Jennifer Hudson - Big, beautiful breakthrough

"Never, ever, ever give up, and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something," said Hudson, crediting her mother with nurturing talents in her that she didn't know she had. "If they tell you that you can't do it, it's because they can't dream as big as you."

Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981) is an Academy Award winning American actress and singer. She first gained notice as one of the finalists on the third season of the FOX television series American Idol. She went on to star as Effie Melody White in the 2006 musical film Dreamgirls, for which she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a SAG Award.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago IL, Jennifer started singing in the church choir at the age of seven. For Jennifer, emoting inspirational gospel is the cornerstone of her beginnings as a talented singer, "the church is my favorite place to sing. My first solo was "Must Jesus Bare The Cross Alone." She attributes her vocal ability to her dear late maternal grandmother, Julia Kate Hudson, who was an avid churchgoer and also sang in the choir. Throughout grammar and high school, Jennifer cultivated & showcased her talent by participating in a host of local talent shows and musicals. During this time she also performed at various clubs, weddings and benefits in Chicago and surrounding areas.

In the Fall of 2002 Jennifer successfully auditioned for one of the Disney Cruise ships and landed her first major role as "Calliope", the head muse on the "Disney Wonder" line the ran from February 2003 through August of 2003 Jennifer loved her time performing on the ship and considers herself a member of the Disney family and was thrilled to be able to do what she loves to do, stating, "singing for thousands of people, and to be paid to do this, it's amazing!." Taking a leap of faith, Jennifer consciously decided not to renew her contract with Disney; instead she flew to Atlanta to audition for the Fox hit reality show, American Idol: Season 3 in August 2003.

Amongst 70,000 hopefuls Jennifer was a stand out choice as a top 12 competitor. She wowed the idol judges and viewers spanning across the globe with great performances of classic songs by icons such as Aretha Franklin & Whitney Houston. As judge Randy Jackson's Wild Card pick, Jennifer's journey with American Idol accelerated her to the 7th position. Viewer response to her early departure was quite controversial and unprecedented and sent shockwaves across America as well as unleashing a torrent of criticism about the idol voting process. During her time in the "Top 12", she received high praise from some of music's biggest industry legends. Sir Elton John was quoted as saying she was "the best of the lot". The deep, rich, powerful, classic texture of Jennifer Hudson's voice continues to touch everyone that hears her sing. In response to hearing Jennifer's incredible range during the competition preparation for his very own classic, "Weekend In New England" Barry Manilow stated "My catalog of songs requires that you have range, you cannot do what Jennifer is doing, she takes it to a whole other level.". Movie director Quentin Tarentino was also enchanted by hearing Jennifer's powerful rendition of the Whitney Houston song "I Have Nothing" from the mega hit soundtrack "The Bodyguard". Quentin states "Hudson takes on Houston and WINS!" Although Jennifer did not win the idol crown she left an indelible mark on the music industry and viewers across the world. After the show ended the top 10 finalists embarked on a 48 city tour and Jennifer received critical praise for her performances from many of the local newspapers covering the event. Being voted off was an initial disappointment but reaction to her departure yielded much unprecedented coverage that includes a duet with Barry Manilow on "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" who also invited her to sing on tour with him, heavy spotlighting from Entertainment Tonight & other entertainment news intrigued to interview Jennifer as well as a guest spot on David Letterman's Top 10 List. Of her idol experience Jennifer has this to say, "I have learned a lot," she said. "It's been the biggest experience of my life. "It's just a blessing from God to just be able to use my talent to make my living - to be on American Idol and be on stage."

Post "Idol" life for Jennifer Hudson has been very rewarding. She has performed at several important benefit concerts, including a performance in the hit Broadway musical "Hair". Jennifer makes it no secret that she has a strong interest in the stage and has received rave reviews from established stage performers after her stand out delivery of "Easy To Be Hard", which she has recorded for an ensemble cast HAIR benefit album, due for release in early 2005. Ms. Hudson was also invited to perform at an event in her hometown along side such notable acts as Destiny's Child, Kanye West and others. Jennifer debuted an original song entitled "Stand Up", which has since been strongly supported & requested on radio and has already created a buzz on the internet.

With a 6 octave range, Jennifer has been compared to legendary voices such as Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Holiday. What you heard from Jennifer on American Idol was only a sliver of her vocal ability. Listeners should be excited to hear what she has to offer. She is currently recording her debut CD. Jennifer's voice is a throwback to powerful old school performers. Back when singers could sang. There is a duality in Jennifer's voice that listeners will find very pleasing. She has the prowess to deliver an old soul classic but can just as easily woo you with a big power ballad that made many of today's musical stars famous. Fans will be pleased to know that Jennifer has been very involved and hands on in the process of recording and writing her long awaited CD, targeted for a release date of spring/summer 2005. Who needs the title of the American Idol when you have a legend in the making? Stay tuned.

How it all started....!

The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.

On 8 March 1857, women working in clothing and textile factories (called 'garment workers') in New York City, in the United States, staged a protest. They were fighting against inhumane working conditions and low wages. The police attacked the protestors and dispersed them. Two years later, again in March, these women formed their first labour union to try and protect themselves and gain some basic rights in the workplace.

On 8 March 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter work hours, better pay, voting rights and an end to child labour. They adopted the slogan "Bread and Roses", with bread symbolizing economic security and roses a better quality of life. In May, the Socialist Party of America designated the last Sunday in February for the observance of National Women's Day.

Following the declaration of the Socialist Party of America, the first ever National Woman's Day was celebrated in the United States on 28 February 1909. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.

An international conference, held by socialist organizations from around the world, met in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1910. The conference of the Socialist International proposed a Women's Day which was designed to be international in character. The proposal initially came from Clara Zetkin, a German socialist, who suggested an International Day to mark the strike of garment workers in the United States. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, including the first three women elected to the parliament of Finland. The Day was established to honour the movement for women's rights, including the right to vote (known as 'suffrage'). At that time no fixed date was selected for the observance.

The declaration of the Socialist International had an impact. The following year, 1911, International Women's Day was marked for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The date was March 19 and over a million men and women took to the streets in a series of rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work and an end to discrimination on the job.

Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took place. Over 140 workers, mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrant girls working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, lost their lives because of the lack of safety measures. The Women's Trade Union League and the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union led many of the protests against this avoidable tragedy, including the silent funeral march which brought together a crowd of over 100,000 people. The Triangle Fire had a significant impact on labour legislation and the horrible working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February 1917 to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway.
The rest is history: Four days later the Czar of Russia was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but coincided with 8 March on the Gregorian calendar used by people elsewhere.
Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike.

In December 1977 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. Four global United Nations women's conferences have helped make the demand for women's rights and participation in the political and economic process a growing reality.

In 1975 the UN drew global attention to women's concerns by calling for an International Women's year and convening the first conference on women in Mexico City. Another convention was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980.

In 1985, the UN convened a third conference on women in Nairobi, Kenya, to look at what had been achieved at the end of the decade.

In 1995, Beijing hosted the Fourth World Conference on Women. Representatives from 189 different countries agreed that inequalities between women and men has serious consequences for the well-being of all people. The conference declared a set of goals for progress of women in various areas including politics, health, and education. The final document issued by the conference (called the "Platform for Action") had this to say: "The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women and men are a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and should not be seen in isolation as a women's issue."

Five years later, in a 23rd special session of the United Nations General Assembly, "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century" reviewed the progress the world has made towards achieving the goals set out by the Beijing conference. This conference has come to be known as the "Beijing +5" conference. Delegates found both progress and perservering obstacles. The delegates made further agreements to continue carrying out the initiatives of the 1995 women's conference.

Some misinformed folks might think that women's equality benefits mostly women, however, statistical studies have shown that for every one-percentile growth in female secondary schooling it results in a proportionate 0.3 percent growth in the economy. Yet girls are often denied an education in the poorest countries that would benefit the most from their overall economic growth. Unpaid labor (especially in countries in Asia and Africa - such as hours spent working in the fields, fetching water and gathering wood for cooking etc., to feed their families are not even factored into the equation), while their menfolks sit and argue about clan politics and the virtues of FGM.

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. However, she is more directly involved with the United Kingdom, where the Royal Family resides, and the Monarchy is historically indigenous.

Reign 6 February 1952 to present
Coronation 2 June 1953
Predecessor George VI
Heir Apparent Charles, Prince of Wales
Consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Issue
Charles, Prince of Wales
Anne, Princess Royal
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Full name
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor
Titles
HM The Queen
HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh
HRH The Princess Elizabeth
HRH Princess Elizabeth of York
Royal house House of Windsor
Royal anthem God Save the Queen
Father George VI
Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Born 21 April 1926 (age 80)
Mayfair, London
Baptised 29 May 1926[1]
Buckingham Palace, London

Apart from the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, where she is represented by Governors-General. The sixteen countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth Realms, and their combined population is 128 million.

Elizabeth became Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ceylon upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952. As other colonies of the British Empire (now the Commonwealth of Nations) attained independence from the UK during her reign, she acceded to the newly created thrones as Queen of each respective realm so that throughout her 55 years on the throne she has been Monarch of 32 nations, half of which either moved to different royal houses, or became republics. (See also Former Commonwealth Realms.)

She is presently the world's only monarch who is simultaneously Head of State of more than one independent nation. In legal theory she is the most powerful head of state in the world, although in practice she personally exercises very little political executive power.

Elizabeth also holds the positions of Head of the Commonwealth, Lord High Admiral, Supreme Governor of the Church of England (styled Defender of the Faith), Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. Following tradition, she is also styled Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy. She is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces of many of her Realms.

Her ancestry includes not only British sovereigns but also a wide range of Royal Houses, some of them tracing back to Antiquity.

Her Life

Castellani House shows Deepa Mehta's Water for International Women's Day

Castellani House is marking International Women's Day with the showing of ˜Water', a film by Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, on Thursday March 8th next, at 6pm at the National Gallery.

The film was short-listed for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the recent 2007 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, submitted as the official entry from Canada, drawing glowing reviews from the international print and broadcast media, including Time magazine, Variety and the Toronto Sun.

Set against the background of Mahatma Gandhi's rise to prominence in 1938 colonial India, the film explores the fate of Indian women destined to a life of seclusion and poverty on the death of their husbands, through the stories of child bride Chuyia and a beautiful young widow, Kalyani, who falls in love with a young follower of Gandhi.

While making the film in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in 2000, fierce protests from political and religious organisations escalated into mass protests and burning of the film sets. Despite attempting to make changes in the script to appease official concerns, local authorities halted the film on its eventual first day of filming with an order to cease production. Though offered accommodation by other Indian states, Mehta eventually restarted her film four years later in Sri Lanka, giving the project a different title.

The film stars Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas and Bollywood leading actor John Abraham. Running time is 1 hour and 56 minutes. The public is cordially invited to attend this event.

Roza Shanina - 1924–1945

Roza Yegorovna Shanina (Russian: Роза Егоровна Шанина, 1924 – January 28, 1945) was a Soviet sniper during World War II. She was responsible for 54 confirmed kills, including 12 enemy soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius.[3] [4]

Shanina had light brown hair and blue eyes.[5] After attending Arkhangelsk Teacher's Training College, she became a mentor in the kindergarten. Then she voluntarily joined the Vsevobuch and later the Central Female Sniper Academy in Podolsk. On June 22, 1943 Shanina enlisted in the Red Army and on April 2, 1944 joined the 184th Rifle Division, where a separate female sniper platoon was formed. Once, upon receiving a battalion commander's order to immediately return to the rear, Shanina replied "I will return after the battle".[6] The words later became a title of the book From The Battle Returned by Nikolai Zhuravlyov. Shanina died in a battle near the khutor of Rikhau. Her battle diary and several letters have been published. Streets in Arkhangelsk and in the settlements of Shangaly and Stroyevskoye were named after her.

Shanina had four brothers, but only one survived the war.

Notes and references
^ Awarded on June 18 and September 22, 1944 respectively.
^ Awarded on December 27, 1944.
^ SniperCentral.com.
^ Russian: Овсянкин, Е. И. История АПК.
^ A-Z.ru.
^ (Russian) Молчанов, П., Журавлёв, Н. Подснежники на минном поле

dove how bout mrs c? today would ah been she hubby birthday - she crying still

After Making History at Six Years Old, Ruby Bridges Hall is Still a Quiet Force for Change
Date: Monday, March 05, 2007
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Most people recall their first day at school fondly.

There may have been some slight trepidation at the beginning, as they worried about making friends or whether the teacher would be nice. Usually, things went well and by the end of the day, all concerns and fears were gone.

Ruby Bridges Hall's first day at William Frantz School in New Orleans was monumental, but she was just a six-year-old girl who, in the midst of confusion, thought it was Mardi Gras at first.

"There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras," Hall told Charlayne Hunter-Gault in a PBS interview in 1997. "I really didn't realize until I got into the school that something else was going on. Angry parents at that point rushed in and took their kids out of school ... My mother and I (sat) in the principal's office. And we sat there all day because we were not able to go to class because all of this was going on. So I actually didn't attend class to the very next day."

Hall, then Ruby Bridges, had just become the first black pupil to integrate an elementary school in the United States.

quote:

Originally posted by villo:
dove how bout mrs c? today would ah been she hubby birthday - she crying still

...you know she rates high in my book, please give her my love.

Rosalind McLymont

Born in Guyana, she came to the United States in 1965, later living in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1973 to 1980. She lives in Valley Cottage, N.Y., with her husband and three of their children.

Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont is editor in chief of The Network Journal, a magazine for black professionals and business owners, and a partner in McLymont, Kunda & Co., with her husband, Fritz-Earle St. Elmo Mclymont -- former director of the Port Authority of New York's export consultancy. Together they manage as strategists, international trade and business development research projects, handling everything from regulations to hands-on import/export of product such as coffee, sneakers and cigars. The company is now based in Jamaica, NY .

Former managing editor of The Journal of Commerce, Rosalind McLymont is an award-winning journalist, she handles writes and edits content for A - Z International Associates and has a master's degree in journalism from New York University, a bachelor's in French from the City College of New York, a certificate in Spanish language and literature from the University of Madrid, and a black belt in Tai Chi from Ming's Tai Chi Academy.

Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont's First Novel Catapults Readers from America to Africa and Back was released in April 2006.

Margaret Bourke-White 1904 -1971

NAME: Margaret Bourke-White

BIRTHDATE: June 14, 1904

BIRTHPLACE: The Bronx, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Her father, Joseph White, was of Polish-Jewish background. He was an inventor and an engineer. He believed in equality in education and opportunity for all his children. Margaret's mother, Minnie Bourke, was of Irish-English ancestry and was a loving and nurturing mother. Minnie was completing her college degree at the time of her death. Margaret was married twice; once to Everett Chapman, when she was but 18 years old; and to Erskine Caldwell, the writer, in 1939, after they had worked together. They divorced in 1942.

EDUCATION: Margaret Bourke-White attended several universities throughout the United States while pursuing a degree in Herpetology (the study of reptiles). They included Columbia University in New York, the University of Michigan, Purdue University in Indiana, Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and she received her degree in 1927 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Margaret began to study photography as a hobby while a very young woman. She developed the styles and techniques that she needed for various formats on her own. Her father was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast and he exposed her to the wonders of the photographic lens as a youngster.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Margaret Bourke-White is a woman of many firsts. She was a forerunner in the newly emerging field of photojournalism, and was the first female to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune magazine, in 1929. In 1930, she was the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union.

Henry Luce hired her as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine, soon after its creation in 1935, and one of her photographs adorned its first cover (November 23, 1936). She was the first female war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II, and one of the first photographers to enter and document the death camps. She made history with the publication of her haunting photos of the Depression in the book You Have Seen Their Faces, a collaboration with husband-to-be Erskine Caldwell. She wrote six books about her international travels. She was the premiere female industrial photographer, getting her start in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Otis Steel Company around 1927.

PLACE OF DEATH: Connecticut

DATE OF DEATH: August 27, 1971

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books by Margaret Bourke-White
You Have Seen Their Faces (1937; with Erskine Caldwell)
North of the Danube (1939; with Erskine Caldwell)
Shooting the Russian War (1942)
They Called it "Purple Heart Valley" (1944)
Halfway to Freedom; a report on the new India (1949)
Portrait of Myself (1963)
Dear Fatherland, rest quietly (1946)
The Taste of War (selections from her writings, edited by Jonathon Silverman)

Books about Margaret Bourke-White:
For the world to see: the life of Margaret Bourke-White by Jonathon Silverman (1983)
Margaret Bourke-White: a biography by Vicki Goldberg (1986)
The Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White edited by Sean Callahan (1972)

WEB SITES:
National Women's Hall of Fame
Margaret Bourke-White: A Photographer's Life by Emily Keller - information about the book with excerpts and material on Bourke-White's life
Review by Elsa Dorfman - of Vicki Goldberg's Margaret Bourke-White: A Biography
Filmpicker.com: Photography Greats: Margaret Bourke White
Margaret Bourke-White @ Gallery M: Biography
Photo-Seminars Hall of Fame - Margaret Bourke-White

QUOTE: Work is something you can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you.
- Margaret Bourke-White

Eliza Bryant (1827-1907) - African-American founder of the The Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People.

Eliza Bryant

BIRTHDATE: 1827

BIRTHPLACE: North Carolina

EDUCATION: Unknown

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Parents, Polly Simmons, a slave, and her master. In 1848 Polly Simmons was freed and moved north with her family, purchasing a home in Cleveland, Ohio with funds from her master.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Eliza Bryant was active in the movement to welcome and assist African Americans to the Cleveland area, particularly those moving from the southern states. Through this work she learned of the special needs of elderly blacks left alone due to slavery. Existing facilities denied access to African Americans and so, Bryant, with the aid of Sarah Green and Lethia Flemming, began the work of establishing a home for aged blacks around 1893. In January, 1895 a board of trustees was named and the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People opened on August 11, 1897. Bryant married and had several children.

DATE OF DEATH: May 13, 1907

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio. She is buried in Woodland Cemetary.

Iranian women struggle for equality
By Frances Harrison
BBC News, Tehran

~~ My husband would beat the child and throw him aside

In the days before International Women's Day, 33 women were arrested in Tehran for peacefully protesting outside a court building. Eight of them were subsequently released.

Those detained include many of the big names of Iran's women's movement, who are calling for an end to discriminatory laws against women.

It is not hard to find women who have been caused great suffering by the law as it stands.

"This is my son just after he was born," say Forugh, looking through old photo albums in the tiny apartment where she lives alone.

Ali Reza is now seven and Forugh has not been able to see him for many months. When she separated from her husband the judge gave him custody of their child.

"From the moment he came home my husband used to start shouting until he left again," she remembers. "So many times it ended in a physical beating".

She says Ali Reza would come to her defence: "'Don't do anything to my mum,' he'd say. But he would beat the child and throw him aside".

Painful separation

The judge said Forugh could see Ali Reza for up to 12 hours a week, but they had to meet in a police station. It frightened the child so much she gave up.

Now Forugh's ex-husband does not let them meet and even prevents them talking on the phone.
Forugh is worried about the damage it has done to Ali Reza.

"One time he came to see me after some months and I asked him: 'Do you feel bad that I separated from your father and you are far away from me?' He said: 'No. I could see how much daddy was bothering you'". Forugh breaks down in tears.

Her story illustrates how the laws in Iran are weighted against women: the father automatically gets custody of a boy over two years of age or a girl over seven.

Forugh lost her child and got no financial support from her ex husband.

Fighting for justice

There are those trying to change things.

Parisa is approaching total strangers on the street and talking to them about the legal status of women.

She is collecting signatures for a petition asking for the repeal of Islamic laws that discriminate against women.

The campaign has struck a chord with many Iranian women like Mahnoush who are fed up with being second class citizens.


The judges do not consider the value and dignity of women. It's disgusting.
Shima

Mahnoush has just signed the petition and explains why: "I am protesting that in any instance I am considered only half a man... maybe I am more effective than a man so why should my rights be half his".

Her friend Shima has also signed because she says she has seen lots of women suffer, even her own mother when she divorced.

"The right to divorce is really ridiculous. I have seen women go and say their spouse is a drug addict and the judge says stay with him, at least he can support you. The judges do not consider the value and dignity of women. It's disgusting."

Surrounded by fear

Parisa is nervous being filmed collecting signatures.

She thinks plain clothes police are filming us from a parked car nearby even though she only arranged the meeting point at the last minute.

Some of her colleagues have been arrested while campaigning.

Parisa believes the authorities see them as a threat.


"Officials don't want to listen to the women's movement because they think it's something that's come from the west," she explains.

She says the interesting thing is the rich, westernised women are less supportive of the campaign to change discriminatory laws than the poor and more conservative women.

Parisa thinks it is because less well off women cannot afford good lawyers when they run into trouble.

1,000,000 signatures

The one million signature campaign to change the law began with a peaceful protest last June in one of Iran's biggest squares.

Women activists sat on the grass and sang feminist songs.

Within minutes the police beat them and started firing tear gas and mace spray.

More than 70 people were arrested. Among them 20-two-year old student Delaram Ali who is now on trial.

"I am charged with acting against national security, disturbing public order and doing propaganda against the system, and having connections to illegal opposition groups," explains Delaram.


Officials don't want to listen to the women's movement
Parisa

She says she spent three days in solitary confinement in Evin Jail after the police injured her hand in the protest last June.

Delaram is being defended by Iran's best known woman lawyer, Shireen Ebadi who won the Nobel peace prize for her human rights work.

Mrs Ebadi says Iranian law allows peaceful protests, that it is the police not the demonstrators who should be prosecuted for their violent action.

"We filed a complaint against the police. Unfortunately although 10 months has passed no representative of the police has come to reply to the complaint in spite of being asked to attend many times," she explains.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6426087.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6426087.stm

Published: 2007/03/07 17:35:42 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Women Marchers Attacked at Inauguration

1913: Women Organize Parade to Disrupt Inauguration, Onlookers Harass and Attack Marchers

When Woodrow Wilson arrived in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913, he expected to be met by crowds of people welcoming him for his inauguration as United States President the next day.

But very few people came to meet his train. Instead, hundreds of thousands of people were lining Pennsylvania Avenue, watching a Woman Suffrage Parade.

Organizers of the parade, led by suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, planned the parade for the day prior to Wilson's first inauguration in hopes that it would turn attention to their cause: winning a federal suffrage amendment, gaining the vote for women.

Five to eight thousand suffragists marched from the U.S. Capitol past the White House. Most of the women, organized into marching units walking three across and accompanied by suffrage floats, were in costume, most in white. At the front of the march, lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led the way on her white horse.

In another tableau, Florence F. Noyes wore a costume depicting "Liberty". She posed for photographs with other participants in front of the Treasury building.

Of the estimated half million onlookers watching the parade instead of greeting the President-elect, not all were supporters of woman suffrage. Many were angry opponents of suffrage, or were upset at the march's timing. Some hurled insults; others hurled lighted cigar butts. Some spit at the women marchers; others slapped them, mobbed them, or beat them.

The parade organizers had obtained the necessary police permit for the march, but the police did nothing to protect them from their attackers. Army troops from Fort Myer were called in to stop the violence. Two hundred marchers were injured.

The next day, the inauguration proceeded. But public outcry against the police and their failure resulted in an investigation by the District of Columbia Commissioners and the ousting of the police chief.

More than that, the sympathy generated even more support for the cause of woman suffrage and women's rights. In New York, the annual woman suffrage parade in 1913, held on May 10, drew 10,000 marchers, one in twenty of whom were men. Between 150,000 and 500,000 watched the parade down Fifth Avenue.

Black Women Sent to the Back of the March

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the journalist who led an anti-lynching campaign beginning in the late 19th century, organized the Alpha Suffrage Club among African American women in Chicago and brought members with her to participate in the 1913 suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.

Mary Church Terrell also organized a group of African American women to be part of the suffrage parade.

But the organizers of the march asked that the African American women march at the back of the parade. A constitutional amendment for woman suffrage, the object of the parade, would have to be ratified by two-thirds of the state legislatures after garnering two-thirds votes in both the House and Senate.

In the Southern states, opposition to woman suffrage was intensified as legislators feared that granting women the vote would add even more black voters to the voting rolls. So, the parade organizers reasoned, a compromise had to be struck: African American women could march in the suffrage parade, but in order to prevent raising even more opposition in the South, they would have to march at the back of the march. The votes of Southern legislators, in Congress and in the state houses, were possibly at stake, the organizers reasoned.

Mary Terrell accepted the decision. But Ida Wells-Barnett did not. She tried to get the white Illinois delegation to support her opposition of this segregation, but found few supporters. The Alpha Suffrage Club women either marched in the back, or, as did Ida Wells-Barnett herself, decided not to march in the parade at all.

But, as the parade progressed, Wells-Barnett emerged from the crowd and joined the (white) Illinois delegation, marching between two white supporters. She refused to comply with the segregation.

This was neither the first nor the last time that African American women found their support of women's rights received with less than enthusiasm.

Militant Suffragists Split Over Strategy

Alice Paul saw the March 3, 1913 suffrage parade as an opening volley in a more militant woman suffrage battle.

Alice Paul had moved to Washington, D.C. in January of that year. She rented a basement room at 1420 F Street NW. With Lucy Barns and others she organized the Congressional Committee as an auxiliary within the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). They began to use the room as an office and base for their work to win a federal constitutional amendment for woman suffrage.

Paul and Burns were among those who believed that state-by-state efforts to amend state constitutions was a process that would take too long and would fail in many states. Paul's experience working in England with the Pankhursts and others had convinced her that more militant tactics were also needed to bring public attention and sympathy to the cause.

The March 3 suffrage parade was designed to gain maximum exposure and to draw attention which would normally be given to the Presidential inauguration in Washington.

After the March suffrage parade put the issue of woman suffrage more prominently into the public eye, and after the public outcry over the lack of police protection helped increase public sympathy for the movement, the women moved ahead with their goal.

In April, 1913, Alice Paul began promoting the "Susan B. Anthony" amendment. It was introduced into Congress on March 10, 1914, where it failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote, but drew a vote of 35 to 34. A petition to extend voting rights to women had been first introduced into Congress in 1871, following the ratification of the 15th Amendment extending voting rights regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The last time that a federal bill had been submitted to Congress, in 1878, it had been defeated by an overwhelming margin.

In July, the Congressional Union women organized an automobile procession (automobiles still being newsworthy, especially when driven by women) to present a petition for the Anthony amendment with 200,000 signatures from around the United States.

In October, militant British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst began an American speaking tour. In November elections, Illinois voters approved a state suffrage amendment, but Ohio voters defeated one.

By December, the NAWSA leadership, including Carrie Chapman Catt, decided that the more militant tactics of Alice Paul and the Congressional Committee were unacceptable and that their goal of a federal amendment was premature. The December NAWSA convention expelled the militants, who renamed their organization the Congressional Union.

The Congressional Union, which merged in 1917 with the Women's Political Union to form the National Woman's Party (NWP), continued to work through marches, parades and other public demonstrations.

After the 1916 Presidential election, Paul and the NWP believed that Woodrow Wilson had made a commitment to support a suffrage amendment. When, after his second inauguration in 1917, he did not fulfill this promise, Paul organized 24-hour picketing of the White House.

Many of the picketers were arrested for picketing, for demonstrating, for writing in chalk on the sidewalk outside the White House, and other related offenses. They often went to prison for their efforts. In prison, some followed the British suffragists' example and went on hunger strikes. As in Britain, the prison officials responded by force-feeding the prisoners. Paul herself, while imprisoned at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, was force-fed. Lucy Burns, with whom Alice Paul had organized the Congressional Committee in early 1913, spent perhaps the most time in prison of all the suffragists.

Their efforts succeeded in keeping the issue in the public eye. The more conservative NAWSA also remained active in working for suffrage. The effect of all the efforts bore fruit when the U.S. Congress passed the Susan B. Anthony amendment: the House in January 1918 and the Senate in June, 1919.


Source

Sally Hemings (1773-1835)

DATE OF BIRTH: c.1773

PLACE OF BIRTH: Virginia

DATE OF DEATH: c. 1835

PLACE OF DEATH: Virginia

Sally Hemings, whose given name was probably Sarah, was the daughter of Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings and, John Wayles, Thomas Jefferson's father-in-law. She became Thomas Jefferson's property as part of his inheritance from the Wayles estate in 1774 and came with her mother to Monticello by 1776. As a child she was probably a "nurse" to Jefferson's daughter Mary (slave girls from the age of six or eight were childminders and assistants to head nurses on southern plantations.)

Sally Hemings and Mary Jefferson were living at Eppington -- residence of Mary's aunt and uncle -- in 1787, when Jefferson's long-expressed desire to have his daughter join him in France was carried out. Fourteen-year-old Sally and eight-year-old Mary crossed the Atlantic Ocean to London that summer. They were received by John and Abigail Adams, who wrote that Sally "seems fond of the child and appears good naturd." Jefferson's French butler, Adrien Petit, escorted the two girls from London to Paris.

It is not known whether Sally Hemings lived at Jefferson's residence, the Hotel de Langeac, or at the Abbaye de Panthemont, where Martha (Patsy) and Mary (Maria) Jefferson were boarding students. Jefferson, who had expressly asked that someone who had had smallpox or been inoculated against it accompany his daughter to France, soon had Sally inoculated by the famous Dr. Robert Sutton. While in Paris, she undoubtedly received training -- especially in needlework and the care of clothing -- to suit her for her position as lady's maid to Jefferson's daughters. She was occasionally paid a monthly wage of twelve livres (the equivalent of two dollars).

Sally Hemings was certainly acting as Martha Jefferson's attendant in the spring of 1789, when Patsy began to "go out" in French society (increased expenditures for clothing for both Patsy and Sally reflect this). When booking accommodations on the Clermont for the return to America, Jefferson asked that Sally's berth be "convenient to that of my daughters."

After the family's return to Virginia in 1789, Sally Hemings seems to have remained at Monticello, where she performed the duties of a household servant and lady's maid (Jefferson still referred to her as "Maria's maid" in 1799). Sally's son Madison recalled that one of her duties was "to take care of [Jefferson's] chamber and wardrobe, look after us children, and do light work such as sewing."

There are only two known descriptions of Sally Hemings. The slave Isaac Jefferson remembered that she was "mighty near white. . . very handsome, long straight hair down her back." Jefferson biographer Henry S. Randall recalled Jefferson's grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph describing her as "light colored and decidedly good looking."

Sally may have lived in the stone workmen's house (now called the "Weaver's Cottage") from 1790 to 1792, when she -- like her sister Critta -- might have removed to one of the new 12'x14' log cabins farther down Mulberry Row. After the completion of the south dependencies, she apparently lived in one of the "servant's rooms" under the south terrace (Thomas J. Randolph pointed it out to Randall many years later).

Sally Hemings was never officially freed by Thomas Jefferson. It seems most likely that Jefferson's daughter Martha Randolph gave Sally "her time," a form of unofficial freedom that would enable her to remain in Virginia (the laws at that time required freed slaves to leave the state within a year). Madison Hemings reported that his mother lived in Charlottesville with him and his brother Eston until her death in 1835.

According to Jefferson's records, Sally Hemings had four surviving children. Beverly (b. 1798), a carpenter and fiddler, was allowed to leave the plantation in late 1821 or early 1822 and, according to his brother, passed into white society in Washington, D.C. Harriet (b. 1801), a spinner in Jefferson's textile shop, also left Monticello in 1821 or 1822, probably with her brother, and passed for white. Madison Hemings (1805-1878), a carpenter and joiner, was given his freedom in Jefferson's will; he resettled in southern Ohio in 1836, where he worked at his trade and had a farm. Eston Hemings (1808-c1853), also a carpenter, moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, in the 1830s; there he was a well-known professional musician before moving about 1852 to Wisconsin, where he changed his name (to Eston Jefferson) along with his racial identity. Both Madison and Eston Hemings made known their belief that they were sons of Thomas Jefferson.

The descendants of Thomas C. Woodson (1790-1879) carry the strong family tradition that he was the firstborn child of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Woodson, who does not appear in Jefferson's records, left Greenbrier County, Virginia, for southern Ohio in the early 1820s. He was a successful farmer in Jackson Country.

--Lucia C. Stanton, Monticello Research Department, November 1989, revised October 1994.

A brief report of the Hemings-Jefferson Controversy, containing a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, is also posted on this site.


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bear, James A., Jr.. "The Hemings Family of Monticello," Virginia Cavalcade 29. 1979.

Betts, Edwin Morris, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book. 1953. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.

Brodie, Fawn M. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History. New York: Naughton, 1974

Dabney, Virginius. The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttle. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1981.

Woodson, Byron W. A President in the Family : Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and Thomas Woodson. Westport: Praeger, 2001.

Willye White (January 1, 1939 - February 6, 2007)

She was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and 100 metres.

She competed for the United States in 5 Olympic Games, winning her first Olympic medal in 1956 by placing second in the long jump. She then competed in the 1960 Olympics, 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in the 4 x 100 metres (where she won the silver medal with her teammates Wyomia Tyus, Marilyn White and Edith McGuire), the 1968 Olympics and 1972 Olympics.
She was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school when she won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia. It marked the first time an American woman ever won a medal in that event. She won her second silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 400-meter relay team in Tokyo. In all, she was a member of more than 30 international track and field teams and won a dozen Amateur Athletic Union long jump titles in her career, according to USA Track & Field, which inducted her into its hall of fame in 1981 -- one of her 11 sports hall of fame inductions. In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women named her one of the 100 greatest women athletes in the 20th century.

Born in Money, Mississippi., and raised by her grandparents, she picked cotton to help her family earn money, while at the same time competing in sports. A longtime Chicago-area resident, she credited her experience as an athlete with allowing her to see beyond the racism and hatred that surrounded her as a child.

"She grew up before the civil rights movement and overcame all the hurdles she had as an African-American woman," said Donna DeVarona, an Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer who was friends with White since the two met in 1960 in Rome.

White, a longtime Chicago-area resident, credited her experience as an athlete with allowing her to see beyond the racism and hatred that surrounded her as a child.
"Before my first Olympics, I thought the whole world consisted of cross burnings and lynchings," she was quoted as saying by Sports Illustrated for Women.

"The Olympic movement taught me not to judge a person by the color of their skin but by the contents of their hearts," she said. "I am who I am because of my participation in sports."
After her athletic career ended, White coached, lectured and served as president of the Midwest chapter of the U.S. Olympians for 12 years. She also helped raise money for the underprivileged, founding the Willye White Foundation in Chicago to help children.

"She raised money for kids in housing projects so that they could go to school," DeVarona said. "For all the struggles she went through she always gave back, she was always ... campaigning for equal education, equal rights."

White died of pancreatic cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to Sarah Armantrout, a longtime friend who was with White when she died.

QUOTATION: I was nervous, so I read the New Testament. I read the verse about have no fear, and I felt relaxed. Then I jumped farther than I ever jumped before in my life.

Joanne Rowling, OBE (born July 31, 1965)

Ms. Rowling is an English fiction writer who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has gained international attention, won multiple awards, and sold over 325 million copies worldwide. In February 2004, Forbes magazine estimated her fortune at £576 million (just over US$1 billion), making her the first person to become a US-dollar billionaire by writing books. Rowling earned US$75 million in 2005. In 2006, Forbes named her the second richest female entertainer in the world, behind talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Joanne Rowling was born in Yate, northeast of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, England on 31 July 1965. Her sister Dianne (Di) was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four where she attended St Michael's Primary School, later moving to Tutshill, near Chepstow, South Wales at the age of nine. She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College. Rowling was good with languages, but did not excel at sports and mathematics. There are numerous Welsh references to places, things and people in Harry Potter, which could be attributed to her time in Chepstow.
In December 1990, Rowling's mother succumbed to a 10-year-long battle with multiple sclerosis. Rowling commented, "I was writing Harry Potter at the moment my mother died. I had never told her about Harry Potter."
After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter (she had previously applied to Oxford but was turned down), with a year of study in Paris, she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period, while she was on a four-hour delayed-train trip between Manchester and London, she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry. When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began writing immediately.
Rowling then moved to Porto, Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October 1992. They had one child, Jessica, who was named after Rowling's heroine, Jessica Mitford. They divorced in 1993 after a fight in which Jorge threw her out of the house.
In December 1994, Rowling and her daughter moved to be near Rowling's sister in Edinburgh, Scotland. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel. She did much of the work in the Elephant House café whenever she could get Jessica to fall asleep. There was a rumour that she wrote in local cafés to escape from her unheated flat, but in a 2001 BBC interview Rowling remarked, "I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating."

Harry Potter books

In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it. A year later she was finally given the greenlight (and a £1500 advance) by editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury. The decision to take Rowling on was apparently largely due to Alice Newton, the eight-year-old daughter of the company's chairman, who was given the first chapter to review by her father, and immediately demanded the next. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children's books. Soon after, Rowling received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., who paid Rowling more than $100,000.

Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the news. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of only one-thousand copies, five-hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are each valued at between £16,000 and £25,000. Five months later, it won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and, later the Children's Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.

In December 1999, the third Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making Rowling the first person to win the award three times running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it narrowly lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

To date, six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, one for each of Harry's school years, have already been published and all have broken sales records. The last three volumes in the series have been the fastest-selling books in history, grossing more in their opening 24-hours than blockbuster films. Book six of her series earned The Guinness World Records Award for being the fastest selling book ever. The sixth book of the series sold more copies in 24-hours than The Da Vinci Code sold in a year. (The Da Vinci Code was the best-selling book of the previous year.)

Rowling has completed the seventh and final book of the series. Its title was revealed on December 21, 2006 to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. On February 1, 2007, Rowling announced on her website that its release date was to be July 21, 2007. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had completed the seventh book in that room (652) on 11 January 2007; this was confirmed to be authentic by Rowling's and the hotel's representatives. In February 2007, Neil Bayer, a lawyer with Rowling's literary agency, announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be released as an e-book. Rowling has not allowed the first six Potter stories to be released as e-books and has no plans to change that for the seventh and final work.

On June 26, 2006, Rowling revealed that in the final book of the Harry Potter series at least two characters will die, one of whom may be Harry himself. Authors Stephen King and John Irving asked Rowling not to kill off Harry in book seven during a press conference, but Rowling remained ambiguous regarding Harry's fate.

In June 2006, the British public named Rowling "the greatest living British writer" in a poll by The Book Magazine. Rowling topped the poll, receiving nearly three times as many votes as the second-place author, fantasy writer Terry Pratchett. In July 2006 Rowling received a Doctor of Laws (LLD) honorary degree from University of Aberdeen for her "significant contribution to many charitable causes" and "her many contributions to society".

Harry Potter films

In October, 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum. A film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released on November 16, 2001 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on November 15, 2002. Both were directed by Chris Columbus. The June 4, 2004 film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by yet another new director, Mike Newell. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is in post-production and is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2007. David Yates is the film's director, and Michael Goldenberg is its screenwriter, having taken over the position from Steven Kloves. Half-Blood Prince is in pre-production, and is scheduled for release on November 21, 2008. No director has been announced, although it has been confirmed that Kloves will return to screenwrite it.

Nothing has been announced regarding the film version of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

In contrast to the treatment of most authors by Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. took considerable notice of Rowling's desires and thoughts in their attempt to bring her books to the screen. One of her principal stipulations was the films be shot in Britain with an all-British cast, which has so far been adhered to strictly. In an unprecedented move, Rowling also demanded that Coca-Cola, the victor in the race to tie-in their products to the film series, donate $18 million to the American charity Reading is Fundamental, as well as a number of community charity programs.

The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves; Rowling assisted him in the writing process, ensuring that his scripts did not contradict future books in the series. She says she has told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. She has also said that she has told Alan Rickman (Snape) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) certain secrets about their characters that have not yet been revealed. Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first film, but dropped out. The press has repeatedly claimed that Rowling played a role in his departure, but Rowling stated on her website that she has no say in who directs the films. Rowling's first choice for the director of the first Harry Potter film had been Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam, being a fan of Gilliam's work. Warner Bros. studios wanted a more family friendly film, however, and eventually they settled for Chris Columbus.

After Harry Potter

Harry Potter has made Rowling a well known and a very successful author, but after Rowling finishes the final Harry Potter book, she plans to continue writing. Rowling declared, in a recent interview, that she will most likely not use a new pen name as the press would quickly discover her true identity.

In 2006, Rowling revealed that she had completed a few short stories and another children's book (a "political fairy story") about a monster, aimed at a younger audience than Harry Potter readers.

She is not planning to write an eighth Harry Potter book, but has suggested she might publish an "encyclopedia" of the Harry Potter world consisting of all her unpublished material and notes. Any profits from such a book would be given to charity.

Charity

In 2001, the UK fundraiser Comic Relief asked three bestselling British authors, (Rowling, cookery writer and TV presenter Delia Smith, and Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding), to submit booklets related to their most famous works for publication. For every pound raised, a pound would go towards combatting poverty and social inequality across the globe. Rowling's two booklets, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, are ostensibly facsimiles of books found in the Hogwarts library, and are written under the names of their fictional authors, Newt Scamander and Kennilworthy Whisp. Since going on sale in March, 2001, the books have raised £15.7 million ($30 million) for the fund. The £10.8 million ($20 million) raised outside the UK has been channelled into a newly created International Fund for Children and Young People in Crisis. She has also personally given £22 million to Comic Relief.

Rowling has contributed money and support to many other charitable causes, especially research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. This death heavily affected her writing, according to Rowling. In 2006, Rowling contributed a substantial sum toward the creation of a new Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University. For reasons unknown, Scotland, Rowling's country of adoption, has the highest rate of MS in the world.

In January 2006, Rowling went to Bucharest to raise funds for the Children's High Level Group, an organization devoted to enforcing the human rights of children, particularly in eastern Europe.

On August 1-2, 2006, she read alongside Stephen King and John Irving at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Profits from the event were donated to the Haven Foundation, a charity that aids artists and performers left uninsurable and unable to work, and the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières.

[/i]Her name[/i]

Rowling's surname is pronounced like "rolling" (IPA: /rəʊ.lɪŋ/). Her full name is "Joanne Rowling", not, as is often assumed, "Joanne Kathleen Rowling". Before publishing her first volume, Bloomsbury feared that the target audience of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a female author. They requested that Rowling use two initials, rather than reveal her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K from her grandmother's name Kathleen, as the second initial of her pseudonym. The name Kathleen has never been part of her legal name. She calls herself "Jo" and claims, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry."

Current life and family

In 2001, Rowling purchased a luxurious 19th century estate house, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, near Aberfeldy, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.[57] Rowling also owns a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a Georgian house in London, on a street where, according to The Guardian, the average price of a house is £4.27 million ($8 million), possibly including an underground swimming pool and 24-hour security.

On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Neil Murray, an anaesthetist, in a private ceremony at her home in Aberfeldy. Their son David Gordon Rowling Murray was born on March 3, 2003. Shortly after Rowling began writing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, she took a break from working on the novel to care for him in his early infancy. Rowling's youngest child, Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray, to whom she dedicated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was born in January of 2005.

Honours

In June 2000, the Queen honoured Rowling by making her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In early 2006, the asteroid (43844) Rowling was named in her honour.

In May 2006, the newly-discovered Pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, currently at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, was named in honour of her world.

There is a housing development in Bristol, near to her childhood home, called Rowling Gate.

Source

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56516028

Doreen de Caires to receive US woman of courage reward
Wednesday, March 14th 2007

The United States (US) Embassy says Guyana Publications Inc Managing Director Doreen de Caires is the Guyana honoree for the Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage.

In a press release the embassy said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on Thursday, announced the award to recognise women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and advancement.

US Ambassador to Guyana David Robinson will present an award certificate along with a letter from Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula J Dobriansky to de Caires tomorrow.

Rice in her statement said "The global observance of International Women's Day reminds all nations that the empowerment of women is irrevocably tied to the safety, security and prosperity of the world.

The enfranchisement of women can no longer be a simple aspiration. Women are essential agents in bringing about change and an often overlooked resource in the preservation of human security, in overcoming transnational dangers, and in managing threats arising from tyranny, trafficking, poverty and disease. Achieving the United States' mission of advancing democracy, prosperity and security worldwide is not possible without the empowerment of women".

Leader of the House of Lords and President of the CouncilThe Rt Hon Baroness Amos of Brondesbury

Valerie Amos was appointed Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in October 2003. As well as her duties as Leader and Lord President she continues to speak on international development issues for the government in the House of Lords.

Previously she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development in May 2003, becoming the first black female member of a British Cabinet.

Baroness Amos was Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs from June 2001 with responsibility for Africa, the Commonwealth, the Caribbean, Britain's Overseas Territories, Consular Affairs and Personnel Issues.

She was previously a Government Whip in the House of Lords from 1998 to 2001 and spokesperson on Social Security, International Development and Women's Issues.

She was created a Labour life peer in August 1997 and took her title having lived in Brent since the 1980s.

Valerie Amos was born in Guyana and moved to Great Britain with her family in 1963. She took degrees at the Universities of Warwick and Birmingham before pursuing doctoral research at the University of East Anglia. She then started her career working in equal opportunities, training and management services in the London local authorities of Lambeth, Camden and Hackney.

Between 1989 and 1994 she was Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission which works to eliminate sex discrimination and promote equal opportunities for women and men.

From 1995 until joining the government, Valerie Amos was a co-founder and director of Amos Fraser Bernard, working as an adviser to the South African Government on public service reform, human rights and employment equity.

She has served as chair of the Afiya Trust, deputy chair of the Runnymede Trust and as a trustee of Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) among other bodies.

Source

Award-winning Caribbean women authors featured at Enoch Pratt Free Library
by Dawne Allette
Baltimore Times
Originally posted 3/16/2007

Hatchet Group, Caribbean Literary Festival 2007
sponsored event

Four award-winning authors of Caribbean descent discussed the voice and role of women in the Caribbean Diaspora, and how that voice translates in today's literature and corporate imperialism in the developing world.

Among the authors were Nalo Hopkinson, a Jamaican-born writer and editor who now resides in Canada. Her science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories draw on Caribbean history and language, and its traditions of oral and written storytelling.

Althea Prince, whose essay collection presents an analysis of 'doing life in Canada' by examining what it means to be human and African in the objective realities of Toronto, Canada and the world. Prince is Antiguan born and has resided in Toronto since 1965. Her latest novel is titled, "Loving This Man."

Elizabeth Nunez emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to the US after completing high school. She is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English at Medgar Evers College and received her doctorate in English from New York University.

Rosalie McLymont , author of Middle Ground," hails from Guyana, and has lived in Uganda and the Congo, Africa and brought the issue of globalization to the discussion. She is well-versed on issues of Africans, African Americans, Caribbeans and the hierarchy of these groups.

The authors read excerpts from their current works and kept a large audience captive. Since female voices from the Caribbean have been more or less silent in the past, the fact that a new breed of writers that are female are emerging from that area, is proving to be worthy of a place in current literature.

Among the topics discussed were relationships of women in the Caribbean, marriage relationships, tourism, the arts, globalization, the pros and cons of colonialism and other ways of life, bringing to the literary world a glimpse of life now and before colonialism.

"I am driven by spirit, when I write," shared Althea Prince who is by trade, a sociologist. "I found it shocking, the issues surrounding the children in Antigua. I was surprised to see the same issues in Antigua as I see in Toronto." Prince was motivated to write about her findings based on her experience and research.

Elizabeth Nunez, whose latest novel is titled Prospero's Daughter has fashioned her work after William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." "Colonialism had good and bad effects, "states Nunez. "We have gotten literature, music and art from that period, but at the same time, we learned nothing about ourselves."

The authors discussed the industry of tourism as it coexists with the inhabitants of the islands and the misconceptions of visitors to the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is well-known for it's male writers, so it was a breath of fresh air to welcome a whole new genre of female writers with different outlooks and perceptions of their world and the world around them.

It was a program extremely well received by the attending public and according to Craig McConnell, a lover of all things literary, "This is phenomenal. I have been to numerous book fairs and I am an avid reader, but this event by far, surpassed any affair I have attended."

The audience left, not only entertained by the candid and lyrical tint of different accents and experiences, but with a wealth of knowledge of different cultures and their mores.

LaVerne R. Perry was glad that she decided to attend. She talked about her experience: "It was a womanhood identification experience that was eye-opening for me. Each of the authors brought visual imagery to the audience through their words. They expressed global views from a woman's perspective.The scholarly women spoke in ways that helped me to easily identify with characters in their books. I was inspired to read about the notable characters they talked about. I must admit, normally I am not a novel reader. Generally, I love reading short stories and direct information that interest me. Therefore, usually I pick up magazines, newspapers and brochures for my reading pleasure. How- ever, to my surprise, I was not only interested in reading about the characters the authors talked about; I actually purchased two novels."

A lovely repast followed the presentation and discussion, where guests were treated to delectable edibles with an opportunity to purchase books and have them autographed.

Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee 1942 -

Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., and sister of famed Dreamgirl Diana Ross has worked in private practice, for the U.S. Public Health Service, and on numerous committees, and in 1993 was the first African American woman to be appointed dean of a United States medical school.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in a housing project, Barbara Ross-Lee faced discrimination as a young African American woman. Growing up in inner city Detroit, she and her sister shared a fondness for show business, performing with their brothers and sisters in the church choir. But while Diana Ross pursued a career in music that led her from urban poverty to celebrity as the lead singer of the "Supremes," Barbara Ross made her mark in the sciences.

Barbara Ross began her pre-medical studies at Detroit's Wayne State University in 1960, during the growth of the Civil Rights movement. Although a few medical schools offered admission to minority students there were no federal or private funding to help support students from poor families. At Wayne State, her pre-medical advisor did not believe women should be physicians, and so she declined to authorize Ross's request to study human anatomy as her major. Ross graduated with a bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry in 1965 and, abandoning her original goal of practicing medicine went on to train as a teacher.

She joined the National Teacher Corps, a federal program, in which she could earn a degree while teaching simultaneously in the Detroit public school system. After completing the program in 1969, a new educational opportunity arose. Michigan State University opened a school of osteopathic medicine in Pontiac, a Detroit suburb, and so Ross applied and was accepted. As a single mother she needed help with childcare to be able to focus on her studies, so she sold her house and moved in with her own mother.

After graduating from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1973, Dr. Ross-Lee ran a solo family practice in Detroit until 1984, when she joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a consultant on education in the health professions. As well as serving on numerous committees Dr. Ross-Lee was also community representative on the Governor's Minority Health Advisory Committee for the state of Michigan from 1990 to 1993. In 1991 she was also the first osteopathic physician to participate in the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship.

In 1993, Ross-Lee became the first African American woman dean of a United States medical school. She remained dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of Ohio University until 2001. During her tenure there, she reformulated the entire course of study, and drafted a women's curriculum, earning a reputation as a "change agent." "It is my goal," she said, "to establish a seamless continuum of education rather than all of the fragments that we have now; to be able to incorporate learning strategies as opposed to the old memorize-and-regurgitate methodology; and to train a physician who is just not technically skilled but who is also capable of being responsible and accountable for the health status of the person he or she treats." For Barbara Ross-Lee, medical education is a collaborative enterprise between teachers and students, which, in turn, influences the interaction between doctors and patients.

Dr. Ross-Lee is a fellow of the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians, a member of the American Osteopathic Association's Bureau of Professional Education, and the Trilateral International Medical Workforce Group. She was recently appointed a member of the National Institutes of Health's Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health and served as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ross-Lee and her husband, Edmond Beverly, have raised five children"”two daughters and three sons"”all of whom have pursued professional careers.

Dr. Ross-Lee was awarded the "Magnificent 7" Award presented in 1993 by Business and Professional Women/USA. She has received the Women's Health Award from Blackboard African-American National Bestsellers for her contributions to women's health, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and an honorary doctorate of science from the New York Institute of Technology. Ross-Lee has lectured extensively, and has published more than thirty scholarly articles addressing a variety of medical and health-care issues.

In 2001, Dr. Ross-Lee was appointed vice president for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs at the New York Institute of Technology, and in 2002, she became dean of the New York Institute of Technology's New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.

A Dreamgirl herself

Laura Ingalls Wilder - 1867-1957
American writer

"It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong."

Introduction

Laura Ingalls Wilder is best known for her series of well-loved children's books. It was at the age of 65 that Wilder published her first book entitled Little House in the Big Woods. This first book and those to follow tell a near autobiographical tale of her own childhood. Her life as a pioneer girl is told from the perspective of a child and it is in this voice that she is able to communicate her early life so successfully to the children who continue to read her stories.

Father's influence

Wilder was born Laura Elizabeth Ingalls in Pepin, Wisconsin, in February 1867. She was the second of four daughters born to Caroline (Quiner) and Charles Philip Ingalls. Wilder's early life was spent constantly moving from place to place. Her father called himself a pioneer man and dreamed of going West to explore and settle on unknown territory. They traveled through thick woods, over barren prairies, through the swollen Mississippi, and over icy waters all in their covered wagon. They moved from Missouri, to Kansas, to Wisconsin, to Minnesota, to Iowa and finally settled in De Smet, South Dakota, where her father claimed a homestead. Laura and her three sisters grew up in De Smet. Wilder, however, never could quite see this place as home. The many moves in her early childhood made Laura come to the conclusion that the only way to know that she was truly home was to have her family around her. Following in her father's dreams, Wilder called herself a pioneer girl and made her home where her family took her.

Early education

Wilder's schooling was sporadic. She attended several different schools in her youth. Each move of her family meant she would have to start her education again in a new setting and often times no school was yet available. Her father, however, had made the promise to her mother that the children would receive a consistent education. The schooling she did receive took place in one-room school houses beginning with the Barry Corner School in Pepin, Wisconsin, when she was four. In 1880, when Wilder was 13, she finally found some regularity in her schooling. After her father had made the decision to stay put for a while, she and her sisters were able to attend the school in De Smet. Her formal education continued in De Smet until she was 16, although she never graduated.

Early career

Wilder's education was often interrupted by the family's constant need of money. It was always assumed that she would contribute to family expenses. She worked as a seamstress, earning 25 cents a day, until she received a teacher's certificate in December 1882. She wasted no time in taking her first teaching job, although in her heart, she was somewhat reluctant because of its location in a small settlement twelve miles from home. This first teaching experience was a hard one. She boarded with a family who was always arguing and the children she was expected to teach were nearly her age. Wilder felt she had little control over her pupils and was very homesick. Her savior during this time was Almanzo James Wilder, her future husband, who would drive through the Dakota blizzards to deliver her safely back to her own family every weekend.

A farmer's wife

On August 25, 1885, Laura Ingalls married Almanzo Wilder, who was 10 years her senior. Originally from New York state, his family had moved to Minnesota and from there Almanzo and his brother left this new home to stake out their own claims near De Smet. After his marriage, Almanzo filed both a homestead and a tree claim. Unfortunately, the first years of their marriage were full of tragedies. Their crops died, they went into debt, they contracted diphtheria, which Almanzo never fully recovered from, and maybe the hardest for both was the loss of an infant son. Wilder, so distracted by her grief, began a fire in the kitchen and then walked away absent mindedly. About 10 minutes later, when she heard the distinct sound of crackling wood, she returned to see the kitchen in flames and soon the whole house burnt to the ground. In the tradition of the Ingalls family, the Wilders moved several times but then settled in the Ozarks on a small farm in Mansfield, Missouri. This is where they were to stay for the rest of their lives. Here they raised their one surviving child, Rose Wilder, born on December 5, 1886.

Beginning writer

From August 1919, until September 1927, Wilder was the secretary-treasurer of the Mansfield Farm Loan Association. This organization allowed local farmers to borrow money from the Federal Land Bank in St. Louis. Here she was the sole paid officer, and she handled loan applications and transfers of funds with skill. This job brought her connections with other farmers. She used this and also her long experience as a farmer to begin her first writing attempts. She began successfully by writing columns about farm households for the Missouri Ruralist and about poultry for the St. Louis Star. She also sold a few articles to McCall's and Country Gentleman magazines between 1911 and 1924.

Little House series

Wilder did not begin writing her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, until 1931 and it was released the following year. The instant success of the book led to the Little House series, which became popular with young readers. Wilder took great care with each book to make sure that the point of view was consistently from that of a child. All except Farmer Boy were Newbery honor books and the entire series was reprinted in 1953.

In 1954 the American Library Association established the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in her honor and Wilder was the first recipient. The award is now given every five years to the author who has made a substantial contribution to children's literature. Most recently it was presented to Virginia Hamilton, who was also the first black author to win the Newbery Medal. A weekly television series, Little House on the Prairie, which was based loosely on Wilder's books, began in 1974 and ran for many seasons. Wilder died in February 1957 in Mansfield of a stroke. Forty years after her death, children continue to read and enjoy her books.

THE LITTLE HOUSE BOOK SERIES
BY LAURA INGALLS WILDER:

Little House in the Big Wood (1932)
Farmer Boy (1933)
Little House on the Prairie (1935)
On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937)
By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939)
The Long Winter (1940)
Little Town on the Prairie (1941)
Those Happy Golden Years (1943)

ROSE WILDER LANE

Wilder's inspiration to write came from her life story, but the courage to write came from her daughter, Rose Wilder. After a brief but successful career as one of the first female real estate agents in California, Rose began to write for The San Francisco Bulletin and for Sunset magazine. She became an extraordinary and prolific writer, and soon she was a nationally known journalist. As Rose's own confidence and career took off she tried harder to encourage her mother to write down all her stories. When she was a child Rose had continuously begged her mother for stories of her pioneer girlhood. In the 1930s Rose wrote to her mother asking her to put all her childhood memories on paper. She encouraged her mother to write fiction and became her agent, editor, and collaborator. In many ways Laura became her daughter's pupil. Rose and Laura wrote continuous letters to each other during the time that the Little House series was being written. The letters show their continuing dialogue on the shaping of plot, characterization, and style. Rose enabled her mother to create the wonderful series that continues to touch the hearts of children.

Classic in Song

When you look as great as Diahann Carroll does, you don't have to be coy about revealing your age. Come summer, Carroll will be 72, though nothing about the way she looks or moves suggests a senior citizen.

It is hard to believe that she has been entertaining us for more than half a century. And she's not letting up.

Carroll will be at Feinstein's at the Regency through Saturday. Her act includes a broad range of songs, from standards like "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Sleeping Bee" (She introduced the latter in Harold Arlen's "House of Flowers" 52 years ago!) to the more recent "As If We Never Said Goodbye" (which she sang in the Toronto production of "Sunset Boulevard").

There are also novelties, like "Yankee, Go Home," which Richard Rodgers wrote for the Broadway show in which she starred 45 years ago, "No Strings."

She sounds great. At times she reminded me of Mabel Mercer, partly in the timbre of her voice, but more importantly in her expertise at making each song a great story.

Carroll chats a lot between numbers in a smart and sassy way. Again, because she has so much ground to cover, some of the patter is nostalgic - as when she evokes Las Vegas in the '50s, when Sinatra and Peggy Lee and Nat (King) Cole all performed there, which she considered "like going to school."

She talks a lot about her family - her parents in the Bronx, her four husbands (Vic Damone was the last) and her young grandchildren.

The singing is rousing and sensuous, the chat endearing. All in all, it's a great show.

Diahann Carroll at 72

Diahann Carroll (b. July 17, 1935) is an Academy Award-nominated and Tony Award winning American actress and singer. Born Carol Diahann Johnson in The Bronx, New York, she attended Manhattan's School of Performing Arts, along with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams. Her family moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City when she was one and a half years old.

Her first film assignment was a supporting role in Carmen Jones in 1954, playing a friend of the sultry Carmen played by Dorothy Dandridge. She then starred in the Broadway musical House of Flowers. In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess along with such distinguished actors as Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pearl Bailey. All singing voices were dubbed in the film, with the exception of Pearl Bailey, with the opera singer Loulie Jean Norman standing in for Carroll. In 1974 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Claudine.

Carroll is probably best known for her title role in Julia in 1968. This landmark accomplishment established Carroll as the first African American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role in 1969, and won the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress In A Television Series" in 1968[1] Her first Emmy nomination came in 1963 for her work in Naked City. Some of Carroll's other earlier television work includes appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson and Ed Sullivan, and The Hollywood Palace variety show.

In the 1980s, she starred in the series Dynasty and The Colbys, as the jet setter, Dominique Deveraux-Lloyd. Carroll mused at the lavish wardrobing on these shows, comparing it to the US$50 budget for her nurse's uniform on Julia.[citation needed] It was for her recurring role as Marion Gilbert in A Different World that she received her third Emmy nomination 1989. In 2006, Carroll made a guest appearance in the television comedy/drama Grey's Anatomy as the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke.

Carroll starred in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard . She played the lead role, crazed silent movie star Norma Desmond, with the role of Joe Gillis played by Rex Smith.

Carroll has had four marriages, one of which produced a daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford, who became a freelance media journalist. She married last in 1987 to her fourth husband, singer Vic Damone, which lasted until 1996.

Carroll is a breast cancer activist and survivor, who in order to draw attention to the cause, invited a camera crew into her treatment room for a national broadcast special.

Iman
A Model Citizen

As a 1970s supermodel, Iman proved that glamour comes in every color. And in 1994, her blockbuster Iman Cosmetics and Skincare Collection, the first good makeup for women of color, made her a beauty mogul. But all that, says the mother of two (and wife of singer David Bowie), was just a warm-up: Now the 51-year-old Somali native has devoted her business savvy to the AIDS crisis in Africa, where she and her parents were once refugees. By teaming up with the nonprofit Keep a Child Alive (KCA), she's funding lifesaving antiretroviral drugs for infected African children. "Iman would have made history as a supermodel alone," says friend and KCA global ambassador Alicia Keys, "but she is channeling her boundless passion into an issue that needs all the visibility it can get." The charity has had a breakthrough year. That's largely thanks to Iman's attention-getting "I am African" fund-raising public service announcements, featuring stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker in tribal makeup. The arresting message: As descendants of Africa, the birthplace of humanity, we should all care about saving its children. "Everything in my life has brought me to this point," Iman says. "It's the most important work I've ever done."

Her cause - Keep A Child Alive

Runaway `stayed alive for a reason'

Runaway `stayed alive for a reason'
TheStar.com - News - Runaway `stayed alive for a reason'

Taunted for her deafness and race, her struggles motivated her into a lifelong role of activism, writes Nicholas Keung

March 20, 2007

As a newcomer from Trinidad in the 1970s, Beverley Halls was constantly taunted by other school kids in a city still getting used to its growing Caribbean population.

Not only was she one of the few blacks in her elementary school near College and Shaw Sts., her deafness made her an easy target for exclusion and bullying.

It wasn't until she was 12 that a teacher discovered her hearing problem, noticing she did not respond even when someone spoke right in front of her.

"It was just horrible. I hated everything here," recalls Halls, who arrived in Canada in 1969 to join her parents. "I wanted to go back home to Trinidad every day."

Hall says her experiences as a struggling newcomer have motivated her lifelong activism on social issues ranging from immigrant settlement to education, affordable housing, food access, disability, income security and violence against women. For her tireless volunteer work, she is among six recipients of the 2007 New Pioneers Award for community service.

When Halls finished her education at Old Orchard Public School, she hoped for better things in high school. Instead it only got worse; she dropped out of West Toronto Collegiate in Grade 10 and ran away from home.

"You feel isolated and truly believe that you're less than others. Whenever you try to do something good for yourself, you get put down again," recalls Halls. "With the bombardment of hatred, I fell in despair."

A "loafer" she met a mall seemed caring but also led her into a life of drug and alcohol abuse.

She lived on the streets for a few months, then moved to an aunt's home in Manitoba to get straight. Even then, she suffered from depression and once tried to end her life. Eventually she won the battle to shed her addictions.

"I believe I stayed alive for a reason," says Halls, now living in Mississauga and the mother of two adult daughters. "I can't change what already happened. I just have to accept myself in every way."

Halls later went back to school and began to devote her life to helping others.

The provincial government appointed her to the board of the College of Nurses in the 1990s.

She has volunteered at Foodshare, Second Harvest, York Hispanic Centre, Co-op Housing Federation of Canada and the Income Security Advocacy Centre.

"Kids must understand that not being accepted is not a reason to go out there to injure yourself," she says.

"I could have had a different life. What I've gone through has allowed me to help others and be a catalyst for change. Everyone should lend a hand to the community. It's the best way to celebrate your humanity

Nancy Pelosi 1946 -

Nancy Pelosi currently serves the 8th Congressional district of California Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 110th Congress. A Democrat, she is the first woman to hold the post of Speaker, or even lead a major political party in either house of Congress. She has represented the 8th District of California in the United States House of Representatives since 1987 which includes four-fifths of the City and County of San Francisco. The district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosi's first three terms in the House.

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born March 26, 1940) is the first Californian and the first person of Italian descent to become Speaker. She is also the second person from west of the Rocky Mountains to hold the post, after fellow Democrat Tom Foley of Washington. Before becoming Speaker, she was the House Minority Leader from 2002 to 2007, holding the post during the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses of the United States. She is the first Democratic Speaker of the 21st Century.

Pelosi ranks second in the line of presidential succession, following Vice President Dick Cheney. She is the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. Government; no woman has ever been closer in line to the U.S. presidency.

Pelosi was born to Italian-American parents in Baltimore, Maryland. The youngest of six children, she was involved with politics from an early age. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland and a Mayor of Baltimore. Her mother, Anunciata, was born in Italy and immigrated to the U.S. in 1911. Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III, one of her five brothers, also served as Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971.

Pelosi graduated from Baltimore's Institute of Notre Dame high school and from Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) in Washington, D.C. in 1962. Pelosi interned for Senator Daniel Brewster (D-Maryland) alongside future House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. She met her future husband Paul Pelosi while at Trinity College, and when the couple married they moved to his hometown of San Francisco, where his brother Ron Pelosi was a member of the city's board of supervisors (San Francisco city and county council).

After her youngest child became a high school senior, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic politics to become party chairwoman for Northern California, and joined forces with one of the leaders of the California Democratic Party, 5th District Congressman Phillip Burton.

Pelosi is an honorary board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women.
Pelosi has five children: Nancy Corinne, Christine, Jacqueline, Paul, and Alexandra, and six grandchildren. Alexandra, a journalist, covered the Republican presidential campaigns in 2000 and made a film about the experience, Journeys with George. She also wrote a book on coverage of the 2004 campaigns.

The Pelosi family has a net worth of over US$25 million, primarily from Paul Pelosi's investments. In addition to their large portfolio of jointly owned San Francisco Bay Area real estate, he also has millions of dollars in stock from publicly traded companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and AT&T. In 2003, the Pelosi family sold their eight-acre (three hectare) Rutherford vineyard. Pelosi continues to be among the richest members of Congress.

Phillip Burton died in 1983 and was succeeded by his wife, Sala. In late 1986, Sala became ill with cancer and decided not to run for reelection in 1988, and suggested that Pelosi run for the seat. Sala died on February 1, 1987, just a month after being sworn in for a second full term. Pelosi won a special election to succeed her, narrowly defeating San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, and took office on June 2, 1987.

Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country. Democrats have held the seat since 1949, and Republicans, who currently make up only 13 percent of registered voters in the district, have not made a serious bid for the seat since the early 1960s. Pelosi has kept this tradition going. Since her initial victory in 1987, she has been reelected 10 times, receiving at least 75% of the vote. She has never participated in candidates' debates.

Nevertheless, Pelosi's politics are more conservative than many San Francisco voters, which has led to some conflicts with her constituents. In the House, she served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, and was the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee for two years.

In 2001, Pelosi was elected the House Minority Whip, second-in-command to Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri. She was the first woman in U.S. history to reach that position. Since then, she has campaigned for candidates in 30 states and in 90 Congressional districts, making her a vital factor for the Democratic Party.

In 2002, after Gephardt resigned as minority leader to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election, Pelosi was elected to replace him, becoming the first woman to lead a major party in the House. At the time, Democratic Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee indicated that Pelosi is too liberal and tends to engage in "obstructionist opposition."

He also described her as "a throwback" and described her legislative style as one of "destructive opposition. We need leadership that is constructive, and not destructive and obstructive ... I don't think Nancy Pelosi's kind of politics is what's needed right now."

In October of 2003, Pelosi's fund-raising committee was fined $21,000 for illegally accepting donations over federal limits. This followed criticism that she had previously used multiple PACs to illegally exceed the limits.

On November 16, 2006, Pelosi was unanimously chosen as the Democratic candidate for Speaker, effectively making her Speaker-elect. While the Speaker is elected by the full House membership, he or she almost always comes from the majority party.

Pelosi supported her longtime friend, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, for the position of House Majority Leader, the second-ranking post in the House Democratic caucus, over House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who had been her second-in-command since 2003. Pelosi and Hoyer had a somewhat frosty relationship dating back to 2001, when they ran against each other for minority whip. However, Hoyer was elected as House Majority Leader over Murtha by a margin of 149-86 within the caucus. Murtha, the "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Abscam bribery scandal, lost despite receiving vigorous support from Pelosi.

Pelosi won the vote for Speaker of the House 233-202. With her victory, she became the first female Speaker of the House in American history.
Nancy Pelosi defeated Rep. John Boehner with 233 votes compared to his 202 votes in the election for Speaker of the House. In her speech to Congress she stated:

"I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship, and look forward to working with you on behalf of the American people. In this House, we may belong to different parties, but we serve one country."

During her speech, she discussed the historical importance of being the first female to hold the Speaker's position:

"This is a historic moment - for the Congress, and for the women of this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights. But women weren't just waiting; women were working. Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and granddaughters, today, we have broken the ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters, the sky is the limit, anything is possible for them."

She also spoke on Iraq as the major issue facing the 110th Congress while incorporating some Democratic Party beliefs:

"The election of 2006 was a call to change - not merely to change the control of Congress, but for a new direction for our country. Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in Iraq. The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end."

As Speaker, Pelosi is still the leader of the House Democrats. However, by tradition, she does not normally participate in debate (though she has the right to do so), and almost never votes on the floor.

Dove, have you ever heard of Anson Chan? She was Hong Kong's Chief Secretary, the second highest position and oversaw 190,000 government worker. She fought for and won equal pay for women in civil service in Hong Kong. I read a human interest piece on her awhile ago but I can't find her biography. She sounds awesome.

Riya, I had when the British gave back Hong Kong but I hadn't thought of her since so I searched and pulled this up. Thanks.
========================================================================

Anson Chan (Fang On Sang) GBM GCMG CBE JP (Chinese: 陳方安生) (born January 17, 1940)

Anson Chan is a twin and was head of Hong Kong's civil service before and after the territory's handover to the People's Republic of China from British colonial rule. She is the first woman and the first Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. A Chinese would not hold the highest governmental position until Hong Kong's handover to China. She is seen to be a pro-democracy politician by some people since November 2005.

Born in Shanghai, China, Anson Chan was educated at Hong Kong's Sacred Heart Canossian College (formerly known as Italian Convent School and Sacred Heart School) and the University of Hong Kong. She was further educated at the Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Chan's father, who was a textile manufacturer, moved the family to Hong Kong in 1948. Her mother Fang Zhaoling is a well-known painter. Her grandfather, Fang Zhenwu, was a Kuomintang general who fought against the Japanese occupation. Her uncle, Sir Harry Fang, is a well-known doctor in Hong Kong.

In 1950, Chan's father died, leaving her mother with eight young children. With the support of Chan's grandmother, her mother not only shouldered the responsibility of raising her children, but also tried to pursue her career as an artist. She took two of her sons to study in England, leaving Chan and her five other siblings in Hong Kong with their grandmother and uncle.

Under her grandmother's strict discipline and high expectations, Chan learned that she had a duty towards the family and the community and was expected to be upright, diligent and righteous.

In 1959, Chan entered the University of Hong Kong to study English literature. She earned her pocket money by working as a private tutor. She at first decided to pursue a career as a social worker upon graduation, but later changed her mind and joined the Civil Service
Chan joined the civil service as an administrative service cadet in 1962. She became a senior administrative officer in 1970. During this period she helped set up the Association of Female Senior Government Officers to fight for better rights for women civil servants.

During Chan's tenure as Director of Social Welfare in the 1980's, she was severely criticized by media for her handling of a child custody case in 1986. The incident is popularly known as the Daughter of Kwok-A Incident.
From 1987 to 1993, she was Secretary for Economic Services, becoming the 30th and the last Chief Secretary in 1993. She mainly oversaw the localisation of the civil service during her time in this position.

Chan was often described during this era as an "Iron Lady", with "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Chan was lauded as the most powerful woman in Asia for her role as the deputy of British Governor Chris Patten, and later Tung Chee-hwa.

After Hong Kong's handover to China on July 1, 1997, Chan stayed on as head of the civil service, continuing to serve the Hong Kong government under then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Chan's public utterances on certain matters have sometimes placed her at odds with Tung, but this also earned her the reputation of being "Hong Kong's Conscience" (Chinese: 香港良心).

In contrast to the more conservative Tung, Chan is credited by some to have been more forthcoming with supporting democracy and freedom, and to the call for faster pace of democratisation.

After pro-government figures in Hong Kong attacked the RTHK for being too critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese government Chan flew to its defence.

In 2001, Chan criticised a senior mainland Chinese official for expressing his view against Hong Kong media reports on Taiwan.
The constant criticism of Mainland officials and policies was perceived by many to be one of the main reasons for Beijing to view Chan as a malefactor in Hong Kong politics. In what the Hong Kong media saw as a dressing down for Chan, PRC Vice Premier Qian Qichen told her at a function in Beijing to support the unpopular Tung. Qian's call came after pro-Beijing figures leveled massive criticism of Chan for months, with some floating a conspiracy theory which placed Chan as a figure of the "Dump Tung" campaigns, which was gathering pace at the time.

The call by Qian was viewed by some to be the catalyst of Chan's comments in 2001 that she would be ready to quit if she was asked to accept policies that clashed with her principles.

Throughout Chan's time in the post-handover government, Chan has received criticism for other matters from non-Beijing supporters.
In 1998, Chan was somewhat criticized for her role in the monitoring of the new Hong Kong International Airport construction at Chek Lap Kok. The airport faced incredible chaos after it opened, and some blame Chan for her lack of supervision.

After the airport fiasco, Chan agreed in 1999 to delay her retirement until June 2002.
However, Chan announced her resignation in January 2001 and, after using up her accumulated holiday time, officially stepped down in April of the same year.

In recognition of her 34 years of public service to the British Crown, Chan was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II to be an honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 2002. Such award is usually given only to Governors of Hong Kong before the return of sovereignty.

Chan kept a lower profile after retirement, although many believe Chan harbours political ambitions. Such assertions were said by some to have been proved by her participation of the December 4 protest against Donald Tsang's constitutional reform package.

Shortly after the protest, Chan openly called on Donald Tsang to ask for greater democracy from Beijing in the media.

In July 2006 Chan announced she will be starting a Core Group) to push for taking forward the debate on Hong Kong's constitutional reforms. The Core Group includes the following members:
"¢ former Liberal Party chairman Mr Allen Lee Peng-fei
"¢ Convenor of the Civic Exchange think-tank Ms Christine Loh Kung-wai
"¢ Mrs Elizabeth Bosher
"¢ Professor Johannes Chan
"¢ Mr Chandran Nair
"¢ Mrs Lily Yam

CARMEN JARVIS

CARMEN Jarvis speaks of the United Nations in a matronly, ever-so-slightly-patronising, way – reserving for the organisation she spent a quarter century in service of the sort of tone that a patient, understanding teacher would for a promising if at times problematic pupil. She arguably has earned the right to. When the United Nations was established in 1945, Jarvis (then Carmen Peterkin) had already been a teacher and Girl Guide leader for two years.

Jarvis started out her teaching career as a young teacher at Smith Church Congregational [Primary] School in 1943, spending two years there before moving to the prestigious all-boys school Queen's College. Her résumé, listing her as Temporary Non-Graduate Master and then a Temporary Graduate Master, is an indictment of the then school administration's sexist mindset in their refusing to make permanent the bright and qualified young female "Master". At the same time, it is a testimony to the resilience that has characterised Jarvis throughout her life, the ability to keep at whatever task was presented her even in an adverse environment; she served five years as temporary staff at Queen's.

It was only after transferring in 1950 to the top girls' school of the time, Bishops' High, that she was offered permanent employment as a Graduate Mistress. Jarvis spent a total of 27 years at Bishops' High, including the last seven, 1971-77 as Headmistress. Between Bishops' and Queen's, names on the list of young people that passed through Jarvis' capable hands can be used to supply a substantial Who's Who of Guyana today.

Jarvis left Bishops' for the post of Deputy Chief Education Officer (Administration) within the Ministry of Education, Social Development and Culture in 1977. She spent two and a half years in that position before retiring from the State's employ at the mandatory age of 55.

Whereas most people would have been left contemplating their twilight years, she did not feel that she was ready to go gently into that good night called retirement. During her tenure as a Deputy Chief Education Officer, Jarvis had worked with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), at one point leading the Guyanese delegation to a UNESCO Regional Workshop on Drug Use and Education in Kingston, Jamaica.

When Dr. Rudolph Gomes, Secretary-General of Guyana's National Commission for UNESCO, decided to head back to his job as Associate Professor at York University – after just a year at the Commission – he recommended that Carmen Jarvis be appointed to the post. Jarvis says that the transition from a career teacher to the UNESCO administrative post was not that hard. She had already had almost two decades of administrative experience between Bishops' High, the Ministry of Education and her work with the Girl Guides Association of which she was at the time Chief Commissioner in Guyana.

Jarvis says that she didn't expect the UNESCO post to be as exhausting, or as rewarding, as it turned out to be. She says that though UNESCO is not one of the major funding arms of the UN, in her view, it provides the intellectual impetus for where the United Nations goes.

Whatever little money came in for projects was strategically spent: travel grants, fellowships, the establishment of projects like a now defunct radio station at the University of Guyana; and the setting up of the still functional National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) in 1986.

Carmen Jarvis retired as Secretary-General of the National Commission for UNESCO in December of 2004. During her 25 years in office, she had campaigned successfully for the inclusion of two Guyanese on UNESCO's Executive Board, Sir Edward Victor Luckhoo (1983-1997), and Dr. David Dabydeen, currently Guyana's permanent Ambassador to UNESCO. She has collected more awards and medals than most people would ever dream of: a 1981 Golden Arrow of Achievement; a 1994 Special Award from the Ministry of Education; the Cacique Crown of Honour in 1998; the Rotary Club's Paul Harris Award for Service to Education and the Community; an ASCOM Award for Support to Communication Education; an Olave Baden-Powell Society Certificate for her work in the International Girl Guides Association; and a Certificate of Appreciation from UNESCO on her retirement.

Her most important accolade has been however, the UNESCO Aristotle Silver Medal in 1998, for what was then just over 18 years in service to the organisation. She says that after receiving it, she felt as if she had finally done her bit. Of course that bit was to last for another six years.

Jarvis' views on the relevance of the UN after 60 years of existence is that the organisation is indispensable. Specifically referring to the role of UNESCO, she quotes the UN Charter which says that "Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." She believes that though the UN is not perfect in itself, if more countries were to cooperate and implement the programmes conceived by the United Nations, the world would be a far more peaceful place than it is today.

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WOMEN IN THE GUYANA DEFENSE FORCE

NO special provision was made for the recruitment of women into the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) when the Defence Ordinance was passed by the National Assembly in May 1966 although it is true that, during the debate on the Defence Bill, PNC spokesmen did promise that women would be enlisted into the new Force.

No attempt to do so was made for the remainder of 1966, the year when the GDF came into existence, however, and, given the PNC's domination of the policy-making Guyana Defence Board (GDB) from the start, the delay in recruiting women into the Force and the alleged resistance to their employment were surprising. More odd was Prime Minister Forbes Burnham's belated complaint about this apparent controversy Ambiguity and ambivalence have afflicted official policy towards women soldiers since the establishment of the Women Army Corps (WAC) 35 years ago. All earlier military forces in Guyana-such as the British Guiana Militia and the British Guiana Volunteer Force-were exclusively male and, inevitably, the tradition of treating the military profession as a male preserve was deep-rooted.

Policy Drift: which came to light only in 1977, ten years after the WAC was formed. Burnham said: "I recall that when we first recruited women into the Guyana Defence Force, the then Chief-of-Staff [Col Ronald Pope] thought that women should be allocated to secretarial duties and telephone operating. I gave an instruction then and I hope that that instruction has been carried out. Though perhaps women should get first choice on secretarial and telephone duties, they must understand that they are soldiers and the price ... which they pay for equality and being in the Guyana Defence Force must be their ability to do anything the men can do as well, if not better." The question as to exactly what women soldiers were meant to do and whether, indeed, they should be able 'to do anything the men can do' has plagued official policy to this day, creating a crisis of identity for military planners.

Origins: The establishment of the GDF's Women's Army Corps (WAC) which turns 35 on 6 February 2002, arguably, was a direct result of Venezuela's seizure of Ankoko Is. in the Cuyuni River in October 1966. In that year of Guyana's Independence, the GDF had barely established its first battalion of fewer than 500 men when it was forced to deploy troops to Eteringbang on the country's westernmost frontier to confront Venezuela's aggression. The sudden removal of such a large number of men from such a small force, some mere recruits still undergoing basic training, others deployed along the coastland which only two years earlier had been the scene of murderous ethnic strife, created huge manpower problems. Soldiers had to be found quickly to secure the borders and others had to take their place in the camps. The GDF's solution was to recruit women.

In 30 January 1967, just three months after the Ankoko incident, four women-Captain Joan Granger and Officer Cadets Brenda Aaron, Clarissa Hookumchand and Hyacinth King - started training at the GDF Training Wing at what was then called Atkinson Field, now Timehri. On 6 February, 56 other women joined them as recruits. After six weeks of training in drill, fieldcraft, skill-at-arms, shooting and physical fitness, the 60 were formally inducted into the GDF at a parade on 12 March inspected by Mrs. Winifred Gaskin, then Minister of Education (see image below). Starting with a strength of 60 in 1967, the Women's Army Corps reached its greatest strength of 268 in 1977. It fell to 247 in 1987 and thereafter, declined slowly. There were 190 women soldiers serving in the GDF in 1997 and 260 at the start of 2002.

Reserve: There is some evidence to support the charge that the idea of recruiting women into the Force was resisted, despite the growing demand for more troops to meet the country's defence needs. In fact, the day after their proud "passing out parade," the women were all sent back home. Thereafter, they were to be called up only when required, as in any military reserve.

Initially, women soldiers were required to enlist in the 2nd battalion-the GDF's reserve - only for three years and training was geared to prepare them for their "specific role" in the Force. The age requirement of women was 18 to 25 years but, in exceptional cases, women over 25 years with specialist qualifications were considered. Women were paid, trained and treated as temporary reservists who could be `disembodied', or have their full-time service stopped at any time if their post became redundant or they ceased to fulfill employment standards. Indeed, the official role of the WAC was stated clearly: "To provide a body of trained officers and women to be a ready reserve in any type of emergency, and to reinforce the regular element and replace men in non-combatant duties."

Eventually, a few women were 'embodied' into the Force, not as a group, but as individuals, and were destined to become auxiliaries to male soldiers filling posts as clerks, cooks, typists, nurses, radio and telephone operators, and storekeepers - in camps and bases. This pattern continued until 1969 when the majority of these female reservists were transferred to the regular force. Recruitment policy changed mainly because Guyana's defence situation continued to deteriorate. After the Rupununi insurrection of January 1969, more male troops had to be deployed to that part of the Guyana-Brazil border and, in August 1969, another major military operation against the Surinamese incursion in the New River obliged the GDF to station troops on that sector of the Guyana-Suriname border as well. The continuous drain of trained troops was unsustainable without replacements. On 26 September 1969, only one month after the Surinamese problem, the second batch of women soldiers joined the GDF and, from that time, they were given combat training.

Access: The change of official policy was accelerated also by the declaration of 1975 as the 'International Year of Women' by the United Nations and may have been driven by the rapid rise of feminist groups and the introduction of gender issues into the public debate. These factors influenced the PNC Administration to adopt a more enlightened approach to women's issues, a policy which had an effect on the WAC. The State Paper on Equality for Women was presented to the National Assembly on 15 January 1976, aimed, among other things, at: "... securing equality of treatment by employers of men and women workers as regards terms and conditions of service and generally for the purpose of making sex discrimination unlawful in employment, recruitment, training, education and the provision of housing, goods, services and facilities to the public." The new politically-driven approach sought to grant women access to equitable training and employment in the GDF as well. Already in January 1975, at the start of "International Women's Year," Cheryl Pickering and Beverly Drakes were enrolled at the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, USA, returning to Guyana the following year with commercial pilot's certificates to join the GDF Air Corps. In 1977, Barbara Adams became the country's first female helicopter pilot after graduating from the Oxford Air Training School in the UK with a commercial helicopter pilot's certificate.

Other women were sent on similar courses, some failing to qualify but, within a decade of this bold initiative, the experiment slowed to a trickle. The reason for this, occurring in the depressed decade of the 1980s, may have been primarily financial, but it was remarkable that, despite their experience, training and qualifications, women pilots were rarely, if ever, allowed to fly 'in command' of military aircraft.

Ceiling: a few officers were given the opportunity to attend "attachments" and "on the job training" overseas. For example, Michalene Payne was trained at the British Army Public Relations Department; Joan Granger was trained at the Army School of Catering, and Brenda Aaron at the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC), all in the UK. The doors to regular officer training in Guyana were opened on 16 May 1976 when eight women - four civilians and four soldiers - were admitted to the Standard Officers Course (SOC) which all cadets must complete before being commissioned as officers.
Access to the most advanced staff training in countries such as Brazil, Canada, India, the UK and USA where senior officers were prepared for high command, however, seemed closed to women. On the other hand, women have been pursuing advanced studies at the University of Guyana and have attended overseas courses in regional and hemispheric studies, disaster preparedness, intelligence and peacekeeping. As a result, it seemed that a 'glass ceiling' was imperceptibly drawn over the heads of women. In 35 years, only three women have reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and only one has reached the rank of Warrant Officer Class I, the highest enlisted rank.

Although they continued to fill mainly traditional positions, women were given access in increasing numbers to other trades as artisans, cartographers, drivers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, painters, plumbers, radio operators and tailors. Women soldiers also mounted a ceremonial guard of honour for Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka during her state visit to Guyana, enjoying the privilege of that most sacred military ritual of carrying the Force "colour" on parade. 'All women' detachments also participated in the ceremonial 'Changing of the Guard' at Guyana House - the President's residence - and Remembrance Day parades. These novelties had spectacular, but superficial, effects and did not address the core question of women's long-term role in the Force. To be fair, few countries have satisfactorily achieved a good balance between the military roles of men and women. Frequently, employment could be determined as much by operational necessity as by the desire to avoid sexual scandals arising out of harassment, or exploitation arising out of inequalities in rank.

Egalitarianism: during "International Women's Year" also, the Administration announced the establishment of an 'operational unit' with the aim to deploy women soldiers to hinterland areas to be involved in "defence and development duties." According to Beverly Daw, writing in the Guyana Graphic newspaper, 19 women non-commissioned officers were trained, six of whom were posted to the GDF Training Corps to train special recruits for proposed unit in "skill-at-arms; jungle warfare; navigation and all the other necessary aspects of security work they will be expected to perform."

This unit never materialized, however, and must have been regarded as impractical, despite the political hype in which it was conceived. Women did participate in rugged field tactical exercises at the Force's battle school at Tacama and in other training areas but were never to be deployed on 'combat' or operational missions. After making a comparative analysis of experiments in introducing women to combat assignments in Canada, Israel and the USA, Christine King, in an article entitled 'Women in Combat', concluded that the GDF was "not sufficiently experienced nor is it fully equipped to enlist women for combat" and, despite the enthusiasm of a few, she did not support the idea for the GDF. She pointed to the resistance, even by women, to the Canadian Armed Forces' attempt in their 1980s Combat-Related Employment of Women (CREW) trials, to integrate women fully into combat units.

In Guyana, resistance to proposals for a combat role for women came both from the women themselves and men. On the one hand, many women soldiers were mothers and all liable to suffer as much from the stress of being separated from their young children as from the discomfort of lengthy periods of exposure to field operations and conditions. On the other hand, men, particularly commanders, were apprehensive of the social and administrative problems which could arise when males and females were kept together in the field, away from their homes and families. In a survey entitled, "Women Soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force and their Effect on the Military Organisation in Terms of Roles," which studied the attitudes of men to women soldiers, Brenda Aaron found that 76 per cent of men felt that the presence of women soldiers created specific problems for the GDF administration in four major areas: fitness for the primary task of soldiering; pregnancy, children and the home; transitional period from civilian to military occupation and women's intimate relations with male superiors.
Women sometimes combine the roles of soldier, wife, mother and, usually, homemaker and householder. Domestic problems often erupt which conflict with their occupational obligations and, consequently, have to be dealt with by the GDF administration. As a result, Aaron found, some male soldiers are skeptical about the presence of women in the Force because they felt that women's problems created increased organisational strains, making the men's burden heavier. These issues seemed to be insoluble, the GDF largely skirting around the debate and contenting itself with simply employing women to perform their traditional trades. This course of action avoids unpleasantness and achieves the aim of freeing men to perform operational tasks.



Problem: despite the claim that it was always part of the plan to enlist women into the GDF on the basis of equality with men, the regulatory framework for protecting women from abuse, and for ensuring good order and military discipline, has been inadequate. This came about, perhaps, because some types of social problems could not have been anticipated and a misplaced belief in absolute egalitarianism obviated the need to promulgate separate regulations for men and women.

As time went by, it was revealed in a survey cited by Christine King that 75 per cent of female soldiers had one or two children, and some others had more. In response to that reality in the early years of the WAC, women were simply "disembodied" if it was felt that pregnancy or motherhood was interfering with their performance of duty. But this was quickly found to be both an unreasonable and uneconomical method of managing skilled soldiers. It was later to become unlawful as well. As a result, a sort of 'family code' was drafted, aimed mainly at the 'pregnancy problem'.
Regulations governing pregnancy stipulate that women soldiers may allow themselves to become pregnant for the first time only after two years of service and, thereafter, only once every two years and no more than a maximum of three times during their military service.

Once their pregnancy is certified by the GDF Medical Officer, women soldiers are exempted strenuous physical exercise but are required to perform routine duties. Maternity leave commences six weeks prior to the expected date of confinement, soldiers being allowed a period of 13 weeks maternity leave with pay in accordance with National Insurance Scheme (NIS) conditions.

It is presumed that other aspects of sexual relations likely to have disruptive effects on GDF administration were thoroughly investigated but were left unregulated. Problems must have arisen, for example, in cases where women had to be stationed away from their children; where spouses were separated or were liable to serve in the same unit; where children had to be maintained; where there were sexual relations between soldiers or officers of different ranks; and where there was sexual and spousal abuse.

As a result, a Welfare Department was established through which trained social workers attempted to deal with these family matters, supporting the new legal regime guaranteeing women's equality. The staff of this Department would pay visits to homes and hospitals, investigate cases and make recommendations to commanding officers for corrective action.

Identity: apart from the establishment of a Welfare Department, several other efforts were made to soften the harshness of military service for women. A choir was formed, performing at various functions and institutions such as hospitals; special sports such as hockey and netball were introduced; a Co-operative Credit Union was established to encourage thrift and the WAC was affiliated to the Conference on the Affairs and Status of Women, in Guyana (CASWIG).

At one stage, in October 1976, perhaps as a result of overzealous egalitarianism, the WAC was actually disbanded and women formerly called "WACs" now had to be formally referred to as 'female soldiers'. The original title was restored when it was found that, despite the fact that the women could not function as single military corps, there were good reasons for them to be treated 'differently' and for a commanding officer of their own.

Today, women can be found in almost every Corps (i.e., specialized branch) of the Force but, nevertheless, are treated collectively as members of the Women's Army Corps only for administrative purposes such as accommodation, social events and training exercises. As a result, the WAC now possesses its own emblem (the Victoria Regia Lily with crossed rifles), flag (the emblem on a mauve background), and Regimental march. The Corps celebrates its formation day on 6 February every year.
In theory, women in the GDF enjoy equal status to men: they compete with them in training and, within their respective corps for promotion. They suffer similar sanctions when they commit offences; receive equal pay within their ranks; undergo similar training, and benefit from all the privileges of military life as do the male soldiers. The underlying belief is that, given the opportunity to be properly trained, women can carry out almost any function that is required of men.

Despite Forbes Burnham's bravado, however, the concept of "women in combat" never took root. By and large, women seem satisfied with their identity as soldiers within the stated parameters and have settled into traditional employment.

Thirty-five years after the WAC was established, there is unlikely to be a surge of enthusiasm for sudden change.

David Granger


[Editor's Note: This article has used information from various articles; Brenda Aaron, "The Women's Army Corps." Scarlet Beret, Vol. 1, No. 1 (February 1971), and "Women Soldiers of the Guyana Defence Force," Mimeo. University of Guyana, Guyana, 1978. Christine King, "Women in Combat." Scarlet Beret, Vol. 1, No. 5 (December 1998); Gwen Fredericks, "Role of the Female Soldiers." Scarlet Beret, Vol. 1, No. 4 (February 1977); Beverly Daw, "Women's Army Corps Operational Unit," Guyana Graphic, 29 October 1975. Michalene Payne, "Equality as it Relates to the Army," Scarlet Beret, Vol. 1, No. 4 (February 1977); Green Beret, January 1992.]