Category Archives: Women’s Issues

Mar8

International Women’s Day

Posted on by
International Women’s Day

Empower Women, Empower The World

Today is International Women’s Day  and to honor this day I wanted to share some of my photographs of women that I have taken from around the world.  Today the United Nations Foundation , Johnson & Johnson, The Huffington Post, BabyCenter, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are connecting women globally to help support women’s initiatives by kicking off the Global Mom Relay.

“From now until May 8, moms are powering an online conversation about motherhood to unlock donations. Every time you share a relay post on Facebook, Twitter, or email or donate $5 or more as part of the relay, a $5 donation (up to $8,000 per day) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to one of four initiatives that are helping women and children lead healthy and happy lives – Girl Up, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA), and the Shot@Life campaign. The Global Mom Relay is in support of Every Woman Every Child, a movement launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.”– United Nations Foundation

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay 

 It always amazed me in my travels how we were able to communicate even though often we did not share a common verbal language. Somehow stories were still told and questions still asked.  The first question women everywhere always asked me was if I had children or a husband. They were often fascinated that at that time in my life, my early twenties, which was considered an old maid in many of the places I visited, that I did not yet.  Often they were truly concerned for me on this matter, which I found touching. The women I met were strangers who frequently ended up housing me, hosting me for a visit, or feeding me, and I am eternally grateful for their global sisterhood.

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay

Much has changed in the decades since my extensive travels, and in many places the quality of life for women around the world has improved.  Women are generally marrying and having children later in life allowing them to stay in school longer, and have better economic opportunities in general. Increasing numbers of girls are receiving education, and increased access to vaccines has prevented millions of deaths from preventable diseases.   There is still so far to go, the problems of violence and  inequality for women remain.  Countries around the world need to realize that they have the opportunity to tap into a large source of economic growth in the women, whoever figures that out has the potential to double their National output.

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay

Things have changed  for me as well since those wanderlust days of travel, I am now a wife and a Mother, which I think those women would be glad to know.  Motherhood is a universal language and women can learn so much from each other.  I look forward to the wisdom from around the world in the Global Mom Relay!

 

Photo by Elizabeth Atalay

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feb22

A Healthy Way To Give; Run, Walk or Bike With The Charity Miles App

Posted on by
A Healthy Way To Give; Run, Walk or Bike With The Charity Miles App

 

The Charity Miles App is a great way to combine personal health with your values of giving back to society.  Usually as I run with my dog I am reminding him to heal, but these days as we round the corner and head up the hill to our home I am begging him to pull me.  The truth is we are both a bit out of shape and equally in need of this exercise, so he looks back at me with those dewy eyes as if to say, “Must I?”.  My Charity Miles App is the inspiration to keep going on my run at this point because I set the personal goal not of distance, but to provide one child with a vaccine with my run.  O.K., also I will need to post my distance on social media to get the funds to go to the charity I have selected, so yes, my pride is involved as well.

My Charity Miles Running & Walking Partner

I was so excited to learn that the United Nations Foundation, with whom I am a Shot@Life Champion, was teaming up with my favorite iphone app Charity Miles. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb21

ONE Sweet potato Day

Posted on by
ONE Sweet potato Day

Photo Source ONE.org

Today I am sharing my favorite Sweet Potato Recipe along with a group of bloggers in conjunction with ONE to call attention to the star of their global nutrition campaign, the Sweet Potato.

Why The Sweet Potato?

Although more than 7 million tons of sweet potatoes are produced each year and are widely eaten in Africa, they’re not the kind that have essential nutrients. They’re white in color and low in vitamin A, a vitamin that helps prevent blindness and infant mortality. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb16

The Accidental Advocate; My Trip With The United Nations Foundation To The Shot@Life Summit 2013

Posted on by
The Accidental Advocate; My Trip With The United Nations Foundation To The Shot@Life Summit 2013

They warned me about the shoes, but I didn’t listen.  We had been advised to wear comfortable shoes for our day of advocating on the hill, but having never advocated on Capitol Hill, nor even imagined myself advocating on Capitol Hill, I could not see the harm in sporting a little heel with my business suit.  I practically had to vacuum the dust off the one business suit I own as it was, after being a stay at home mom for thirteen years, and I did not realize that I would log nearly two miles in those shoes by the end of our day. (I know it was two miles because I used my Charity Miles app on my phone that tracks mileage on walks, runs, and bike rides so sponsors donate money to the charity I choose for the distance completed.)  In any case, being a mom is exactly what brought me to the point of hobbling around crisscrossing our nation’s capitol. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb6

February is All About The Heart: Alex & Ani Goes Red For The American Heart Association

Posted on by
February is All About The Heart: Alex & Ani Goes Red For The American Heart Association

With my co-Hosts Audrey McClelland and Sherri Tracey at our Alex & Ani Party to benefit The American Heart Association

February is all about the heart, and The American Heart Association wants to raise awareness about the # 1 killer of women (& men) in America.  All this month through events like the Red on the Runway fashion show at Styleweek Northeast, Alex & Ani parties with a purpose, and the Go Red for women luncheon, the message of how to stay heart healthy is being spread.  

On February 1st to help kick off a month of Heart Health awareness for The American Heart Association , (deemed Wear Red Day by the AHA) ,  several  Alex & Ani stores held Parties With A Purpose.  Stores flooded with women in red shopping for a purpose, while awareness was raised about heart health, and the risks for women. The Alex & Ani Best Friends Bangle created in conjunction with The American Heart Association through Alex & Ani Charity By Design, which donates a portion of proceeds from each bangle to the charity.

Having lost my father to heart disease when I was 13 years old, this effort is near and dear to me.   I became involved with The American Heart Association last year, and before then had not realize that Heart Disease was the #1 killer of women.  I was also shocked to meet a couple of survivors who completely went against my perception of what someone who might suffer a heart attack would look like.  Both of them slim, fit, women in their mid-forties who eat right and exercise.

The most poignant quote that I heard from spokesperson Deb Kozial was when she asked her doctor if someone like her, in such good shape, could suffer a heart attack, then why bother doing all of the things she had been doing to stay healthy when it happened anyway? Her doctor replied that if she had not been in such good shape, the two of them would not be sitting there having that conversation, because her body would not have been strong enough to have survived.

The symptoms that women exhibit when experiencing a heart attack are different from what a men might experience, and are important to be aware of.   Women may experience chest Pain, Pain in Arms, Neck or Jaw, stomach pain or discomfort, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, light-headedness or fatigue. I love this short by Elizabeth Banks that so perfectly captures the mom mentality when it comes to her life.

The Go Red campaign intends to spread the message that women, who are so often busy taking care of everybody else, need to take care of themselves first, and remind other women they love in their lives, mothers, sisters, and girlfriends, to do the same. For more heart healthy tips on prevention go to the American Heart Association website. After all, in the month of February it’s all about the heart.