It is 2013 and I am remembering a time in 1973. I was trying to make my curly blonde hair look like Gloria Steinem's long straight locks after hearing her speak at Hollywood High School. Oh yes, and I was singing, "I am woman."
So Gloria, it's 2013. Where are the women? Are we really the only industrialized country in the world that hasn't had a female head of state? Not that I'm complaining about the men. (Some of the world's best people are men.) But come on girls! Get with it.
Brazil, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has a female president. I had a speaking engagement there last year and learned something that I found incredulous. Do you know how Brazil ended slavery? With a signature. In our civil war, 620,000 soldiers died. In Brazil, Princess Beatrice ended it with her autograph.
My life work is nonprofit fundraising and leadership for nonprofits.The majority of the people I work with are women. Most of them have amazing leadership skills. With prudence and very little money they manage to create big results. In the same way that Princess Beatrice ended slavery, women know that small things can make a huge difference.
In honor of all women, I'd like to offer them some tips. The women empowerment quotes are to help you keep going and continue to make a difference in the world. The nonprofit fundraising tips are to help you pay for it.
"Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephron
"You wanna fly, you gotta give up the shit that weighs you down." Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." Einstein
An independent attitude, free of self-importance, will draw others to your cause.
Vacillating between hope and fear drives people away.
Ask for money and they give you advice. Ask for advice and they will give you money.
Forty years after hearing Gloria Steinem, my hair is still curly, now gray-blonde. I know what happened to my hair. Help me, Gloria Steinem! I can't figure out what happened to the women. Why aren't women in the United States playing a bigger role in government? Women are making a huge difference on the local level with their far-sighted prudence. Isn't it time for us, on the national level, to have more influence?
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