Showing posts with label women's empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women's empowerment. Show all posts

Monday, 21 January 2013

Roe vs. Wade as a Global Imperative



The right for a woman to choose whether or not to give birth and to have access to safe, legal abortion services is not only a human right but a global imperative.  As reported in the Stanford [University] News recently, Stanford biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich maintain that global civilization is moving toward a collapse.

The key drivers of collapse, they maintain, are worldwide overpopulation and overconsumption, putting an incredible strain on the planet's natural systems, and threatening to negatively impact all future generations.
A critical first step of the Ehrlichs’ roadmap for avoiding society's total collapse emphasizes equal rights for women worldwide.  "This will allow us to include more of their brainpower to help solve these problems," Professor Paul Ehrlich said. "And studies have shown that when women are given full rights, they have fewer children, which will help slow birth rates."  (The Ehrlichs gathered research from over 150 published papers to support this thesis.)

A woman’s right to choose is a powerful and positive weapon in the need to create population sanity.  It is a big part of the discussion.  

Said Professor Ehrlich, “The U.S. just had a presidential election in which the crucial issues facing society were not debated. Instead the focus was on financial problems easily solved by negotiation among people. You can't negotiate with nature."

Agreed, nature is at stake here.  As pointed out in Independence Ring: Rock the Female Revolution, it is natural for women to express their innate power.  This power should naturally be expressed in leadership including social, political, media, economic, educational and scientific arenas.  It is natural for women to choose the timing, frequency and occurrence (if at all) of child-bearing. 

There was a time, not that long ago, when child-bearing was a requirement in order to pass on a family lineage, to work a farm, to run a business.  Women might bear ten children and only three would survive to adulthood.  Safe, simple abortions were impossible to come by.  That time is over, and we live in another time – a ticking clock towards planetary destruction unless women sit at the table with their wisdom, intuition, leadership, articulate communication skills and complete control over their own bodies.   To regulate the biological functions of a woman and tell her what she can and cannot do with her own body is not only absurd but unsafe for the world we live in.
*****

Liz Lewinson is an author, speaker, teacher and technologists.  Her recent book is Independence Ring: Rock the Female Revolution.

Friday, 14 December 2012

A Violent World

12-14-12

Today 20 schoolchildren and seven school administrators at the  Sandy Hook School in Connecticut were shot to death by a teenage gunman.  A few days ago, a shooting in a mall killed "ONLY" two nice, innocent people because the gunman's gun jammed, thus countless others were saved.  We know of many other violent incidents that are senseless, happening with no apparent reason other than the perpetrator snapped, lost their mind, became consumed in anger and violence, grabbed a massive weapon and took out their delusion and rage in the form of mass killings.

I don't know why this type of horror and tragedy takes place, but I do know this, and I write about it in Independence Ring. There is a core imbalance on our planet today.  Call it the gender gap, gender inequity, gender inequality.  Whatever you call it, solving the imbalance in the roles of men and women as seen by themselves and others is core to achieving national and world peace. 

All beings have an energy body, and a woman's energy body conducts light and energy more rapidly than a man's energy body, which is more fixed and condensed.  Women are naturally suited to handle power, as power by definition involves rapid change and transmutation.  Men are naturally suited to express a deep, rapturous love that is not just for one person but for all of life.

If women's power is repressed, and men's love is repressed, over time the result is toxic.  The gender role switch erupts in violence, depression and the axis of life spinning off its natural track. 

What can we do?  Gun control, yes.  More counseling, yes.  I would add more meditation practice.  That would help a great deal.  But mainly, men need to blossom and express love.  They are suited for it.  Women need to recognize they are vastly more powerful than they realize and find new pathways to express their power economically, politically, socially, .  And as these realizations develop and become part of life, gender equality means accepting infinite love in men and infinite power in women.  That is a balanced planet. 

Monday, 10 December 2012

Hillary and High School



A recent blog article in the esteemed Huffington Post brought this to mind.  Dr. Peggy Drexler tried to guess whether Hillary Clinton had been popular in high school, on the premise that if so, she would be more likely to succeed in leadership.

AARGH.  Forget the fact that in my high school, the popular girls were the first to marry, first to divorce, first to remarry, first to re-divorce, first to marry for a third time, etc.  Forget the fact that many of the popular young women stars of today – Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato – state that they were outcasts, even bullied in high school.

My concern is that dragging the mindset of middle school and high school years into the arena of powerful world politics is just another subtle putdown of women.  In my book, Independence Ring, I state that women exemplify power and men exemplify love and humility.  The roles have been switched to the great detriment of all.  

In middle and high school, powerful young women try to dumb and power themselves down to be less powerful than their boyfriends.  This is a steep downwards slope, as females are the gender that naturally expresses power.  I suspect that the entire rigid hierarchy, mean girls and bullying phenomena that we see in high schools stems from young women not allowing their power to grow and flourish.  They are purposely limiting their power levels to look attractive, focus on clothes, to see and be seen.  The power within them is there, but its natural outlets are being blocked. Repressed power takes the form of pettiness, anger and jealousy.  

Until I read Peggy’s article, I had not thought about high school for years.  I have some advice.  Women, become powerful. No one on the planet cares if you were a dork, dweeb or head cheerleader once you leave your hometown.  There are vast horizons to explore and your great potential to fulfill. 

Friday, 7 December 2012

Do You Really Want to Do This?


Do you really want to do this?  The question flashed on my computer screen.  I’d been deleting old apps off my laptop, but suddenly the question took on a broader meaning.

Did I really want to publish the Independence Ring: Rock the Female Revolution?


I started with the pros:
  • I am writing about truth that most people don’t seem to know about.
  • The planet is being torn apart and bashed under male rule; we need women leaders in order to survive.
  • Even understanding a little part of the Independence Ring would make a big, positive change in most men’s and women’s lives.
  • The book will help unravel many of the current gender inequality issues; it will speed up the success of the rising women’s movement.
  • I’ll be challenged to learn video and podcast broadcasting
  • I care.  I care about people.  This is my selfless giving
Then went on to the cons:
  • Some people may get angry.  I’m suggesting that societies learn to tie their shoelaces in a new way.  Anger burns my skin, I don’t like being on the receiving end.
  • This is my first book.  Big learning curve lies ahead.
  • What if I go on “The View” and they don’t like the book.  Nah, that wouldn’t happen.  They would love the book.
  • I’m a quiet person.  If I start doing interviews, podcasts and videos, I’ll become more public.
 PROS outweighed CONS by a longshot.

Tonight I watched a short film of Anita Sarkeesian’s presentation at the Tedx 2012 convention.  For the last several years, Anita has been creating videos to call attention to the overt misogyny and sexism in video games.  As a result of her work, she has received thousands of threats of murder and rape, yet she still persists in educating people about the video game gender problem, in which young children are exposed to violent, demeaning portrayals of women. 

Anita is a heroine.  She exposes a real problem for men and women, boys and girls.  The violence of the attacks against Anita prove her point. There are many people in the women’s movement today doing remarkable work, and each person, I am sure, had to ask themselves, “Do I really want to do this?”

Like me, their answer has been a positive, life-changing and empowering, YES.