Writing For Social Change: Empowering Women

Post written by Laura Cococcia. You can follow Laura on Twitter.

Much of my life’s interest has focused on women’s empowerment. As a woman who is fortunate enough to have many privileges, both social and economic, I have always felt compelled to help advocate for women’s rights, even on the smallest scale.

I completed my undergraduate and graduate work in women’s studies, equipped with the full academic background on women’s issues. I thought I was an expert.

Of course I was – aren’t university degrees everything?

Hardly. Right after college, I volunteered full time at a homeless women’s shelter in the Chicago housing projects. I then worked as a community educator and counselor at a domestic violence center. The lessons I learned and stories I could share with you far outweigh any thesis paper I ever wrote for my degrees.

Now, I’m attempting to learn from others’ stories. I’ve felt extremely fortunate to have interviewed many women committed to changing women’s rights globally through social activism, including Amy Richards, Jennifer Baumgardner and Mariane Pearl, to name a few.
And the stories continue. This week I came across a series of fascinating articles chronicling the major issues facing our world’s women and the associated efforts to raise awareness and affect change. I am grateful to the journalists and publications uncovering and sharing these stories with our wider global audience.
The short roundup below features just a few of the major stories I came across over the past few days (also thanks to Christa for sharing some of these with me). We hope that TJCC can be an additional platform to raise awareness to a broader audience of not only these issues, but of the people, places and things making real change happen.
1) Sunday’s New York Times Magazine feature article, The Women’s Crusade, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn detail the injustices of women globally, highlighting much of their research of their new book, Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The book will be released in early September.
2) Gordon Brown and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf also offer commentary on the book and women’s rights in their article, Taking Women’s Rights Seriously, published today on The Huffington Post.
3) Last week, Christa provided a preview of the NYT Magazine article and other authors writing about women and social change on her blog. Definitely check out her article Take Care of Women.
4) Eve Ensler shared commentary on Governor Schwarzenegger’s veto of 100% of California’s domestic violence budget in her article The Terminator Is Back at The Huffington Post. Be sure to check out the comments on the article – they offer some healthy debate.
For me, these pieces offered a thoughtful and often provocative look at the issues about which I’m passionate through the powerful medium of storytelling.
As always, we welcome your perspectives on these and other issues affecting our global culture. Is there a topic about which you’re passionate? We’d love to hear your thoughts and the resources you find along the way.
Image credit: www.smith.edu

Tagged as: Book Reviews, Global Cultures, Laura Cococcia, News Commentary, Women and Empowerment, Writing