Achieving A Gender Just World: Thought Leaders Provide Actionable Ways To Break Through Equality's Biggest Barriers

The more we place women in places of innovation, of decision making and of power, the more equal our world will inherently become.

— Amy Hepburn | CEO of the Investor Leadership Network

August 19, 2021

In the second installment of #EnvisionEquality, Marianne Schnall’s Forbes series of articles with Sarah Henry and the Global Center for Gender Equality at Stanford and the ERA Coalition, she brings together a renowned set of thought leaders from across industries:

  • to share specific actions and strategies needed to achieve gender equality

  • what they see as the three biggest barriers we need to overcome

  • and, if given the chance, what advice would they give to lawmakers to inspire them to ratify the long-overdue ERA.

Suggestions range from:

Suzanne Lerner, Co-founder, and CEO of Michael Stars support the ERA: “…getting gender equality in writing. In the U.S., gender equality must be explicitly written into our primary social contract, the U.S. Constitution.”

Latanya Mapp Frett, President, and CEO of Global Fund for Women relate that “We will get there (achieving gender equality) with the recognition that fighting for any social justice issue means you are fighting for every social justice issue. Empathy is crucial and a willingness to see our interconnectedness and stand up for our collective liberation. 

And from Joanne Sandler, Board Co-chair of JASS (Just Associates) + Senior Associate of Gender at Work + Co-host of Two Old Bitches, who says,

I subscribe to Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy’s views: it’s patriarchy.…Patriarchy may end with a whisper, not a bang. It may be on its last legs, which is why the backlash is so intense and desperate. Gender equality, equity and justice will emerge from its ashes.

We’re definitely down for that.

Read the second installment article here.

Contributors—philanthropists, CEO’s + NGO Leaders—include: Ada Williams Prince, Ai-jen Poo, Aimee Allison, Amy Hepburn, Barbara Lee, Carol Jenkins, Hilary Knight, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Jensine Larsen, Jessica Houssian, Joanne Sandler, Joia Adele Crear-Perry, Kavita Ramdas, Kimberly Peeler-Allen, Latanya Mapp Frett, Michelle Nunn, Mona Sinha, Pamela Shifman, Rena Greifinger, Riki Wilchins, Sarah Haacke Byrd, Sophie Kelly, Suzanne Lerner, Terry McGovern, Tina Tchen, Tony Porter, Valerie Jarrett, Vanessa Kerry, and Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg.

Previous
Previous

Liz Shuler elected as AFL-CIO’s first woman president

Next
Next

Old Navy Announces The End Of Plus-Size Pricing Differences + Evolves evolve the retail experience for women