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 hearing to determine if Elena Kagan nominated by President Obama to be the next Supreme Court Justice opens this week. As she endures questions and inspection into her qualifications, records and opinions people will get to learn more about her positions on key issues that affect us all. If she is confirmed, she could have 25 years or more on the Supreme Court that would clearly have strong impact on issues facing our country. It is a crucial appointment for all of us that we need to watch closely and understand how her decisions and opinions will affect all of us for multiple decades. If she is confirmed, Elena Kagan would be the 112th Supreme Court justice and the fourth woman to sit on the nation’s highest court.

In yesterday’s mid term elections, women ran for major high profile positions and in many cases won. Women like Blance Lincoln in Arkansas, Meg Whitman in California and others across the country. There were winners in the Democratic, Republican and independents that demonstrated women coming out and getting success in high profile campaigns. While there is a strong anti-incumbent feeling among voters, there were incumbents and newcomers alike that won a spot moving forward. Voters will be watching these women carefully to see what issues they represent and solutions they suggest other than just being “anti-establishment” alternatives. Our economy is faced with many challenges including high unemployment, rising costs, and job creation issues. It will be important to see if these women can gain the trust of voters and come up with real solutions and resolve to put our country and states back on track.

With millions of people uninsured in the U.S. and millions more who are being denied coverage for a variety of reasons including pre-existing conditions, President Obama and the Democrats are pushing to pass a reform bill. President Obama is determined to “pass healthcare reform that lowers cost, promotes choice and provides coverage that every American can count on.” There has been so many special interests, large corporations, pharmaceuticals and insurance industry lobbyists that are influencing our Senators and Congressional Reps to not pass healthcare reform because they stand to lose all their profits and stranglehold on the lucrative healthcare industry. People need to call their Senators and Congressional Reps and tell them what they think. For or against health care reform, we need to make our voices heard now.

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.

While the economists and other policy types talk about the national unemployment figures still stuck at 10% in December, I think we all know that the number is much higher. There are a lot of reports of people who have been laid off, taken part time work or have fallen off the unemployment rolls because they no longer report they’re looking for work or are not eligible to receive further unemployment benefits. Figures have been put as high as an 18% unemployment rate and in some cities the numbers are much higher based on their local economies. The question is what will it take to get the country into a hiring mode again when people will become gainfully employed and able to pay their mortgages, bills and save for their futures. How can we offer suggestions and ideas on how our government and industries can create programs to create more jobs and to restart the economy? If you have suggestions, we’d like to hear them.