See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:
A New York Times article explores how CARE, an international development organization, has leveraged the philanthropic interests of wealthy women over 35 into international efforts to improve the lives of women and girls through education, micro-enterprise and small development programming efforts.
Salary.com released their annual figures on how much the labor of a working mom is worth, putting this year’s tab at $138,095 annually–3 percent higher than last year’s results. Brings whole new perspective to the wage-gap discussions that have been taking place, when one also considers domestic and international "unwaged" labor, largely provided by women. To further this discussion, last week Riane Eisler wrote in Alternet about "The Feminine Face of Poverty" and how she thinks it’s high time for leaders to consider addressing poverty through a lens that redefines "productivity" in economic indicators in a way that accounts for the unpaid labor provided by the world’s women.
Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation, offers an op-ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer challenging perceptions of a new intergenerational philanthropic divide that claims that new foundations are "entrepreneurial, innovative, ambititous and strategic" while long-standing ones are not. "I am here to say this dichotomy does not fit reality. It does not capture the breadth of philanthropy’s scope and history, and it has the potential to damage our field," she writes. Debate and discussion over this topic has since ensued among a number of philanthropic leaders, which is nicely summarized in a Tactical Philanthropy post, "Old vs. New Philanthropy."
Melinda Gates shared the lessons she’s learned from 10 years in philanthropy, which was preceeded a few weeks ago by her comments on the important role women and girls play in changing the world.
We learned that fewer employers are offering health benefits and a new report, From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half by the Center for American Progress advocated 12 recommendations–many of which are directly tied to the issues impacting low-income women and their families. John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, testified to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support on poverty and the goals of the Poverty Task Force.
And that’s the news for this week! Now, onto your views–post a comment to let us know your thoughts on any of the above, or about any news of note that we’ve missed.
And, above all, happy Friday!
