In the Spotlight: 10x10, The Girls Education Project

The premise is simple: Educate girls, Change the World. This is a rallying cry that is repeated often by numerous non-profit organizations, NGO's, and is supported by research studies which have measured the global economic and social impact resulting from the education of women & girls.

Everyone can make a difference and everyone benefits from the outcome. Watch this video and become inspired!

To learn more about 10x10 visit their website.

Get involved or make a donation to this worthwhile cause so that they can continue to promote their important message!

10x10 Messaging Video from The Documentary Group on Vimeo.

We all stand to gain from the achievement of gender equality

August 26th 2009 marked 89 years since women were first granted the constitutional right to vote in the United States (19th amendment was certified on Aug 26th 1920). Some 72 years prior, the first women's rights convention was held in the United States in Seneca Falls, New York (July 19-20, 1848).

For those of us who are lucky enough to call the United States our home, it seems hard to believe that just 161 years ago the rights of women were so limited in this great nation. Since the first women's rights convention took place, a great deal of progress has been made but there is still much work to be done until true economic and social parity is achieved between the sexes. Often times important issues which affect human beings end up being politicized and in so doing the true meaning and significance of the issue can be diminished because people get in the way and corrupt the process. It's important to realize that the issue of women's rights is not just an American issue, nor is it merely a political issue, rather it is an issue of fundamental human rights which transcends all borders, races, nationalities, etc.

The matter of women's rights is not just important to women, but it is also important to men as evidenced by economic research reports which have been published by industry giants such as Goldman Sachs, Ernst and Young, and McKinsey & Company. The dialogue which must take place in our modern industrialized societies needs to be one that is inclusive so that men are made to recognize the important and vital role that they play in the process since they also stand to gain from the outcome. All across the board, from the individual to the family unit to the community and to the national level, everyone has to be informed about the benefits that await a world that believes in and works to promote the equality between the sexes.

Below is a collection of links to resources which, in my opinion, highlight the importance of the issue of women's rights specifically in an economic context and which help to illustrate why both sexes in every nation of the world should be vigilant in the effort to attain true gender equality.

• Presidential Proclamation by President Barack Obama - Women's Equality Day 2009
  

• Goldman Sachs Global Economics Paper: Women Hold Up Half the Sky

• Ernst & Young: Groundbreakers - Using the strength of women to rebuild the world economy

• McKinsey & Company - Women Matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver

• NY Times Magazine - Saving the World's Women:How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything

• Declaration of Sentiments (Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott, Seneca Falls Convention 1848)

Girls Can Excel at Math at the Genius Level if Shown Encouragement & Opportunity

I'm bursting with excitement to share the news that recently published research findings show that girls can excel at math, in particular at the genius level, if they are encouraged to do so and if they are given the opportunity to do so.

This is particularly exciting for me because it is something I wholeheartedly believe is true and this concept is effectively related to a message I seek to promote with my clients (individual women and woman-owned small businesses). I encounter numerous women who are strong, smart, dynamic multi-tasking superstars in every aspect of their lives yet when it comes to matters having to do with money, math, finance, etc., they have resigned themselves to the notion that somehow these concepts are simply out of their reach, unattainable, for someone else but not for them....and so they opt out of the learning process altogether.

What is so exciting about important research such as the kind that Janet Hyde and Janet Mertz have published is that girls (who later go on to become women) can perform at above-average as well as genius level math. If there is any difference in the statistics between male and female scores or the perception thereof, it is "largely an artifact of changeable sociocultural factors, not immutable, innate biological differences between the sexes".

We have the power to impact the rate and quantity of girls excelling at math by creating a social and cultural atmosphere that cultivates this kind of performance - this is an incredibly powerful and empowering statement.

It boils down to this: if you are a girl, or a woman, for that matter, you just need to believe in yourself and you can do it. Sometimes it's hard to just dig down and find that belief in yourself so that is when a helping hand and encouragement come into the fold. The combination of encouragement, a helping hand, belief in one's abilities, opportunity and learning can result in above-average as well as genius level performance - you just need to give yourself an opportunity to get started.

The ramifications of an increased number of members of the female population going on to pursue and excel in math/science and quantitative fields/pursuits translates into a much richer societal fabric, not to mention a more innovative economic climate that has far-reaching consequences for not just this nation, but for the entire world.

As a small-business owner who focuses on working with women, I am even more excited and motivated by this news than I was before and I hope that you will be too!

For more details about the findings please refer to: Article published on Yahoo!