It's an Obama Love Fest at the AWID Forum!

While I knew that Obama was the world's preferred choice for presidential candidate both from friends, news, and just plain common sense, I'm still surprised how apparent this is at the AWID forum. This does not only speak of Obama's popularity but also about the negative impact the Bush Administration has made on women's rights globally, whether it be on reproductive rights or the war on terror.....only two small examples.

Beyond that, the AWID (Association for Women's Rights and Development) forum theme this year is "The Power of Movements." The Obama campaign was able to illustrate how powerful a movement can be, and its a movement I was happy to be part of. Obama and his new administration has been mentioned in almost every plenary and workshop that I have been in. Not only has he been mentioned, when he is mentioned, the room breaks out in applause. Today, in a plenary session filled with over 2,000 women from over 144 countries - pictures were flashed as six speakers spoke about their experiences and challenges organizing. When Obama's picture was flashed, the room literally erupted, causing the speakers to stop and see what had just happened and whose picture had just been flashed. While its exciting to see this excitement, which is ever more apparent given that the the forum is in South Africa, I hope that the excitement of a 'friend' in the White House does not lead to complacency. With the country facing a recession and leaders attention diverted to solving these pressing problems, the doors of the White House and Congress will need to continually be knocked on. I fear the rights and needs of women including the funding these issues need and deserve will not be addressed if we assume our friends will listen to us. While its great to have two friends in the White House, we can't wait for an appointment. We need to be sitting on their doorstep, continually knocking, until Obama and the new family dog let us in.....and we make them listen.

Have We Taken A Stand? Where are American Women in the Global Women's Movement?

I write this as I sit amongst over 2200 women's activists from over 144 countries at the Association for Women's Rights and Development Forum. Their combined resilience, strength, creativity, power and love is immense and yet indescribable. As I sit listening to the struggles lesbians face in the Arab world, the fight Iranian women have to be considered a whole person unlike their current worth of half a man under the law, the struggles women face in Africa as they bear the brunt of an increasing HIV rate, and all women in solidarity coming together to fight violence against women and I think of what am I doing at home. I think of the movement of domestic workers in the United States, and I wonder why I haven't known about this movement before. As American women work to ensure their reproductive rights continue, that they break the glass ceiling, receive equal pay for their work, and try to find a balance between work and home....I think of our sisters across the globe and what we can and should be doing to help them. I also look at their movements, their fight for equal rights, and I don't see the same passion amongst American women as they strive for a more equitable future. I sit here being inspired and also contemplating what I will do when I go back home, how will I take a stand, how will I bring people together, and how will I overcome my shyness to speak up. I only need to remember the collective strength and spirit of the women here, as I open my mouth to make my voice heard!