Week 11- NGO

I chose the NGO of N.E.W. Leadership. N.E.W. Leadership is a national organization that works with female college students who are interested in a career in government or politics. Though it is a national organization, they are campus based. On OU's campus the programs runs through the Carl Albert Center. Each summer they put on a week long workshop. I participated in the program last summer and learned so much. It is an intense time, but all the activities and all the women that I met were just great. It is a great program for all college women, not just those who are interested in working in government. I feel that it is important for all to understand the huge gender disparity in public office. Until we have more representation from women, women's issues will not top priority lists. This is why all women (and men) should either try to participate in the program or give monetarily (the program is provided free of cost to all participants). Everyone who went through the program with me had a great time, and OU's program is always honored at The Journal Record's Woman of the Year program.

I found the writings on feminism across the world very interesting. I was not familiar with women's issues in Asia. I was sickened to read about the athletic shoe industry. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, but it still made me want to get rid of my Nikes.
I am, however, a little more educated about women's issues in Africa, specifically Rwanda. Last summer a group of women visited Oklahoma through the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women. The women are business owners in Rwanda and they came for education and mentoring with a women from their field of business. Goretti shadowed my mom for a few days. She runs a business/travel magazine in Rwanda. All the women came to our house for a tea. They were all so inspiring. The government of Rwanda is mainly run by women because so many men were killed in the genocides of the 1990s. They are also responsible for picking up a lot of the pieces in the aftermath. I met a woman who teaches girls to sew. The girls in her school have all been in the sex trade industry because they were left homeless and had no other way to support themselves. She is working to give them a talent that they can make money from and get them off the streets.
This summer, my mom is going to Rwanda to visit the women and help Goretti get a program off the ground. The lessons that can be learned on both sides are just innumerable.