Month: March 2010

Alternative Haggadah for Passover for Women

On Mar 31 2010

I sat down to my first Passover dinner several years ago when I started dating my husband and was mesmerized by the reading of the Haggadah, in particular the one my aunt-in-law had put together. In celebration of Global Markets and Ideas’ Women’s theme this month, I wanted to share what we read last night at Seder.

“Another Dayeinu”

If women has been among the writers of the Bible and had interpreted our creation and our role in history – Dayeinu

If Eve had been acknowledged as Adam’s equal and not a tempress – Dayeinu

If she ate from the tree of knowledge and had been recognized as a teacher – Dayeinu

If Lot’s wife had been honored for compassion in looking back at the fate of her family in Sodom and had not been punished for it – Dayeinu

If women had written Haggadahs and placed our mothers where they belonged in the story of our people – Dayeinu

If our mothers had been honored for their daughters as well as their sons – Dayeinu

If men had been taught to revere their role as father and teacher as much as warrior and ruler – Dayeinu

If men and women had stood side by side as comrades in the face of adversity – Dayeinu

If every generation of women and men would flee the bondage of an Egypt – Dayeinu

Thank you Aunt Paula and Uncle John.

Swan Day: Celebrating Women Artists (Virlana Tkacz) and Women Who Support the Arts (Ann Ziff)

By admin

On Mar 29 2010

In Reflections

This past Saturday was something called Swan Day which is a celebration of women artists. The long term goal of Swan Day is “to inspire communities around the world to find new ways to recognize and support women artists as a basic element of civic planning.” I am doing my part by lauding the efforts of Virlana Tkacz who is our guest writer. She is the founding director of the Yara Arts Group creating theater pieces based on contemporary poetry and traditional myth and legend, much of it focused on women and many pieces about Ukraine. Her work is incandescent and I cannot wait to see “Scythian Stones” at La MaMa in April.

Also on my agenda: going to see the Whitney Biennial which showcases 20 women artists. And if I ever get back to Moscow anytime soon: Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Russian socialite and billionaire Roman Abramovich’s girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova’s, art space which is meant to rival London’s Tate.

I am also impressed with Ann Ziff who recently announced a $30 million gift to the Metropolitan Opera which turns out to be the largest single gift from an individual in the company’s history. Under the direction of Peter Gelb, the Met has been trying to dust off its staid image, and its new production of Shostakovich’s The Nose is a great example. I didn’t like all the visual projections – I thought they took away from Valery Gergiev’s beautiful orchestra direction, and Paul Szot’s amazing performance – but they were an interesting experiment and I was excited to be a part of it.

We can’t all be Ann Ziff, but we can do our small part by attending arts events and giving our time to promote the arts.

Leaders on the Horizon: Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina

By admin

On Mar 26 2010

In Analysis

Delly Beekman, the incoming president of The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc., recently called the civic leaders among us to action in a guest post. It got me to thinking of the work of civic leaders who have inspired me, in particular the women I have researched for Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in the World list. There are two names that may one day be added to the list depending on how they fare in 2010 elections. I may not share their politics but I am impressed by both.

Margaret (Meg) Whitman is the billionaire business mogul who built Ebay and is now worth $1.3 billion; she cochaired John McCain’s stunted presidential run and hasn’t looked back. She may spend up to $150 million to become cash-strapped California’s new chief in November (even more than Michael Bloomberg spent on winning his third term as New York City mayor). Those millions seem well allocated: a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California indicated Whitman has a lead over likely competitors (she still has to win her Republican primary in June).

Another fellow California tech mogul and McCain supporter, Carleton S. “Carly” Fiorina, is running for U.S. Senate. Fiorina is perhaps better armed for the challenge. The former chief of Hewlett-Packard orchestrated the $19 billion merger of H-P and Compaq against fierce opposition from the H-P founders’ families, led principally by Walter Hewlett, son of H-P founder Bill Hewlett. She is facing similar catcalls in her Senate race, but is aggressively moving forward and recently made headway in the polls. She is also putting out controversial attack ads.(Demon Sheep Ad)

Back in 2003, I wrote a book review of two books about Fiorina stating “she is clearly poised to make history.” I should have said she continues to make history.

Only 2 Women Billionaires in Eastern Europe, Russia and rest of CIS

By admin

On Mar 15 2010

In Analysis

Where are all the women? We’re Half the Sky as but we’re always underrepresented as Catalyst reasearch points out (see my previous post titled International Women’s Day). The same is true for Eastern Europe, Russia and the rest of the CIS where only 2 women reached Forbes billionaire ranks out of some 40 or so total women on the 1,011 long list.

The richest in the region is Elena Baturina who returned to the list after a rebound in Russia; her net worth: $2.9 billion. The wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov (who has been in power since 1992) runs Inteko which started out in furniture and crockery then moved into construction. Her real estate projects were hard hit by the 2008 financial crisis but she is back building affordable housing for Russia’s rising middle class. She also reportedly has interests in Africa, a continent where several CIS oligarchs are looking to expand. Though rumors swirl about favoritism in winning city contracts because of her family connections, nothing sticks; Baturina is aggressive about maintaining a clean reputation.

The other is Dinara Kulibaeva, the media-shy second daughter of Kazakhstan’s long-serving president Nursultan Nazarbaev and wife of Timur Kulibaev, also a billionaire and rumored to be a potential successor to Nazarbaev. She also returns to the Forbes billionaires list; her fortune is estimated at $1.1 billion resting on her shared stake in Halyk Bank which received hundreds of millions of dollars in bailout funds from the government post 2008/2009 financial crisis.

The common thread between the two is the connection to powerful men. Though the Soviet State introduced equal gender rights and formal equality under law and this should have been grandfathered into newly independent states, the theory has not always played out in practice. Some states in Central Asia (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) have even taken steps backward since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union with discrimination against women rising.

More Billionaires in Eastern Europe, Russia and rest of CIS says Forbes

By admin

On Mar 10 2010

In Analysis

2009 was a year of recovery for the World’s Billionaires as a whole reports Forbes (for whom I have been freelancing). The wealthiest in Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS states improved their fortunes as commodities markets recovered and world stock markets rose.

Poland, a success story among transition economies, but which had only 1 billionaire on the list last year, Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, is back with 4 billionaires. In addition to Solorz-Zak, Jan Kulczyk, Leszek Czarnecki and Michal Solowow return to the Forbes billionaires list. Kulczyk, who was last on the Forbes list in 2006, is strengthened by his energy holdings.

Dinu Patriciu, Romania’s richest billionaire, is also making a big push in energy, going after licenses to explore for oil and metals in the Black Sea; in January he even got patent for a method of mining and processing seabed sediment.

Despite the fact Romania’s GDP contracted an estimated 7% in 2009 and its hopes to introduce the euro by 2014 may be thwarted by collapsing euro-economies like Greece, the country saw the return of former tennis ace, Ion Tiriac, to the Forbes billionaires list and added one new billionaire, Ioan Niculae, who has interests in agriculture.

Indeed it was a good year for agriculture – the world’s rising population needs to be fed. Andrej Babis joined the Forbes list as a new billionaire from the Czech Republic; his Agrofert agricultural holding company keeps growing and may be looking at European expansion plans. Along the same theme, two new Russian billionaires, Andrei Guriev, and Anatoly Lomakin, made their fortune in fertilizers; and fellow Russians Pyotr Kondrashev and Vyacheslav Kantor return to the billionaires list based on their interests in the fertilizer business.

International Women’s Day

By admin

On Mar 08 2010

In Reflections

Last week, I read an op-ed in the New York Times promoting a gender-neutral Oscar – author Kim Elsesser noted there is no need for segregating awards between men and women and that women should be treated as full equals. Though I agree with the latter statement, we live in a world of gender inequality. Look at the provocative cover of the Economist this week: “Gendercide:What happened to 100 million baby girls?” It goes over what has been in the news before – China’s one-baby per family policy encourages families to use ultrasounds to determine a baby’s sex and abort females, now there is a disproportionate male-female ratio in the country. Same for places in India and South Korea. The lead anecdote from rural China about a midwife throwing a girl baby in a slop-pile to die broke my heart.

So for me International Women’s Day is important. It is ironic that International Women’s Day is actually a national holiday in China. That’s based on the day’s roots in a socialist solidarity movement for women. The long history of promoting women’s rights needs to continue around the world.

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wunn have written a wonderful book, Half the Sky, which sets out a 21st century agenda for the women around the world. Check out the section on How to Get Involved.

In a world where women hold up half the sky, and make up 40% of the worforce, so much more needs to be done to achieve equality. Catalyst, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting women in business, recently published, Pipeline’s Broken Promise, which looked at thousands of women and men MBA alumni in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and determined that even after taking into account experience, industry, and region, women start at lower levels than men, make on average $4,600 less in their initial jobs, and continue to be outpaced by men in rank and salary growth. Men are twice as likely as women to hold CEO or senior executive positions and less likely to be at lower levels, where women are overrepresented.

I know I need to do more so that my daughter has a better future. To International Women’s Day!

Anne Rice and New Media

By admin

On Mar 04 2010

In Reflections

I love paper. I love the feel of the New York Times in the morning as it crackles in my hands; I love to sit with a book under the blanket my grandmother knit for me; and I love stationary, Kate’s Paperie is my dream store.

But I was intrigued by a new concept and a new media company, Vook, that may change how I read. Will you “vook” one day like you google? Maybe. The company launched last October; their concept – produce a digital book type that combines video, links to the internet and text into one application.

The only reason I even looked at Vook is because one of my favorite fiction authors, Anne Rice, has decided to “vook”. I have an entire shelf filled with Rice’s work – The Witching Hour is my favorite. She recently launched a multimedia edition of “The Master of Rampling Gate,” a previously published vampire story set in an England mansion in the 19th century. I checked it out – Vook is having a promo for the piece at 99 cents (don’t know how they are making money) – and I found it interesting. Though I still don’t like reading online (nope, don’t have a Kindle), I liked the videos attached to the story. The internet links were a little bit too obvious I thought and didn’t add much. But I loved seeing Anne Rice talk about her work and the story. I have never had the chance to see her at a reading, it but was a close second. (though going to her store in New Orleans when it existed was awesome). And she is definitely a fun woman to celebrate this month.

To vook or not to vook – that is the question.

March 3rd is World Read Aloud Day

By admin

On Mar 03 2010

In giving

One of my favorite things to do is curl up with a few books my daughter has selected from her treasure trove and read before bedtime. So I was excited when I ran across World Read Aloud Day by chance. Because I believe in the power of reading to shape minds, I wanted to encourage everyone to support it by doing and by helping others who lack to resources to do it. Here in the U.S. my friend Lisa Moran pointed out in Parenting’s “The Early Literacy Crisis” many children do not have access to books, and parents don’t have the time to read aloud. There are many things we can do to fix this problem from donating gently used books to charities to encouraging local retailers to sponsor story-times. LitWorld is one organization trying to help. And because this is Women’s Month at Global Markets and Ideas – I want to give a shout out to their program for helping women leaders support girls in literacy and self-expression.