Amazing Liberian Women--a film/ a story!!

This story from Bill Moyers Journal is about the documentary film made about the women of Liberia and how they got the Civil War to stop in Liberia in 2003 and helped elect a women President was just amazing to add to our reading of The House on Sugar Beach. Enjoy another "chapter" of the possibility of women changing the world!!

Obama's Cairo Speech--Equality and Tolerance

"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal. But I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality." (Barack Obama--Cairo--June 2009)

President Barack Obama gave a speech in Cairo, Egypt on June 5th, 2009. He stressed that there should be a new understanding and cooperation among all nations to solve problems of inequality, religious intolerance, and the overall health and well-being of all people. He specifically addresses the differences with Islam countries and hopes to build bridges of understanding across the differences of the past era. You can listen to the speech on the White House Blog.

Annotated Bibliography on Iran for Gendered Voices

Shirin Ebadi--2003 Nobel Peace Prize Winner--Iran Awakening
Update--Iran Election and what Ebadi said on Thursday, June 18th

SHIRIN EBADI, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize-Winner (through translator): "I think that if new elections are organized, but if there are no international observers, no matter what the outcome of these new elections would be, it could be protested and rejected by one or the other parties." (The News Hour with Jim Lehrer)

For our last book, we are reading the memoir of Shirin Ebadi, who lives in Iran and has defended the rights of many people against oppression in Iran. She has particularly worked for the rights of women and defended them in her role as an attorney. This interview with her is from 2006 posted on the website for New American Media. She made a speech that you can read or listen to at the Nobel Peace Prize location. She also spoke at Berkeley in California on "The Struggle for Human Rights."
The women of Iran are waging a campaign to get One Million signatures for their rights--to change ten laws. Listen to another Iranian women activist speak about this campaign.