At this year’s Women and Public Life Summit, Center for Media and Peace Initiatives – CMPI is brought together female leaders from the public and private sectors for a frank and forward-looking discussion about the status of women in this moment of reckoning for women’s voices to be heard.
Declaring the 2018 Summit open, President of the Center for Media and Peace Initiatives, Dr. Uchenna Ekwo told the participants drawn from diverse field and countries that the forum was designed to amplify the voices of women in foreign policy, national security, and international business.
Every year, said Dr. Ekwo, CMPI convenes top-level women leaders to discuss critical and timely issues in their respective fields, reflect on their professional experiences, and share ideas.
“At a moment of far-reaching change in politics and policy, women are more politically engaged than ever before — and yet remain vastly under-represented at every level of local, state, national, and corporate decision-making.”
He noted that the “Me Too” movement had exposed long-held secrets about sexual abuse and discrimination of women in private and public settings. While sexual misconduct against women is not new, Ekwo pointed out that what’s new is that women are speaking up to expose powerful men in the media, politics, and entertainment.
In her speech, Dr. Shalu Keswani, of Sant Nirankari Mission’s Representative for United Nations spoke about the importance of managing stress in today’s turbulent world.
She also moderated a panel of young people of diverse professionals who shared their experiences in stress management in workplaces including counseling to their clients.
Veteran Television Journalist, Amelia Moore led the discussion on Women, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Sexual Harassment in Private and Public places.
Her presentation appeared to have gone down well with the audience especially as she provided some checklists on navigating male bullying and female discrimination in workplaces.
Amelia in a response to a question categorized men into four silos – Emperor, Enforcer, Egg Head, and Everyday Man and advised women to be conscious of their choice and learn how to relate with the different kinds of men as each category has implications.
She made references to her book “SheEO vs CEO” as a great resource to women who seek to understand the turbulent challenges women face in an apparently male chauvinistic world.
Amelia provided some detail about the constant mix-up of emotion and passion when discussing women’s struggle for equality and access.
Maguette Diop – Social Media Editor, Center for Media and Peace Initiatives, NY and Dr. Olga Zbarskaya – President of OZCredo Organization and author of Brainstorm examined how women shaping the future — and what are their agendas? Where can women find common ground at a time of division? How are women taking their place at the table in the public and private sectors — and what difference can they make there?
Through personal reflections and developing creative thinking processes, Dr. Zbarskaya was of the view that women could overcome any challenge.
She described as misnomer the concept of “thinking outside the box” and argued that there is no box. “We create the box,” she said. To attain your fullest potential, “we must be flexible and refuse to limit our possibilities”
Maguette Diop spoke on the effectiveness of the social media in advocating social causes.
In many communications, the message (what is said) may not be received exactly the way the sender intended. It is therefore important that the communicator understands what stands in the way of their messages being clearly understood. Simple, the skilled communicator needs to be aware of the barriers to effective communication and how to avoid or overcome them.
She urged participants to be careful about what they post online as it could pose danger for them in the future.
Natt Satt, the Director of Marketing at the World Financial Group provided some essential guidelines in financial literacy geared towards making women be debt-free and effective managers of their own money.
It is important, Satt said, for women to develop a strong financial foundation to support their families and could not over stress the importance of financial independence.
The question and answer session provided illuminating conversation among participants, lead discussants, and panelists.
Khin Satt is a Chief Executive Officer at WFG, not a Marketing Director.