Engage Her: Activating Women and MultiCultural Communities

Calling all women who want to be leaders of the future. The landscape of our country is changing dramatically and in states like California the combined populations of multicultural communities (formerly known as “minorities”) have now become the dominant majority. When you add in the fact that there are more women than men in our country, then multicultural women have now become the majority of our population. The burning question we must ask ourselves: Where are the multicultural women leaders in our country? In the three major institutions that run our country, the Media, Government and Corporations there are very few women executives and decision makers that control key decisions in our country. The Census Bureau has been projecting that across our nation by 2052 or sooner, the rest of the country will look like California. That means 1 out of 3 people will be Latinos, 1 out of 6 Asian and 1 out of 6 will be of African American descent. That doesn’t include all the citizens who are “blended” or of multi-racial cultures and ethnicities. When you add these people together, the numbers are far larger and will change the landscape much more rapidly.

With the change in our population, the impact and social needs of our communities and nation will change dramatically. The impact on our educational system, jobs, healthcare system, social justice issues, immigration will need to reflect the needs of these communities. We will need new and improved services to address this changing population. Critical issues such as obesity, language, cultural challenges, higher education, immigration all represent issues that significantly impact our entire nation. We need leaders who come from these communities, understand their needs and will be able to advocate and put programs and build products and services to address their needs. We cannot sit back and wait for this dramatic change to happen. We have to encourage our communities to step up and become the leaders that they need to develop into to help lead the charge for change in our country. We need to widen the “pipeline” of leadership candidates and educate, motivate and help show young people different ways that they can become our next generation of leaders.

There are role models out there today in many different industries. Unfortunately mainstream media, corporations and government do not highlight, profile and promote these leaders. Multicultural people need to see people who look like ourselves, understand our issues and learn how to speak up, assert ourselves and become the new leaders. At Engage Her we’re dedicated to developing leadership programs, profiling leaders and identifying and supporting the next generation of multicultural leaders. We hope you will join our community, contribute to our content, attend leadership conferences, workshops and help become the change we all seek for our country. Stay tuned for more leadership articles and programs.

The Engage Her Multicultural Middle School Girls Leadership Conference was an extraordinary success! The way I had envisioned the conference was nothing like the actual experience. I can recall standing in the courtyard during Saturday morning’s registration, captivated by the diversity of young girls. It was a very surreal moment for me – I was overwhelmed with excitement and anxiety at the same time.

Saturday morning we kicked off the conference with our first speaker, Loretta Walker, Vice President of External Affairs for AT&T, who spoke about her journey to leadership. We also had Dawn Valadez, director of the film, Going on 13 www.goingon13.com, which the girls really enjoyed watching. The students had a blast participating in interactive activities with About Face http://www.about-face.org/, focusing on the messaging of main stream media.

Sunday was our Youth for Youth day, where we had young leaders speak about how they’re impacting the world! Chanel Aleta Johnson just completed her internship at the White House, working in the West Wing with President Barack Obama’s  key officials. Amazing! We also had Apoorva Rangan, a 15 year old amazing young lady, who co-founded Eco-Company and is the co-mastermind of Project Jatropha http://projectjatropha.com/, which turns Jatropha seeds into bio-fuel to conserve India’s environment. I’m absolutely proud to say, we provided incredibly inspiring speakers.

It was wonderful to witness the students, so eager to learn and identify their leadership roles. Congratulations to Engage Her for bringing together multicultural women and girls committed to becoming our future leaders!

We did it again Engage Her team!

Today is International Women’s Day which celebrates the rights and successes of all women across the globe. It is a day of celebration, reflection and recognition of the great strides women have made in our society but also a time to determine the huge amount of work that remains. While there are more women across the planet that now are receiving an education, participating in government and running their own businesses, we are far from achieving equality in many of those institutions. We need more role models, encourage more women and young girls to seek leadership positions and train the next generation of women to take on decision making and leadership roles. In countries like the United States where the majority of the population are women, we are far from being equally represented in the key institutions i.e. media, corporation and governments that run our society.

As President Barack Obama stated in his recent proclamation of Women’s HIstory Month “As we move forward, we must correct persisting inequalities. Women comprise over 50 percent of our population but hold fewer than 17 percent of our congressional seats. More than half our college students are female, yet when they graduate, their male classmates still receive higher pay on average for the same work. Women also hold disproportionately fewer science and engineering jobs. That is why my Administration launched our Educate to Innovate campaign, which will inspire young people from all backgrounds to drive America to the forefront of science, technology, engineering, and math. By increasing women’s participation in these fields, we will foster a new generation of innovators to follow in the footsteps of the three American women selected as 2009 Nobel Laureates.”

So let us celebrate International Women’s Day but let us keep an eye on the future and the hard work that remains ahead of us to achieving true equality for all women and men.

Last week First Lady Michelle Obama was in Philadelphia to talk about the Let’s Move campaign which is focused on ending the epidemic of childhood obesity in our country in a generation. She was in Philadelphia because that is the city and communities that came together six years ago to take a collaborative stand to fight obesity and provide the roadmap for the rest of our nation. They decided that they needed to bring fresh, health affordable foods to all their communities. To take a collected approach to solve the deep problems and issues that lead to obesity in our communities.

In addition, the government just announced the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It is a multi-million dollar public and private investment to eliminate food deserts in America within seven years. Food deserts are those areas in our communities throughout the country that lack access to fresh, affordable food and distribution points. It is so powerful to see our government not only talk about the need to fight obesity, but put funding and investment dollars to ensure that we bring real solutions that our citizens across the country in the communities that need it the most. We’ll bringing you more details about this program as it unfolds across the country and into our communities. Kudos to the President and the First Lady for this amazing and profound work.

“But, many of my friends are of diverse backgrounds!”

Or, “I am married to an African American or a Latino!”

           No matter what cultural background or spiritual path we come from, it is a well-known reality that relating openly and effectively to people who are different from us is not a guarantee, no matter how much we try, or we think we try.  We all relate to the world and to others from our own personal values and cultural, gender and many other types of lenses.  And, yes, this is also true of Caucasians or Anglos, or whichever term they may prefer to self-describe.

            It makes plenty of sense, doesn’t it?  What is appropriate to say or not, or what tone of voice to use, or what may be a good or a poor timing for expressing or doing anything is always framed by our world views.  If, hypothetically, we were all aware of how our views mold our perceptions and judgments, we may be able to understand or, at least, be curious about when ours collide with the perceptions of others different from us.  However, the reality is that most people rarely review their worldviews as valid, yet partial, and assume theirs is somehow the ‘right’ one.   In fact, in all societies it happens mostly to those groups who happen to be the mainstream, the majority or those in most position of rank or power.  Therefore, in the United States, it is not surprising that we often hear Caucasian individuals state that their perceptions are ‘objective’ or ‘neutral’—as if that was even possible, or even desirable!

            What Caucasians or other individuals who happen to hold privileged positions within our society (regardless of culture or race, at times) do not seem to be aware of is how those who are placed on the margins constantly adapt to their ways of talking, being or expressing themselves.  That is, unless they have some kind of rank, people of color, women, immigrants, the economically poor or somehow disenfranchised need to learn to code switch into “Caucasian mainstream ways of talking, being and going about life” while in the presence of Anglos.  Unless Caucasians are exposed to environments in which the vast majority are people of color or any subdominant group, and they do not hold any rank over them, there is no way for them to notice the difference.  And even in those circumstances, it is a matter of their level of sensitivity—which varies among peoples of all colors!

            What is particularly tough for those of us who come from such sub-dominant groups (and clearly not by choice) is to learn how to code switch.  Nobody is explicit or clear about it, it is mostly subtle, and there are many contradictory messages in the ambiance.  The later is extremely common in groups that consider themselves liberal and “have many friends or a husband or wife who is a person of color.”  Unfortunately, in those groups there is frequently a façade of openness about multicultural power dynamics, but when anyone intends to address issues, Anglos tend to become uptight, nervously silent, or out right verbally aggressive indicating that “they are children of the sixties”, or some other interesting excuse that interferes with any genuine and non-blaming dialogue.  Of course, a critical ingredient in these possible dialogues is a non-blame and shame approach.  Remember that any group, not just Caucasians, may simply be unaware of how they negatively affect others in the way they go about life.  Due to their position in Unitedstatesian society, Anglos are more prone to be oblivious to it—and they will continue to be oblivious as much as the conversations remain superficial or don’t occur at all.

            At last April’s Engage Her conference at UC Berkeley, there was at least one delightfully powerful breakthrough.  Gloria Steinem admitted that the women’s movement was racist.  It takes someone of her statue and rank to have such courage, and we are lucky that she used her leadership to set that truism on the table of discussion.  I am utterly excited to be a member of Engage Her, as meaningful and transformational conversations about multicultural matters, especially those that affect women and their rank in society are emerging everywhere!  And, yes, we are including women of ALL colors, including Anglos!

Food for thought:  Regardless of your cultural heritage, reflect on how you may change your behavior, especially the way you talk (tone of voice, topics to cover, timing, pauses, etc.) when you interact with people who are somehow different from you.  If you are Anglo, ask your friends of color if they “talk in a different language” (known as “code switching”) when they talk or behave with you.  If you approach the conversation within a curious and non-blaming attitude, I bet you you’ll learn about many things you were unaware of!

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to return to my high school (Tennyson High) for a very meaningful purpose – not to reminisce about the good old days, but to give back. I never thought in a million years that I would have the opportunity to do so. I went to pay a visit to nine young girls who were pre-chosen by one of the high school English teachers to blog on the Engage Her website.

My younger brother is currently a senior at the high school and chief editor for their newspaper. My brother and I had a few discussions about having some of the staff writers blog on the website. I thought this could be a good opportunity to hear the students speak about the issues of our failing educational system. As adults, it’s easy for us to analyze and critique the issues; however, we are disconnected from the reality of being neglected by society, which creates a barrier of opportunity for our youth.

The nine young girls I had the opportunity to meet with were so eager to just talk. It was like trying to keep the lid on a boiling pot of water, ready to spill over. As I sat and listened to what issues affected them, I became intrigued by their voices, passion, and innocence. The girls indeed had something to say, as if someone finally gave them permission to free their minds. As they spoke, there was attitude in their body language, but they also seemed burdened by being a product of their environment. The experience was grand because I felt like I could relate to them in so many ways. The only difference was I didn’t have the chance to speak out until now. It was then that I realized the importance of providing youth with a platform of their own, to express and become empowered individuals. The girls talked about abortion, cultural stereotypes, health care, the need for guidance from teachers and parents. Everything they had to say was so relevant to the disparities we are all faced with today.

It’s critical that the voices of our youth are heard, because they are the voices that will lead tomorrow. It would not be fair to them if we don’t make their issues our priority. It is our obligation as adults to educate them about the disparities now, and provide them with resources. These young girls are beautiful, intelligent and, most of all, destined for leadership. We will be posting their blogs to our website in the coming weeks, so let’s nurture these bright young girls and make them feel at home. They’ve truly inspired me!