Dear Colleagues,
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the core of WFN’s mission. We began with the vision that by democratizing philanthropy through local funds created by, and for, women, we could dismantle gender inequity region-by-region across the globe. Thirty years later we see that vision in action through your steadfast efforts during this unprecedented crisis.
WFN Keynote Speaker Kevin Powell.
Celebrated author and activist Kevin Powell is keynote speaker for Women Funding Network’s upcoming Women Funded 2019: Leadership for a Changing World. Here, Kevin talks about the importance of “allyship” and what mentors like Gloria Steinem have taught him.
Marcia Coné
Women’s Funding Network Chief Strategist Marcia Coné is passionate about the Two-Generation (2Gen) Approach to breaking the cycle of poverty for women and their families. Here, she talks about WFN’s efforts to support its members in implementing the 2Gen philosophy and theoretical framework, as well as the work of the 2Gen Advocacy Cohort and their recent wins.
What is a 2Gen Approach?
When we think about poverty, programs are typically targeted to the needs of different members within the family. For example, you might have a child in a Head Start Program, while the parent is getting job training. This is helpful, but the 2Gen approach—which was developed by the Aspen Institute—looks at ways of addressing the family as a whole system and meeting their individual needs simultaneously, through multi-generational programming and policies. Two-generation approaches draw from findings that the well-being of parents is crucial to their children’s well-being and conversely, parents’ ability to succeed in school and in the workplace is substantially affected by how well their children are doing.
The Women’s Funding Network’s biennual conference is more than a collection of workshops, panels, and keynote addresses. Women Funded is a unique event because of the people we get in the room. When funders and advocates of gender equity come together, powerful collaborations begin and real change begins to happen.
The Gender Breakfast, a monthly gathering of gender professionals and advocates in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an example of such collaboration. Shruthi Jayaram and Lucina Di Meco met at Women Funded 2017 and decided that, together, they would create and host the Gender Breakfast series. These meetings are a chance for gender professionals to network and have a themed discussion led by an expert. To learn more about how Women Funded inspired this initiative, we went straight to the source and talked to Shruthi and Lucina.
Photo: Lucina Di Meco and Shruthi Jayaram
Lucina: I’m a senior gender equality expert and women’s rights advocate, currently serving as Director of Girls’ Education at Room to Read and Global Fellow at The Wilson Center. Having just moved to San Francisco from the East Coast, I was thrilled to attend a conference and get to know like-minded professionals in Bay Area! That conference ended up being for me quite momentous, as I met Shruthi there. Right away, we started talking about our shared yearning for a community of gender equality experts in the Bay Area. A few weeks later, we co-founded The Gender Breakfast.
Shruthi: I’m a Senior Project Manager at Dalberg Advisors, a strategy consulting firm dedicated to global justice and social impact. At Dalberg, I advise clients and develop strategies to increase women’s economic empowerment and shift deep-seated gendered norms and attitudes (e.g., around women’s role in the home and in caregiving). I moved to San Francisco in 2017 and like Lucina, came to WFN 2017 to meet like-minded gender equality advocates.
The Two-Generation Cohort is made up of The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado, Texas Women’s Foundation and the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona.
More than half of Malawian girls marry before age 18. But not Memory Banda.
Memory Banda advocating with a Parliamentarian
Unlike so many girls in her own community, Memory stayed in school and refused to marry until she finished her education. She beat the odds, defied convention, and fought to change the future for all girls. Read More
“The current practices of our major political parties are dangerous for women, men and children. They are based on moral premises that are causing severe harm, and we must challenge them.”
— Mary Crooks AO, Executive Director, Victorian Women’s Trust, Australia
In Australia, immigration is an issue mired in political jousting, leaving the vulnerable at risk. Lawmakers are under intense scrutiny for their current policy that mandates any refugee or asylum seeker who arrives by boat must be sent to Nauru or Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for offshore processing (read more). Here, their basic protections are denied and abuse is often condoned.
For women this can be particularly dangerous, with many reports revealing that women are routinely abused and raped.
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