th century and demanded basic human rights, it required a fierce strength to break through formidable cultural, religious, and legal blocks.  And again in the Sixties and the Seventies, it was a movement in opposition to the status quo. Women around the world are still fighting for basic rights and we want the OWLC to support all women, wherever they are on the spectrum of liberation. Here in America, we’re able to embrace a new kind of feminism. One aspect of the new feminism is more inclusivity of men. Because I think men are suffering as much as women, locked in the old way of doing leadership and power. Men are starving for a way of being in the world that honors their full humanity.  I see it in my son who is the stay-at-home parent in his family—he has a son and his wife brings home the main salary, she works full time and is the acknowledged breadwinner. And there are a lot of men taking on this role now with no shame, and with a sense of great joy and pride that they can develop that part of themselves. One of my favorite Gloria Steinem quotes is “We've taken one giant step forward by convincing the majority of the country that women can do what men can do. But the next step is convincing the country that men can do what women can do. So far, we don't believe it ourselves.” Men want to fully participate in what it means to be human, being at home, raising the children, being the caretakers. Until that is evened out, we can’t say we have a full feminism.

Emotional intelligence is a big part of what feminism is going to include and give as a gift to the world. As in Eve Ensler’s new play, “I am an Emotional Creature”—the pride, for women to say, yeah, we’re emotional creatures and emotions will save the world. Love will save the world. Passion will save the world. Communication between human beings. Knowing what I feel. Knowing what you feel. This is what we need right now and women have centuries of having honed being more emotionally intelligent—now everyone needs to be emotionally intelligent.

Marianne: One of the things that Omega does so well is creating and cultivating community.  It’s important to know you’re not out there by yourself.

Elizabeth: In most sociological surveys of people in America when the question is asked, “What is lacking most in your life?” What comes up is the sense of community, the sense of belonging to something. Most people live in cities and neighborhoods, they don’t know their neighbors, they don’t feel connected to a group of people. One thing that Omega and the OWLC has put a lot of effort into is creating a place--whether it’s on our campus or online—where you can feel part of a group of people who want to do the same thing you want to do. When you do things all alone, you can lose your energy by thinking, ‘it’s just me. Why do I care so much? Why do I make such a big stink?’ You lose your voice, you lose your passion and then you just make your way through the day. But when you’re around other people who think the way you do, and share a passion for making the world a better place, it feeds you.

Marianne: The theme of this September’s Women & Power Conference is “What’s Possible”. In your opinion, what is possible?

Elizabeth: I have great faith in human beings, even given the terrible things that we perpetuate on each other and the world. I believe that human beings are remarkable creations and have this miraculous capacity to love and create, to make art, to make love, to be joyful, to celebrate. And, I continue to think it’s possible to build societies based on joy and celebration, creativity, and higher consciousness. I am always aiming towards that, towards heaven on earth, which I believe is the promise that we feel in our hearts could be possible. If we didn’t think it was possible, we wouldn’t continue to dream of it, look for it, create it in our families and in our workplaces. That flame to aim for the best in the human spirit is in every human being. It’s contagious to be positive and optimistic and to make your life be a model of something beautiful. I want to teach people to have that faith and positivity so they can be contagious forces in the world also.

Join the Omega Women's Leadership Center for Women & Power 2012 and Launch Celebration in Rhinebeck, NY, USA. 

Update from Tajikistan - SAVE Paving the Way for Mothers' Schools

Workshop participants in a planning session

How many of our readers can locate Tajikistan on a map? It is strategically placed in the heart of Central Asia, and shares a 1400 km border with Afghanistan, a volatile border with Uzbekistan pocked by landmines, and a border with Kyrgyzstan which is not demarcated for stretches on end. Unemployment rates are as high as 80% in some regions, leading over two million Tajiks to search for work in Russia. Many here do not have electricity at home. We met an impressive young Tajik woman whose mother was a math teacher in Tajikistan, but found she could earn more money scrubbing toilets in Russia. She and her husband migrated to Russia to put her eldest daughter through university, which also meant that the eldest daughter suddenly had to raise her two sisters on her own. Last year, five young women killed themselves in a village in Gafurov within the span of one week, due to unhappy forced marriages and desperation resulting from their financial situation. Married women commit suicide to flee violent relationships, although this topic of conversation is taboo, meaning that many women have nowhere to turn to discuss their issues.

The young generation is particularly affected by the lack of employment opportunities, and there are few ways in which to spend their free time. Boredom and lack of perspective seem to increase their vulnerability to radical forces, which offer the youth a sense of brotherhood/sisterhood, financial support, and promises that the afterlife will be better than their present fate.

A view up to the mountains of Tajikistan

Twenty-two female community mobilizers and teachers came together to attend a five-day SAVE Mothers for Change! teamshaping workshop in Khujand, where they gained a strong group identity and announced their commitment to sensitize mothers to their role in combating violent extremism. They reached the joint conclusion to launch “Mothers Schools” in villages in two regions in northern Tajikistan, to provide courses on combating radicalization and to offer classes on a range of other topics of interest, from how to raise children to agricultural techniques. The Mothers Schools will break new ground concerning women’s role in combating violent extremism.

The Panjshanbe Market in Khujand

The women’s dedication and passion for improving their communities was striking; although many of these women never received higher education, their ability to analytically assess their needs and develop potential best practices for implementation holds significant promise for women-driven change in Tajikistan.

In this desperate situation, the youth we are meeting in Dushanbe—young men and women who were educated abroad but have returned to build a new future for their country—provide a ray of hope.

Empowering Indian women to tackle extremism on the home front

Archana Kapoor, coordinator of the SAVE “Indian Women Say No to Violent Extremism!” program, was sure that no-one would turn up for the workshop the day after a fresh terror attack in Mumbai on 13 July, 2011. But on the morning of 14 July she was pleasantly surprised.

Group of participants in the brain-storming session, November 2010

“The morning of 14 July saw 100% attendance at our workshop. All the 80 participants were there and also the trainers, some of whom continued to commute from far flung areas of the terror stricken city,” recalls Kapoor, referring to the second three-month phase of SAVE’s workshop in Mumbai.

“I was amazed. I was overwhelmed,” adds Kapoor.

SAVE recently successfully completed the pilot phase of its income-generation, empowerment and anti-extremism workshop in Mumbai. The pilot workshop ran from April to June and involved 100 women. Due to the success of the pilot workshop, SAVE decided to immediately continue with a second workshop for a further 80 women. This second workshop had barely been launched when Mumbai was hit by a series of bomb blasts that killed 26 people.

Archana is convinced that the reason women don’t want to miss out on the workshop despite the traumatic events is due to the fact that the first workshop proved so useful to its participants. She suspects that the positive change seen in the women who participated in the pilot SAVE training was noticed by their neighbours, some of whom have joined the second phase.

Before they came to the workshop, many of the women felt they had little choice but to watch the world pass by helplessly. They lived in a narrow world of their own, with little insight into the motivations and risks of their children’s behavior. The participants now seem far more vigilant and aware about their children’s activities.

SAVE India first visited the neighbourhood where members of Mumbai’s large police force live soon after the three day terrorist siege of Mumbai in 2008. Most of the women SAVE talked to were deeply traumatized by the attack on their city, especially as most had male relatives who had been on duty during the siege. Some had lost family members in the attacks.

Many of the women felt helpless in the face of the changes that were taking place so rapidly in the world around them. They did not understand why their lives were threatened, and most were totally dependent on male members of the family. Most of them had no experience of formal education and no income of their own.

SAVE decided to introduce concepts of self-empowerment to these women, initially through a week-long workshop called Our Stories, Our Future in April 2010. Storytelling was used as a tool to get the participants to find their voice, to articulate personal encounters and to make the lived experiences of those impacted by violent extremism heard. Before this exercise, the women had no outlet to voice either their pain or their joy.

This was followed by Swimming into the Future with the aim of providing a new skill but also creating a bond between participants. Swimming was chosen as a tool conducive to confidence building that helped participants to feel comfortable with their body.

In November 2010, SAVE organized a brainstorming session with the women to discuss what skills they would like to learn in order to make their life more meaningful for themselves, their families and the communities in which they live. After initial hesitation, the women found their voice and the unanimous answer was that they wanted to learn a skill that would also help them to generate an income.

Reacting to the women’s wishes, SAVE decided to launch a pilot project in the midst of these women who spend their entire lives supporting male members of the family in the police force. As the agenda of the workshop took shape with the help of professionals including EduGuru India, a skill-providing agency, an integrated program of income-generating activities, empowerment and anti-extremism training was designed by SAVE especially for these women.

By the end of the eight week training, participants said that their time-worn perceptions of themselves and of the world that they live in had changed.

For example Sandhya Nikam, a housewife in her mid 30s said that the SAVE training is not just about leaning a skill, but about learning a life-changing skill.

Sandhya was part of SAVE’s Our Stories Our Future workshop and has returned for computer lessons and more confidence building. She says that she has come a long way since she was married at the age of 22 to a policeman with a meager salary. The family grew to three children but the income did not. At that time Sandhya probably believed that a life of deprivation was her fate. She lacked confidence to think of an alternative. But then she signed up for the computer training program, which changed her life.

“The success of the first workshop made it easy for us to begin a second one so soon after,” Archana points out.

However both the workshops were organized in the face of multiple challenges, says Archana.

The 80 participants in batches of four alternated in shifts between two small rooms that had to be fully renovated before the workshop was able to begin. While one group of ten learnt computer skills in one room the second room held English language lessons for another group of ten.

The workshop opened its doors at 10.30 am to the first group of participants and the day ended at 8.30 pm with barely a break of 15 minutes in between for the trainers.

“The problem of time, space and budget are real challenges but the thrill of engaging more and more women in activities that inspire us to take our life into our own hands is what will make me do this over and over again,” Archana concludes.

Flash Points: Edit Schlaffer presents SAVE in an interview with CBS

SAVE Executive Director Dr Edit Schlaffer talks with CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate  about the importance of reaching out to young women in an effort to stop extremism globally. Sorry for the adverts at the beginning - the video starts after about 30 seconds!

MOSSARAT QADEEM: A great commonality flows between our countries

        

 Demolish the temple, demolish the Mosque,

Demolish all that can be demolished,

But do not injure the heart of people,

for that is where God resides.

This is the lesson that we, the women of Pakistan and India, have taken back with us from our dialogue organized by Save Global in Mumbai in November 2010. Save Global gave us the opportunity to listen to each other’s grief , share our concerns, develop understanding of each other’s pressing issues of insecurity, violence and poverty, connect with each other as good neighbors and not as enemies, feel each other as human, and build bridges of sisterhood on the basis of commonalities. Based on natural, historical and cultural factors, a great commonality flows between two important countries of South Asia, which one would imagine should be used for greater cooperation and hence progress and development.

It was the first time that the impact of extremism on women from both sides was shared. It also gave us the opportunity to tell everyone how this war on terror has affected the state and nation of Pakistan in myriad ways. It is we the people of Pakistan that are facing suicide attacks; it is our children who have been psychologically affected; it is our youth who have become the victims; and it is our women who have to bear the brunt. It is through such sisterly forums that we can share our insights, sufferings and feelings. SAVE Global provided us an environment to break down our misperceptions, distrust, and doubts towards each other and develop a common vision of peace and sisterhood for the Sub-continent. We believe that it is through such interactions at different levels that misperceptions regarding each other can be addressed.

We also realized that women have been totally ignored in peace negotiations or talks between Pakistan and India. It is high time that women are included in all peace talks between the two countries. 

In closing I would like to say:

Amongst the values held in special esteem in Pakistan and India are respect for the human personality, recognition of the primacy of spirit, the importance of religion in life, faith in the unity of mankind, the kinship of all religions, and devotion to peace and creative work.

To preserve these values and eradicate some of the suicidal conflicts of the 21^st Century it is necessary to rewrite history on rational and human lines, to link politics with morality, to subordinate the idea of fanaticism to the concept of human brotherhood and unity, and to develop an active appreciation for the cultures, religions and attitudes of other people.

SAVE Global gave us the opportunity to rebuild bridges of sisterhood and friendship in the region.

Turning soft power into smart power: An income-generating workshop with victims' families

On the anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the city is increasing its security measures. Rather than putting up barricades and bringing out sniper rifles, we should be looking for a long-term solution to challenge radical ideologies before they flourish. SAVE India is in Mumbai giving women the economic tools that lead to political and social empowerment, and thus the ability to influence their families and societies for a better future. Commentary by Edit Schlaffer.

The face of Mumbai has changed drastically over the past week; this bustling metropolis has taken on fortress-like qualities in preparation for the anniversary of the 26/11 attacks. Tanks, barricades, policemen, cameras, rooftop snipers, and undercover detectives have created a surreal environment—all this to make the city safe, but how safe is it really?

The morning of the 26th, a huge parade demonstrated India’s military might, which is an alarming juxtaposition to the thousands of policemen who have received only batons to protect the city. These measures serve more to highlight the perceived threats than to instill a sense of security and personal safety. We cannot live our lives behind concrete walls and invisible shields—alongside necessary precautions there must be a long-term vision to challenge radical ideologies before they can take root and flourish. Communities and families must be sensitized and strengthened to provide susceptible youths with alternatives to the allure of violent extremism.

An Indian State Home Minister recently visited Kasab, the only surviving terrorist of the 26/11 attacks, in jail here in Mumbai. When asked why he committed this heinous atrocity, he said he was young and disoriented, and looked for advice from the wrong places.

Families, and particularly women as the primary caretakers, can be a new front to combat violent extremism. But how can this work? The first step is to empower the women, so that their voices are heard and that they bring something to the table both economically in their families and in terms of political and social standing in their communities. Only then does the continuous mantra that women’s stronghold is the family become valid.

On November 24th, SAVE India and Vinita Kamte, whose husband shot Kasab in the arm before succumbing to his own injuries, launched ‘Soft Power to Smart Power: Acquiring New Skills,’ a computer and English-language training for the wives and daughters of the police officers who were on duty during the 26/11 attacks. The trainings are part of the Mothers for Change! campaign; recent studies have shown that there is a negative relationship between the percentage of women in the labor force and domestic terrorist attacks. Investing in women not only makes sense in economic terms, but also can be a key stabilizing factor.

SAVE India works to boost peace at the grass roots level

Peace talks between India and Pakistan at the highest political levels have been faltering for the last two years. Now politicians are calling for increased efforts at the grass roots, people-to-people level. SAVE Global is in Mumbai working with SAVE India on the anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to bring women's voices into the peace dialogue. 

SAVE Executive Director Edit Schlaffer with Vinita Kamte, author of To the Last Bullet, in April 2010. 

Vinita's husband was killed while on duty during the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

This week, the SAVE Global team is in India to build a foundation for the Mothers for Change! project, and to carry out a bridge-building dialogue between Pakistani and Indian women representatives to boost peace initiatives at the grass roots level.

The anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks are just around the corner. Since the attacks on 26 November 2008, peace talks between India and Pakistan’s foreign ministers have been on hold. In February this year, high-level representatives began to re-initiate the talks under pressure from the international community. Unfortunately most of the planned meetings have ended in stalemate or failed to take place.

President Obama urged for progress in the talks during his recent visit to India. It is in the interest of most western countries that the two rivals have an amicable relationship, due to the volatile situation in neighbouring Afghanistan. Pakistan and India must cooperate to stabilize the region, and many fear that the countries’ nuclear capability could make ongoing enmity very dangerous indeed.

It is clear, however, that talks that take place at the highest levels will have little to no effect at the grassroots level. Women—both as victims and as actors—have further been utterly neglected in these talks.

Societal stability and the wellbeing of future generations are at stake if steps are not taken to ease tensions and include civil society in an enduring fashion. Cross-border security is not the only issue at stake: the number of terrorist incidents within Pakistan alone has increased over three-fold since 2008.

Leaders at the highest levels have been calling for more people-to-people contact as an essential ingredient to moving peace talks forward. Women working as effective peace-builders can be a central driving force in this process.

SAVE global travelled to India in April 2010 to carry out storytelling and swimming workshops with the families of the policemen who were on duty during the Mumbai terrorist attacks. To read more about that project, click here. This week, the team will once again be working with these women in an income-generating workshop.

On Saturday November 20, SAVE talked to over 40 school children about their own potential as agents of change. By tackling prejudices and engaging with people of other faiths and backgrounds, children can help build a better future for their communities. SAVE brought this message to children from various schools and organizations at Mumbai’s National Centre for Performing arts.

At the presentation, held in cooperation with the World Kids Foundation, children watched the film Harun-Arun about a Hindu woman who learns to love and take care of a Muslim child, and a trailer of the SAVE film “Journeys Through Darkness”. Click here to read press coverage of the event.

Early next week, SAVE will also carry out a day-long bridge-building dialogue between Indian and Pakistani representatives. Women’s close proximity to the issues at hand positions them as ideal architects for change at the local levels. Mothers, especially, can reach out to disenfranchised youth and provide support and alternatives to the allure of extremist activities. Youth must recognize their potential to act as changemakers at both the grassroots and at the highest levels, and strive to build bridges between divergent religious, cultural, political, and socio-economic groups. These bridges will create the necessary emotional breakthrough to start a meaningful dialogue for action.

This initiative comes from a different perspective, aiming to explore ways in which women can come together in a united front against violent extremism. A cross-cultural dialogue based on shared values, mutual respect and empathy aims to bring women of different backgrounds and perspectives together to better understand one another and work together for a stable, secure future.

SAVE India focuses on bringing women’s voices into the vital dialogue for peace between India and Pakistan. Women’s position at the heart of their families and communities allows them to exercise an enormous moral and educational influence that often goes unappreciated. Their unique perspectives are often left out of the security debate, denying the peace talks between Pakistan and India the input of society’s most powerful peace makers.

SAVE India works with women who are able to influence their local communities in their roles as mothers, teachers, students and activists, and helps them to make their voices heard at the highest political levels. By creating a supportive network, women can more easily and confidently spread peaceful values and tolerance, influencing the next generation to build a brighter future.

The goal of this month’s meetings is to offer participants the opportunity, accompanied by experts, to practice conflict resolution and dialogue within a small circle. Within the framework of this project, getting to know the “other side” across cultural and religious boundaries will be facilitated, while an exchange on the personal level will be accelerated. Each participant will become a catalyst for positive change and the spread of peaceful messages within their communities. The meetings will lay the foundations for further interactions between Indian and Pakistani women, in order to reduce tensions and deconstruct prejudices.

Updates about our activities in India will be available very soon.

Saudi female cashiers fatwa increases women's economic vulnerability

 Female Saudi cashiers are forbidden by recent fatwa. Amer Hilabi / AFP via www.thenational.ae

It is now prohibited for women to work as cashiers in Saudi Arabia’s shops, according to a fatwa issued by the Senior Board of Ulema at the end of October.

Many Saudis have been expressing their frustration with the ruling, which is intended to prevent the mixing of sexes by preventing women from seeking jobs where they could encounter men.

A conservative preacher called for a boycott of supermarkets employing female cashiers back in August, violating a government restriction on fatwas issued by clerics outside of the Senior Board of Ulema. The board itself has now taken up the idea, stating that  “It is not permitted for a Muslim woman to work in a mixed environment with men who are not related to them, and women should look for jobs that do not lead to them interacting with men which might cause attraction from both sides.”

The Saudi Gazette pointed out the inconsistency of the fatwa with other recent rulings by Saudi clerics. A fatwa approved by Shaykh Bin Baz which stated that “a human being, man or woman, is required to work and practice business,” and that “it is acceptable for women to work for what men require and for men to work for what women require in a way that does not harm either of them.”

A piece in Okaz, translated by Arab News, pointed out the obvious gender discrimination present in the fatwa, asking: “why is it not considered gender mixing when a man sits on the cashier’s desk and sells cheese, beans and olives to women?

“Why is it not permissible when the opposite happens? Why is it considered gender mixing and against Islam when a woman sits at the cashier’s desk selling cheese, beans and olives to men?”

The greatest danger of this fatwa is that many women working in these jobs need the money urgently, as commentators have pointed out. This fatwa makes it even more difficult for them to support themselves economically. As many studies have shown, lack of economic and social opportunities is one of the main driving forces that encourage individuals to join extremist movements. Often these groups offer a sense of purpose and the opportunity to earn money to people who are otherwise unemployed or vulnerable. Several high-profile cases, such as that of Wafa'a AL-Shahri, have shown that Saudi Arabia’s women are far from impermeable to the allure of extremist movements such as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Taking more job opportunities away from women can only be a step backwards in the struggle for gender equality and the fight against violent extremism.