Everywhere you look these days, women are in the headlines. Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, once at the top of the business world, won Republican nominations for senator and governor of California, respectively. Australia has their first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard. And the media is beating the "girls rule" drum, too. The JulyAtlantic cover story is, "The End Of Men: How Women Are Taking Control of Everything." AndReport on Business magazine is bright pink this month. Its headline reads, "This is not a women's issue." Inside are stories about companies run by women.
So maybe I shouldn't have been surprised when, last week, my hometown of Toronto was filled to overflowing with women on stage.
TakeideaCity, our annual gabfest (TO's version of TED). Executive Producer Moses Znaimer organized the entire event around women speakers -- with men entertaining at breaks. The audience (which appeared to be evenly split between men and women), had their minds blown bySally Armstrong, one of the first journalists to write about what the Taliban were doing to the women of Afghanistan. Armstrong shared what women are doing to bring human rights -- and sanity -- back to strife-torn regions. We metSophie Morgan, a young British woman who was in a car accident the night she completed her A Levels (England's version of the SATs), and who is now a paraplegic disability rights activist (I'll write more about Sophie this fall).
Luminato embraced women this year, too. This city-wide festival of arts and creativity introduces Torontonians to artists from around the world -- and Canadian creative types to the tourists and international media who flock to our town. I caught two in which women really shone. First, Bela Fleck's joyful documentary, Throw Down Your Heart about his journey to "take the banjo back to Africa." It featured lots of spectacular women musicians, saving the absolute best for last --Oumou Sangare, a singer from Mali. Unbelievable power and emotion in that woman's voice! I immediately bought the CD and haven't stopped playing it. I managed to squeeze in a screening of "No Woman, No Cry", Christy Turlington-Burns' film about maternal health around the world, introduced by the down-to-earth-goddess herself. It was part of the inaugural G(irls)20 Summit -- twenty-one girls from G20 nations and the African Union got together to discuss how girls and women can work together to help solve some of the world's greatest challenges. It's an interesting new initiative from the Belinda Stronach Foundation.On the seventh day, I rested. And contemplated. Looked out at the night sky, realized that the moon would be full on June 26th, and that there would also be a lunar eclipse. At the same time, leaders of the G20 would be in town (mostly men).
The phone rang to wake me from my reverie. A friend from London, a social venture capitalist, wondering what I was doing for the weekend. "Are you getting out of town to avoid the G20 hassles, like everyone else seems to be doing?" We talked about my week of women, and this father of three daughters offered his take. "Julia, men have screwed things up royally. It's time for women to take the lead."As I was about to sign off and submit this post, an image came into my head. A huge marquee hanging over Mother Earth, flashing away: "Girls, girls, girls!" It's nice to know that this eternal come-on might now mean something different.About the Author:Julia Moulden is the author of We are the New Radicals: A Manifesto for Reinventing Yourself and Saving the World. She's also the founder of The Company of New Radicals, a business focused on helping individuals and organizations find new ways to do good works. Julia's first book, Green Is Gold, was the first environmental guide for businesses.
