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In This Edition | March 23, 2020
- Welcome Back!
- WPS 2020 Conference
- International Women of Courage
- CSW64
- Course Highlight
- Career and Internship Opportunities
- Global Women's Institute
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We hope students had a restful spring break, despite the recent upheaval and uncertainty regarding COVID-19. In keeping with precautions issued by the George Washington University, all events co-sponsored by GEIA are cancelled and courses will be taught online for the duration of the spring 2020 semester. We look forward to engaging in-person with students, faculty, and practitioners again soon. For up-to-date information on the university’s response and messages from the president, visit go.gwu.edu/covid19.
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The GEIA team is continuing to work from home, and we are available should you need support. Please contact us with questions or to schedule an online advising session. Thank you for your patience, compassion and flexibility during this uncertain time.
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| On March 5th, GEIA hosted the Women, Peace and Security 2020 Conference in celebration of International Women's Day. The conference marked 100 years of women's suffrage in the United States, the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the 20th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security. GEIA Director Dr. Shirley Graham convened a student leadership team to design, create, organize, and moderate the event. Holly Cookson, Madeline Elliott, Luca DiDomenico, Rebecca Howe, Jihee Wang, Monika Jones, Nicole Sharkey, and Katie Chambers took responsibility for arranging speakers, social media, and event planning for the conference. The student leadership team was also joined by over twenty volunteers who kindly gave their time to help manage the day.
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| The conference opened with remarks from Dr. Shirley Graham, Holly Cookson, and Katie Chambers. Alesha Gray, MAIA graduate student, shared the following reflection:
"I was scrolling through Twitter last night, procrastinating, as one does. And I came across a video of a woman in Mexico. She was angry. She was furious. The subtitles did not do justice to the pure rage and frustration coming through in her voice. She was raging because her daughter had recently been murdered. She said a few things like, 'I am a feminist,' and 'I am an empowered mother.' But the words that stuck out to me most were, 'I represent myself and I do it without a microphone.' That’s why we’re here today. That’s why we have an international women’s day and that’s why we need conferences like these. We are here because many of us have felt a similar rage. Because at some point, many of us have seen a little girl crushed by the patriarchy or any institution that has ever sought to put a woman down. And so today, we are honored to be here, to speak to and to witness and to listen to the women that have voices loud enough to speak without microphones and more importantly, to give microphones to the women who need them."
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The conference began with a celebratory lunch and round table discussions between students and expert practitioners, scholars and policymakers working on issues of gender equality. Experts included Christie Arendt, Kayla Brochu, Molly Burke, Sanola Daley, Stefania Fabrizio, Christina Fink, Abby Fried, Jane Henrici, Cheng Hoon Lim, Liz Pender, Paula Tavares, Leora Ward, Kristina Wilfore, and Gwen Young. Thank you to students for your engagement and thoughtful questions and to the experts for sharing your experiences and knowledge!
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The conference continued with a panel discussion on Women in National and International Security with:
- Admiral Michelle Howard, Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the Elliott School
- Christina Renzetti, GW undergraduate student and Shapiro Essay Contest winner
- Cori Fleser, National Security Policy Analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton
- Jenna Ben-Yehuda, President and CEO at Truman National Security Project
- Moderator Holly Cookson, former MIPP graduate student and Captain in the Air Force Reserve at USAID
The panelists discussed women's roles in military peacekeeping efforts, implementation of the U.S. women, peace and security 2019 strategy, and opportunities for women's leadership in national and international security.
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| Left to right: Holly Cookson, Michelle Howard, Christina Renzetti, Cori Fleser, Jenna Ben-Yehuda
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Following afternoon tea, the evening featured a panel discussion on Women as Change Agents in Peace and Security with:
- Shirley Graham, GEIA Director and Associate Professor of Practice in International Affairs at the Elliott School
- Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Alliance for Peacebuilding
- Sinam Mohamad, Syrian Democratic Council Representative to the United States
- Bonnie Jenkins, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Ambassador, Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs at U.S. Department of State
- Moderator Madeline Elliott, MAIA graduate student
The panelists discussed the importance of women as change agents in peace and security in grassroots movements, leadership and parliament, and foreign policy.
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Left photo (left to right): Madeline Elliott, Shirley Graham, Sinam Mohamad, Uzra Zeya
Right photo: Bonnie Jenkins and Chris Kojm, Director of the LEAP Initiative and conference co-sponsor
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Moderator Madeline Elliott shared her thoughts on the day's events:
"Spending the day in rooms full of accomplished and passionate individuals who deeply care about and work on gender issues was a surreal experience for me. The conference was both a celebration and call for action that inspired me, convicted me, and made me emotional all at once. I'm so grateful for the experience to have met and worked with many of my SHE-roes, as well as the opportunity to bring my own voice into the mix of those calling for change."
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| The conference ended with a celebratory reception launching the Raise Your Voice for Gender Equality Photography Project. The photo exhibit features messages of solidarity from students to women living in areas of violent conflict.
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Rebecca Howe, MAIA graduate student, organized the Raise Your Voice for Gender Equality Photography Project and shared these remarks:
"In my home city, London, two years ago, the first statue of a woman was put up in Parliament Square outside our House of Parliament. The statue was a leading activist in the women’s suffrage movement, Millicent Fawcett. It’s an incredible statue of her holding up a placard which includes a line from one of her most famous speeches: “Courage calls to courage everywhere.” And this has really stuck with me. What I really hope from this exhibition is that these images convey courage, hope, solidarity, agency, and community. In these images, courage truly calls to courage everywhere. So today, through our conference, through International Women’s Day, and hopefully through these images, we celebrate the people who have come before us. The progress we see in our world today is based on their courage, and to me that is our inheritance. Today, we also recognize and honor the courage of women around the world who face conflict, displacement, violence, hatred, oppression, and injustice, whose agency and rights have been undermined, whose potential have been prevented, and whose lives have been prevented from being fulfilled. We recognize the women who resist, who persist, and who challenge the structures that hold them down. Their courage now propels us forward. And finally, today we take stock. We understand the challenges ahead. We get ourselves ready. We learn from the experience and the expertise of the women all around us. And, we continue to work. We do what we are each able to, and we move forward together. We vote, if we are able. We use every platform we can to help those who cannot vote to fight for their right to do so. We use these platforms to raise our voice, and we amplify the voices of those women who are silenced. We build community and we move forward together. When courage calls to courage everywhere, I urge you – keep answering the call."
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The Raise Your Voice for Gender Equality Photography Project is on display in the Elliott School second floor atrium. Given the recent cancellations of Elliott School events and adjustments to classes, we have included a few of the photos below.
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Thank you again to the volunteers, students, and expert practitioners, scholars, and policymakers who contributed time and energy to the conference. We are grateful for the support and look forward to continuing the conversations on issues of gender and women, peace and security.
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2020 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE
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GEIA Director, Dr. Shirley Graham, moderated a public conversation with three of the 2020 International Women of Courage awardees on Friday, 6th March, to mark International Women's Day. Each of the women human rights defenders had been imprisoned by their governments and spoke passionately about the urgency for women to support one another in the fight for their rights. Read more about this event on Shirley's blog.
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In light of the coronavirus outbreak, CSW64 in New York was postponed along with all parallel events. Dr. Shirley Graham was to speak on two panels, both of which quickly adapted to the changing circumstances and hosted online expert discussions.
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Pathways to Global Flourishing: Impactful Practices in Developing Women’s Leadership and Resilience
Watch the recorded webinar here.
The webinar was hosted by Leslie Grossman, Faculty Director of the Executive Women's Leadership Program at GW CEPL, and executive leadership coach and author.
Panelists included:
Ina Gjikondi, Director, Executive Education & Leadership Coaching Services, GW CEPL
Dr. Shirley Graham, Director of the Gender Equality Initiative at the Elliott School of International Affairs, GW
Josué Argüelles, Coordinator of Community Engagement for A CALL TO MEN‘s organizing efforts; Facilitator of the Healthy Man
Katherine Manning, President and Founder of Blackbird DC; Attorney with expertise in trauma and victimization
Dr. Marcia Cantarella, Author, I CAN Finish College: The Overcome Any Obstacle and Get Your Degree Guide; Co-Director, Hunter College Black Male Initiative; developing diversity programs and strategies to enhance students’ outcomes
Photo credit Denise Roy-Desrosiers
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Sexualized Disinformation: Social Media, Gender Equality & Women Leaders
The discussion was hosted by Kristina Wilfore of Global Gain and upcoming director of the Elliott School Global Gender Policy capstone for Fall 2020. The panel addressed ways in which women are being deplatformed from democracy and how disinformation has significant implications on women’s leadership. In a 2019 report about progress on the women, peace and security agenda, the UN Secretary General cited misogynistic, sexist and hate speech by political leaders against women politicians and human rights defenders as one of the key triggers for the increase in gender-based violence against those women globally. Analysis from a new UN report and The Gender Social Norms Index help to frame the issues:
How are we measuring, what are the disinformation aspects of gender, what tools do we need to better hone?
Who is responsible for fixing this? What are the interventions that should be on the table? What’s working, what’s not?
Panelists included:
Lucina Di Meco, gender expert and author of #ShePersisted
Gina Chirillo, Senior Program Officer at IFES
Jiore Craig, VP and Leader of Digital Practice at GQR
Gülseren Onanç, Founder of the Equality, Justice, and Women Initiative in Turkey
Chloe Colliver, leader of the Digital Research Unit at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
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Summer 2020 1 Credit Skills Course:
IAFF 6502 Feminist Research Methods for Post Conflict Settings
This course is designed to orient students to the ethics and practice of feminist research within conflict-affected contexts. The course will include theoretical and practical elements focused on helping students to develop an intersectional feminist lens tuned into the relationship between power and knowledge production, the ethics of representation, and the challenges of navigating research in settings where individuals have been affected by violence. The overall goal of the course is to equip students will the skills necessary to apply the ethics and considerations of feminist praxis to various professional and academic endeavors. Students will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of participatory research methods from a feminist perspective, including photovoice, narrative, and ethnographic methods. This engagement will take place alongside broader class discussions which will explore how feminist approaches and sensitivities can be integrated into field work across disciplines and epistemologies, and within professional practice.
The course will be taught by GEIA Research Fellow Jessica Smith and will meet June 6 and June 20 from 10:00am-5:00pm, either in person or online (depending on updates regarding COVID-19).
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CAREER AND INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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Do you have 7+ years of experience working in global development? Are you looking to advance your career? Join our virtual Career Forum (now virtual) and come network with over 60 industry leading organizations. We'll bring together 600+ global development professionals planning their next career move with recruiters from 50+ of the world’s leading development agencies, NGOs and development companies.
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Would you like your event featured in the GEIA Bulletin? Interested in co-sponsoring an event with GEIA? Submit your inquiry and we'll be in touch as soon as we can.
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The Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at the George Washington University launched in the Fall of 2012 as a university-wide measure to advance gender equality through various initiatives such as interdisciplinary research, education, policy and outreach.
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Washington, DC 20052 Phone: +1 (202) 994-8483 | Email: geia@gwu.edu
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