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On April 9-11, 2010, campus and community activists will gather at Hampshire College to unite for reproductive justice. We offer more than 40 workshops and trainings. Conference speakers address reproductive freedom as it relates to a broad range of social justice initiatives including economic justice, health care reform, racial equality, freedom from violence, immigrant rights, climate justice, and LGBTQ rights, just to name a few.

Over the weekend, you will deepen your understanding of issues you already know about, make new connections, and unite with others who are passionate about working for social justice.

Co-sponsored by Paradigm Shift! Check out more info here.

PARADIGM SHIFT: NYC’S FEMINIST COMMUNITY Proudly Presents

SEX WORK & HUMAN RIGHTS: FEMINIST ADVOCACY STRATEGIES
A Screening of “Sangram: Sex Worker Organizing In India” by Audacia Ray
and Panel Discussion featuring:
AUDACIA RAY
International Women’s Health Coalition & Co-Founder of Sex Work Awareness
MARYSE MITCHELL-BRODY
NYC Anti-Violence Project & Founding Member at Sex Workers Action New York
other panelists to be announced

Moderated by MELISSA GIRA GRANT, Sex & Technology Writer

Portion of the proceeds donated to Sex Workers’ Project
Buy Tickets Now- Limited Seating- This will sell-out- CLICK HERE
Network with your community before & after discussion

When: TUES, March 30th
Time: 7:00-10:00 pm
Where: In the heart of the Feminist District
The Tank- 354 West 45th Street (between 8th and 9th Ave.)
Subway directions: Take the A,C,E to 42nd Street/Time Square. Walk West

Cost: $7 students/pre-paid, $10 at door
But Tickets Now- CLICK HERE- Limited Seating
OR Call The Tank directly for tx 212.563.6269

PARTNERS INCLUDE:
The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership
Sex Workers’ Project
Manhattan Young Democrats

PARTICIPATE & PARTNER!
Calling all progressives! Promote this event and we’ll promote your organization as a marketing partner.
Email: JWeis@paradigmshiftnyc.com

Facebook Invite

ABOUT AUDACIA RAY:
http://www.audaciaray.com
Audacia Ray is a media maker and activist who is passionate about sexual rights. Presently, Audacia is the Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women’s Health Coalition and the co-host of the monthly reading series Sex Worker Literati in New York. Dacia is the author of “Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing In on Internet Sexploration” and an adjunct professor of Human Sexuality at Rutgers University. Audacia is a former sex worker who was an executive editor at $pread magazine for three years and is a co-founder of advocacy organization Sex Work Awareness, for which she edits the public education blog Sex Work 101 and provides media training workshops for sex workers. Dacia is also the award-winning director and producer of the porn feature The Bi Apple as well as the producer and star of the comedic film short Dacia’s Love Machine. She has blogged at WakingVixen.com since 2004 and has also edited a blog for the Village Voice and written for Fleshbot.

ABOUT “SANGRAM: SEX WORKER ORGANIZING IN INDIA” BY AUDACIA RAY:
The Sangli district in the rural south of India has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the country. This health issue has become the crux of a powerful sex workers movement that has risen up over the past twelve years, in which sex workers have become agitators for change in health systems and policy that affects them on the local, national, and international levels.

ABOUT MARYSE MITCHELL BRODY:
Maryse is an organizer, proud tía, revolutionary, day-dreamer, tortured artist, badass facilitator, dancer, loud new yorker, good friend, and mad one. Along with her work with the Icarus Project, Maryse is an advocate for sex workers’ rights and a member of the Rock Dove Collective, a radical community health exchange. Born and raised in New York City, she facilitates workshops that examine the links between sexual shame, trauma and emotional well-being, and explore the potential for sex as a healing modality.

ABOUT MELISSA GIRA GRANT:
http://www.melissagira.com
Melissa Gira Grant is a writer, artist, and activist working at the intersection of sexuality, new media, feminism, and human rights. She’s written for Valleywag, Gawker, BlackBook, Slate, $pread, The Huffington Post, The Frisky, and RH Reality Check, and has contributed to Best Sex Writing 2008 (Cleis Press) and Dirty Girls (Seal Press). Her work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, and Cosmopolitan (France), among others. She currently works in communications and development at the Third Wave Foundation, and lives in New York.

ABOUT SEX WORKERS’ PROJECT:
http://www.sexworkersproject.org
Using human rights and harm reduction approaches, the Sex Workers Project (SWP) protects and promotes the rights of individuals who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion.

Email submissions to: blog@paradigmshiftnyc.com

by Jennifer Potter

I have never been diagnosed with anorexia or hospitalized for bulimia. Whenever eating disorders are discussed these extreme illnesses are at the forefront. I do, however, struggle every day due to my horrible relationship with food and my body. The Mayo Clinic defines eating disorders as, “a group of serious conditions in which you’re so preoccupied with food and weight that you can often focus on little else.” Extreme cases of eating disorders manifest as the diagnosable mental illnesses anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This is not to say that if you do not have one of those illnesses you do not have some kind of preoccupation with food and weight. While there is no medical term for people who do not have a healthy relationship with food, these people are affected by the same biological, emotional, and societal issues that can lead to anorexia or bulimia.

There are many people living in the grey area between a healthy relationship with their bodies and the food they eat, and those struggling with disorders.  For me it’s an endless cycle of eating and beating myself up.  Each day I say today I will be “good”.  I usually start out strong with yogurt and oatmeal.  As the day progresses the temptation gets harder to deal with.  There always seems to be “bad” food everywhere.  Whether in the form of cookies someone brought to work to share or going for a quick drink with friends which results in chicken wings and nachos on the table.  Just one can’t hurt right? Don’t starve yourself or deny yourself of food.  That’s no way to live and not a healthy diet.  So I eat.  On the subway ride home my mind starts going.  Why did I eat all those wings? Why couldn’t I resist half that chocolate bar? I’m never going to reach my fitness goals and never going to have the body I want.  I then resolve to try again tomorrow.  Each time I look at myself in the mirror I feel disgusted by my inability to only eat “good” foods.  On days I manage to do that, I feel like I shouldn’t have eaten so much of it.

One fundamental problem with the concept of “good” versus “bad” food is that it sets me up for a mental beating later.  I’ve already labeled what I’m eating as “bad” and therefore should be punished for not being strong enough to resist eating it. This seems to be a commonly overheard conversation: “Should I be “good” and get salad or “bad” and get that cheese burger I really want?”  So how can this mentality be combated? The first step is to stop labeling everything I eat as “good” or “bad”.  Yes, there are horribly unhealthy foods out there, such as deep-fried pizza, but a healthy diet includes having a bit of chocolate in my daily routine without beating myself up for it later. In this sense knowledge is power.  The more you know about food and what daily requirements your body needs ,the easier it is to be “good” all day even while incorporating supposedly “bad” food.

The problem is that this knowledge is not easily derived for every individual. Everyone’s bodies are unique and the healthy caloric intake of food varies based on age, gender, height, weight, daily physical activity. Even internet research can only go so far. With personal nutritionists beyond of the economic reach of so many, myself included, we are left with few options but our own research and hope we’re doing it right.  This leaves too much room for error for many. Also the results of improved diet and exercise can take months to make a noticeable difference.  This is not very conducive to a culture of instant gratification and “Lose 5 pounds in 5 days” weight loss products.  The simplest solution becomes “I just won’t eat.!” More accessibility to complete and accurate nutritional information will help people in the grey gain a better understanding of foods and develop a healthy relationship with what they eat.

Besides my unhealthy relationship with food, I find that I exhibit the same kind of mental anguish over my body’s appearance. Every time I look in the mirror, change my clothes or take a shower I feel more and more frustrated by what I see.  In the last six months I have made improvements.  I’ve gone to the gym two to three times a week and am starting to see muscles develop.  This is not enough to quiet the voice in my head.  No matter how much weight I lose or how toned my arms look I’m never satisfied.  If one aspect of my appearance is acceptable I immediately find something wrong with another body part. At the gym I can never do enough.  Similar to my behavior with food, no matter how hard I workout I still punish myself afterward for not doing more. So why do I feel this way?  I am aware that there are improvements and if nothing else I am healthier for working up a sweat and getting blood flowing a few times a week.  Why am I not satisfied with the effort I put in and the results I have seen?

A large part of my body hate comes from constant bombardment of media and social ideals of unrealistic body expectations.  The media’s influence is considered so substantial that libraries of books, articles, and documentaries have been created to explain exactly how and why it’s damaging.  Most recently in the UK The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCPsychs’) Eating Disorders Section called for the media to portray images of more diverse body shapes to help people feel positive about their bodies. Not having to stare at so called “perfect” bodies at every turn would be helpful, however the issue is not strictly external.  There is an internal struggle with perfection that would be there with or without the external images.  Low self-esteem, perfectionism, and impulsive behaviors are all linked to eating disorders. While media standards can be misleading and dangerous, our own personal standards can be damaging as well.

There is nothing inherently wrong with having lofty expectations for yourself.  The desire to do better and be better is important for people to push themselves and not be content with whatever their current situation is. It is far too easy for this perfectionist drive to become self-destructive. Physical appearance is an easy marker for perfection and ability to exhibit control.  By being “thin” I am seen to demonstrate self-control by going to the gym and by not overindulging in food. There is a negative connotation associated with people who are not super thin and their perceived lack of control.  The only reason they aren’t perfect, according to this outlook, is because they are too lazy. This is a very harmful attitude. In order to demonstrate we are not lazy we must be perfect in every aspect. Since such perfection is not attainable we are never comfortable in our own skin. For every goal I meet, a new one takes its place. The biggest obstacle in creating a positive relationship with my body and the food I eat is my mindset.  I must learn to forgive myself and be comfortable with my flaws.

Despite my acknowledgment that I do in fact have a very unhealthy attitude towards food and my body, I continue to struggle every day.  It is important to remember that eating disorders can affect everyone regardless of age, gender, or size, and the struggles come in all different sorts.  I will continue to look for ways to overcome my destructive behavior and hope to one day really and truly feel comfortable in my own skin.

Sources:

Mayo Clinic Website:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eating-disorders/DS00294

Medical News Today:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180142.php

Martin, Courtney E. Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body. Berkley Group, 2008.

by Therese Shechter

This article originally appeared in Skirt! on January 1, 2010 as part of their series “The F Word: Feminists Speak Out”

“I really do hold to a personal belief that sex is something special to be shared only with someone who is truly a soul mate…and, let’s just say that at this point in my life I still haven’t found that ‘special someone.’” TM, 41, from the blog The American Virgin.

I, too, was a late bloomer sex-wise. Growing up, I had bought into the whole magical/true love/special someone scenario which, for me, translated into losing my virginity to a handsome, med school-bound boyfriend. He failed to materialize, and by the time I was 23, I was tired of waiting.

So I said screw it, and had sex with a guy I had gone out with all of three times who made some smooth moves on me one night in his basement apartment. So what if it was awkward and we never saw each other again? I was no longer a virgin and I was thrilled. Much to my surprise, though, I felt totally unchanged by the experience. I didn’t even bleed—my hymen was as blasé as the rest of me. I had saved my “precious gift” for this?

I’ve since made up for lost time, but I remain fascinated by how people make their sexual debuts. Is there a right way to lose your virginity? A right reason? A right person? I’m making a documentary to explore these questions called How to Lose Your Virginity. I also write a blog about all things virgin, from more than made up the abstinence-only movement to virginity auctions to artificial hymens. Several months ago, my readers began sending in stories about their own experiences around virginity, which turned into a series of popular posts called “First Person.”

Natalie, 26, was one of the first to contribute, and I relate to her feelings: “Around my 20th birthday, I began to feel ashamed about my lack of sexual experience. The emotional baggage that went along with feeling unwanted and ‘different/defective’ was much more damaging than the physical act of never having had sex.”

I cringe when I think about all the times I nodded and smiled knowingly when college friends talked about sex. At the age of 23, I believed I was the oldest living virgin and everyone around me was having fabulous sex with their devoted boyfriends. In retrospect, I’m sure many were as full of shit as I was.

Rosie, 21, echoes the feelings of several women I know: “An older man was willing to give me some attention and make me feel special. It was hard to resist even though I knew the situation was really wrong. I knew I was being taken advantage of, but it was nice to feel wanted.”

I think “First Person” is popular partly because of the wide variety of experiences and opinions about virginity. We’re fed a lot of crap about what our first times should be like, whether it’s the promise of perfect wedding night sex after a life of abstinence, losing it on prom night with your football player boyfriend, or going wild on spring break while the cameras roll. Reality is something else entirely, so it’s no wonder many of us feel abnormal and then are too embarrassed to talk about it.

I’m so grateful for this post from Lilith, 21: “My first sexual experience was date rape, and after recovering from the incident I found I continued to identify as a virgin, partly because I didn’t feel attached to my body at the time. At times I wish my first time was all magical like I was led to believe, but I don’t regret it. It was what it was, I can’t change it, and it has led me to where I am now, having sex with someone I love.”

Dana, 26, was inspired to make her own sexual debut after reading “First Person.” She then shared her own story with the blog. I wish I could have read her post back when I was contemplating my first time: “Having sex was just another step along the gradual slope of sexual experience. I feel freer now to pursue sex so I want to go out there, find people I like, and have sex with them and enjoy myself. That’s my mission now.”

Therese Shechter is a filmmaker, writer and activist based in Brooklyn. She tweets at @TrixieFilms, and her blog “The American Virgin” is at http://theamericanvirgin.blogspot.com. More info on her work is at http://www.trixiefilms.com.

Reproduced with permission from Skirt!

March 11

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Reading and discussion with Amelia Klem Osterud, a tattooed academic librarian from Wisconsin. She has a master’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and writes and lectures on the subject. This is her first book. Visit her author blog at www.tattooedladyhistory.vox.com

RSVP on Facebook (not required)

Living in a time when it was scandalous even to show a bit of ankle, a small number of courageous women covered their bodies in tattoos and traveled the country, performing nearly nude on carnival stages. These gutsy women spun amazing stories for captive audiences about abductions and forced tattooing at the hands of savages, but little has been shared of their real lives. Though they spawned a cultural movement–almost a quarter of Americans now have tattoos–these women have largely faded into history.

The first book of its kind, The Tattooed Lady uncovers the true stories behind these women, bringing them out of the sideshow realm and into their working class realities. Combining thorough research with more than a hundred historical photos, this social history explores tattoo origins, women’s history, and circus lore. A fascinating read, The Tattooed Lady pays tribute to a group of unique and amazing women whose legacy lives on.

Check out Paradigm Shift’s Janice Formichella’s review of the book here!

Email submissions to: blog@paradigmshiftnyc.com

by Gabrielle Pope from Vancouver, Canada

Eating Disorder Awareness Week. I always feel a pull to submit, to voice, to contribute. But the hushed silence I held strong to while suffering, while recovering, while seeking identity separate from the disorder, still makes me hesitate to give my story a voice.

But then, silence due to shame was the most dangerous setback in fighting my illness. I was deep into anorexia and ready for hospitalization by the time those close to me became fully aware of my diagnosis. Fear of judgments, appearing superficial, lacking intelligence, immaturity, and (mostly) selfishness saw me fiercely secretive. When purging forced its way into my disordered habits, I was even more guarded. I saw what I was doing as obtusely pathetic and disgusting.

Well, I’m alive and healthy.

At 21, Anorexia at last completely took over my life, after several years claiming my happiness while my intellect fought for logic. As in many stories you’ve heard, I lost a lot of weight, enough to threaten my life and weaken my heart. Doctors gave my parents a bleak prognosis. My parents and I sought out a cure, and found something resembling one, or at least thought we did, in a not entirely legal private operation that could offer much more than any government-funded program. Even at my sickest, I was certain. I wanted to heal completely, not “cope”. As hard as it may be to understand, I wasn’t consciously concerned with looking right, being thin. I was so incredibly absorbed in self-loathing that I wanted to be as small and unrecognizable as possible.

As they say and as I hesitate to admit, I got worse, far worse, before I got better. A part of me resisted treatment so vehemently that I took pills, rode in ambulances, swore off life, made foolish financial decisions and hopped from hospital to hospital. I wanted to stop causing so much pain and suffering, financial hardship. I wanted to disappear. I hated, still hate, the overly dramatic sentiment I felt daily: I wished I’d never been born. Why couldn’t I undo that?

It’s so much deeper than physical insecurity it’s painful to try to explain, because it’s never made much sense, even to me. Sure, it may start with insecurities. Certainly, I stared at myself in the mirror in ballet and saw my body grow in what looked like a grotesque way. Certainly, despite my rational mind screaming otherwise, I’d compare myself to those around me, and despite my weight—normal or severely underweight—I’d feel that something was fundamentally wrong with my person, that I could never survive this world. And because of those seemingly superficial thoughts, I didn’t feel like I deserved the gift of living.

I remember just before Christmas one year at my sickest, shivering in my parents garage with jutting bones and sunken cheeks, sucking on a cigarette and cursing the fact that I’d been let out of the psych ward, a safe haven, days before in order to be with my family for the holidays. My family were, and are, nothing but tremendously loving and giving people, the best parents and siblings one could ask for, furthering the assumption of some health-care providers and counselors that privileged eating disorder patients are frivolous brats. I wanted to suck the cigarette’s cancer into my lungs, let it kill me right away. It couldn’t take long. I was already starving to death.

If you’re cringing with skepticism, so am I. It’s so surreal now that it took nearly dying to finally rebuild my psyche to the point where I could do something for myself; go for a walk, draw a picture, read a book, eat a muffin—without feeling nearly suicidal and unbearably not worthy. I learned valuable lessons from yoga, and experienced utter compassion from one or two key unconditionally committed counselors (unfortunately, something rarely available to eating disorder sufferers), as well as the occasionally infuriating and eventually life-changing support of my family.

I was lucky. I am lucky. I am so very fortunate, however I have to tell you that recovering from an eating disorder was the hardest thing I could possibly imagine. Despite my desire to be incredibly positive about future prognoses for sufferers, the fact remains; few sufferers fully recover. Many die. Many ‘cope’. Everyone is frustrated. Medical professionals, sufferers, family members, treatment-providers, the general public, those who protest the objectification and impossible standards expected of women and men in the public eye.

But I did get better. And I was one of those cases—I was as sick as I could have been. Today I am grateful for life. Today, with effort, I seek to ignore all the body-negative images women are faced with. I try to focus on my studies, intellect and spirituality, but I’m not immune to wanting to feel beautiful. Beautiful was defined and reinforced for so many years by such a negative mindset that I have to work hard to check myself in the face of everyday experience. But it is worth it, and I am more fortunate than I can explain.

I’d venture to say that nowadays, everyone will know someone suffering with an eating disorder. Likely that person will feel there is little chance they will fully recover, or they will act as though they don’t want to, don’t deserve to. But it is possible, and it is up to all of us to save lives by believing that a disease can be reversed, a mindset can be changed, an extreme sensitivity can be directed elsewhere, to a more positive place. Sufferers of eating disorders will likely all share a lifelong ultra-sensitivity, but that can be transformed in a sick, suicidal shell of a person to a strong, empathetic and responsive individual looking to help anyone who needs it.

My goal is not to explain where eating disorders come from, nor suggest a surefire treatment. Unfortunately, neither has been thoroughly defined. But I do know that change is possible, and that if you or someone you know is suffering, the most immediate way to fight is belief: for sufferers, your life can change. You don’t always have to feel this way. For friends/family, your loved one is dealing with a deep psychological issue, but it’s not one that can’t be addressed and reversed. Be compassionate, be firm, be there.

The shame needs to be the first to go. There is so much hope, so much mercy.

Film Info: http://www.trixiefilms.com
Blog: http://theamericanvirgin.blogspot.com

HOW TO LOSE YOUR VIRGINITY is the new
documentary-in-progress by Therese Shechter, director of the
award-winning and provocative I WAS A TEENAGE FEMINIST.

Spiritual, titillating, amusing, profitable, ruled by myths,
dogma and misconceptions, female virginity is something our
culture cares deeply about.

Doing for virginity what her previous film did for feminism,
Therese asks: What is virginity? Who gets to define it?
Why do we care so much about it? Does it even exist?

The film connects the dots between the Christian
abstinence-till marriage movement, coming-of-age films,
fathers-of-the-bride, the booming field of hymen restoration
surgery, the ironic fantasy of ‘virgin’ porn, and the biblical
stories of Eve and Mary.

Linked together by Therese’s distinctive sense of humor,
interviews with experts and everyday Americans, and a
kaleidoscope of pop culture moments, the film challenges
attitudes towards virginity and female sexuality.

March 12th –  April 10th  2010 – Opening Show on March 12th 7:00 PM – 10:00PM

Contact: Mia Roman  - artbymamamia@yahoo.com

Curator: Mia Roman

Abrazo Interno Gallery: Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center

107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002

About the show:

“Femicide” is defined as the systematic killing of women for various
reasons, usually cultural or domestic. Femicide is seen as a gender
crime. Most of the women were raped before being murdered and some
were mutilated, tortured and dismembered. It is an epidemic of gross
proportions. The mutilation, rape and murder of women along the
US/Mexico border, Congo, Guatemala, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq has
become an annual statistic, with little mainstream media coverage and
even less national outcry. And the worse part of it is that many of
these disappearances are not even investigated, they literally
disappear, vanish and are wiped from legibility.

How can rapes, incest, beatings and mutilations in such places like
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bosnia, Darfur, Afghanistan and
Haiti go unanswered? Where Femicide, the systematic and planned
destruction of the female population, is being used as a tactic of war
to clear villages, pillage mines and destroy the fabric of Congolese
society.

Art by Mia introduces “Femicide”… bringing it to the forefront through
visual arts, poetry and music. More than thirty works by over ten
emerging and established artists will be on display. They will evoke
emotion, create dialogue and bring the coldest soul to its knees. The
exhibit’s focus is to bring awareness to the atrocity of female
killing all over the world.

About CSV/ Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center, Inc.:

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, Inc. (CSV), a
501 (C) 3 not-for-profit, was founded in 1993. The CSV Cultural Center
is a Puerto Rican/Latino cultural institution that has demonstrated a
broad-minded cultural vision and a collaborative philosophy. While
CSV’s mission is focused on the cultivation, presentation and
preservation of Puerto Rican and Latino culture, it is equally
determined to operate in a multi-cultural and inclusive manner,
housing and promoting artists and performance events that fully
reflect the cultural diversity of the Lower East Side and the city as
a whole.

Art is an expression of the unconscious and is dedicated to the free
expression of

feeling.

“The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Improving Women’s Lives Around the World”

Join us for this exciting webseminar where representatives from Royal Dutch Shell, General Mills and Unilever will discuss their Corporate Social Responsibility programs and how it is impacting women all across the world.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability and ‘Going Green’ has emerged as a new management paradigm for safeguarding a company’s brand reputation, engaging employees, maintaining customers and driving revenue. Our leadership in the 21st century is increasingly being defined by innovative approaches that integrate sustainability and profitability.

Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.

Through CR, companies are empowering women in communities around the world to fulfill their potential by reducing poverty and driving economic growth. They are providing women with access to healthcare, job training, technology advancement and education while boosting their confidence and encouraging them to make social change.

Empowering women is a critical component of CR initiatives and ‘How’ an organization can best develop and incorporate initiatives into their core, everyday business practices.

In honor of International Women’s Day, we will explore how some top companies are changing the world by empowering women, learn more about their innovative programs, and how they are having a global impact on women by engaging in conscious commerce.

The seminar will be moderated by an early pioneer in corporate social responsibility, Samantha Taylor, Founder of Reputation Dynamics, and will feature presenters Josefine van Zanten, Vice President, Diversity & Inclusion from Royal Dutch Shell; Ellen Goldberg Luger, Executive Director General Mills Foundation and Vice President, General Mills and a representative from Unilever.

Josefine van Zanten from Royal Dutch Shell will address:
- A development programme that is specifically designed for women
- How participants benefit including expanded networking and more visible roles
- Improved advancement potential of women
- How these women give back to their communities through more active external participation

Ellen Goldberg Luger from General Mills will discuss:
- General Mills’ women and children hunger initiatives
- Projects that focus on empowering women around agriculture and livelihood
- How they are working in Sub-Saharan Africa to help women start small businesses
- Their great impact on the communities

A representative from Unilever will also discuss their programs in Bangladesh that help women in rural areas by providing courses in entrepreneurship skills, helping them become financially empowered and providing them with scholarships to obtain degrees in different fields of study.

Our web seminars are easy and incredibly convenient. You just need a phone for audio and a separate Internet connection (dial-up is fine) to view slides and presentation materials. It all takes place in real time so you can participate in live Q & A with the presenters without leaving your desk or conference room.

Moderator:
Samantha Taylor, Founder, Reputation Dynamics

Presenters:
Josefine van Zanten, Vice President, Diversity & Inclusion, Royal Dutch Shell
Ellen Goldberg Luger, Executive Director General Mills Foundation and Vice President, General Mills

Who should attend:

•    Specialists in Corporate Social Responsibility
•    Diversity & Inclusion Professional
•    Senior HR Executives
•    Chief Diversity Officers
•    Global Workforce Strategists
•    Recruitment and Retention Specialists
•    Benefits Officers
•    Non-HR Managers who wrestle with Diversity & Inclusion
-    Senior VPs
-    Divisional Managers
-    Line Managers
-    Network Group Leaders/Affinity Group Champions
•   WorkLife Professionals

This is a DBP member benefit and DBP members attend at no charge.

For sponsorship and non-member registration information, please contact your Account Sales Director or email sponsorship@workingmother.com