Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Getting to Know Entrepreneurs in Liberia

gayle — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:09:08 +0000

I have spent the last week interviewing entrepreneurs in Liberia.
What an inspiration.
The business environment is tough — with the usual slew of challenges facing many countries:
Power comes and goes, so if you need electricity, you have to fuel a generator.
Infrastructure is not in great shape, so transport is expensive.
Some banks do loan to small businesses, but the interest rates are often so high and repayment rates often so short that it makes it hard to take a loan and stay profitable.
Despite the challenges I met women remaking their lives through business.
Helen, a graduate of the Goldman Sachs-sponsored management training program 10000 Women, has a small company that picks up waste in wheelbarrows from people’s homes and sells that waste to larger scrap collectors. With her business earnings she supports six people, including nieces and nephews she is helping through university. She has more than a dozen women working for her and has expansion plans on her mind.
I also met a woman whose dress shop employs 16 men – all tailors. Demand for her fashionable dresses is so high that she recently moved into a new office. She plans this year to start a training program for girls interested in fashion.
Jackie has a snacks company that employs eight people. She wants to grow, but needs training and capital. I tried her coconut chips and I see why she needs to grow! I will say quite honestly it was most difficult for me to put the coconut down. I wish I could bring a bunch of bags back with me.
What the women I met all have in common is their desire and their drive. They see business as power for themselves and a path to a better future for their family. And they all, to a one, say that while war brought great horrors and trials, it also showed women that there was nothing they could not do. As one member of the African Women Entrepreneurs Program told me, “before the crisis, women were expected to be housewives and take care of the children. Then came the war and men couldn’t go outside. So we began to go out and sell and earn a living, because we had to. And now you see a sea change among Liberian women. We want to be independent and stand on our own two feet. And we want to be in business.”

TEDxWomen: Changemakers Pushing Ahead

gayle — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 06:24:23 +0000

At Tedx Women today some incredible change makers stepped into action. Remarkable to see young girls talk about how they are pushing for change and determined to lead. And to hear from Lebanon’s first female bomb clearing team leader about her work and her family’s view of its importance. And to listen to a talk about how the media is stacked against women — ignoring them as people and debasing them as objects.
The common thread: We must aim higher for women. Because women are aiming higher for themselves. Microfinance is not enough. Women are capable of far more. And we cannot be happy with just half-measures. Or depictions of women that focus on the way they look rather than what they think.

Read more about the speakers who took part in TedX Women here. And I will post the links to the videos as they post.

In the meantime, if you want to read more about my talk about women as the answer to what ails the global economy – and the power of resilience to fuel that growth — read a terrific summary at Shawna’s Musings blog here

And send me your thoughts on the talk anytime.

Will Afghan Women Have a Say in Their Country’s Future?

gayle — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:39:06 +0000

Next month the Bonn Conference will take place — on the 10th anniversary of the first Bonn Conference that marked the end of Taliban rule — and the international community will once more gather to debate and discuss Afghanistan’s future. Human Rights Watch notes in a recent piece that women risk being ‘shut out’ of Bonn. Says HRW, “The Afghan government and its international backers say that women’s rights are one of their ‘red lines’ as they plan for the withdrawal of international forces…If this is the case, why are Afghan women struggling to get a seat at the table in Bonn?”

More about women’s longstanding fight to win the support of the international community and their Afghan government in the journalism section of this site. And stay tuned here for an upcoming story on the subject.

Women War & Peace Documentary tonite

gayle — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:48:02 +0000

Must-Watch TV! War and peace are changing in the 21st century, and women are right in the middle of it. Episode 3 airs TONITE 10/25 on @PBS. Follow #WWPlive during broadcast.

http://womenwarandpeace.org

Should Germany Use Gender Quotas?

gayle — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:42:41 +0000

A LOT of discussion now on whether US #women need gender quotas 2 shatter corporate shutout.What’s happening in Germany: http://bit.ly/vRGc8I

Women Fighting For Peace Amid War

gayle — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:56:40 +0000

This next few weeks PBS will be airing the show “Women, War and Peace.” The series shows just how many women are working for peace despite the war all around them. It’s definitely worth a watch — you can find more here and catch the show on Tuesday evenings. So many people think of war stories as belonging only to men, but as the series and “The Dressmaker” and books like Leymah Gbowee’s “Mighty Be Our Powers” show, there is far more to the story. We expect women to pull families through war and almost never acknowledge their bravery in the battle. Now it is time they receive the credit they deserve in their fight for peace.

Is Girls Education the Answer to Population Growth?

gayle — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:52:04 +0000

An answer to soaring population growth? http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/24/us-population-familyplanning-idUSTRE79N3I820111024

Are Women Overly Stereotyped?

gayle — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:59:55 +0000

What are your thoughts on stereotypes?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/24/worst-stereotypes-powerful-women-christine-lagarde-hillary-clinton/

Leadership Lessons from Women Warriors

gayle — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:02:18 +0000

Women, war and peace. Fast Co. Leadership lessons from women warriors.

bit.ly/qe6VwV

Is it time for US manufacturing jobs to return to US?

gayle — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:08:04 +0000

Some economic researchers say time is ripe for the manufacturing jobs to return to US.

http://bit.ly/chinaJobs