Today is International Women's Day! There are thousands of organizations and women celebrating today. Personally, I'm going to my bellydance class to honor my femininity with some shimmies and bellyrolls (that's me, below on the left, in my last bellydance performance!). What are you doing to celebrate? 

The Peace Corps and the White House announced earlier this week that it will double the number of countries participating in the Let Girls Learn Program. Let Girls Learn aims to provide greater access to secondary education for girls all over the world. There are a plethora of reasons why girls don't receive a high school level education:
Many secondary schools are more expensive and parents choose to pay to educate sons rather than daughters
Students have to walk long distances, sometimes in unsafe places to get to school
Girls are shamed out of school for having their periods
Gender bias
The list goes on. The Peace Corps and their Volunteers are trying to solve these problems one by one, working with community leaders to identify ways to make school more accessible and empowering for girls. Now, they're going to work in 35 countries this year. 

Support the Peace Corps and their outstanding efforts to educate and empower girls all over the globe!

I confess, I don't watch much TV. I have a few go-to shows that my husband and I watch to wind down after a long week. However, TV does shape and reflect our popular culture. According to this article on Takepart.com it was a banner year for women in TV. African American and Black women are finally getting some of the juicy roles they deserve, more older women are on the small screen, and portrayals of women having an abortion (and humanizing that choice) were even featured in some shows. I take this as a sign that we truly are progressing on women's rights and equal treatment. We've got a long way to go, but it's a start!

Well, Japan may be behind the times, but between the U.S. and Singapore, Singapore might be winning when it comes to cultivating female leadership. Over 24% of their Parliament leaders are women. 

Come one, come all! Glad someone is addressing the lack of women leaders in the tech industry. 

I'm quite fond of the new female leads that are sweeping across the silver screen and TV. Detective Beckett in Castle is pretty badass. I'm a fan of Emma in Once, who's so good she's gone bad. And now, women are elbowing their way into the superhero role. Could we be entering a new era of female empowerment for Hollywood? I sure hope so!

Well, it looks like the presenters and hosts are! The Iowa Women Lead Change organization is gearing up for the conference and defining its themes. It will be in February, and registration is open. 

This is great first step for Pakistan. Let's hope they have a whole lot more of these!

This popped up on Facebook. Couldn't resist sharing with you all! The Collision 2016 has made a commitment to let 10,000 women attend free. What a great idea!

Chief Justice Sereno form the Philippines is right. Women shouldn't regret time with their family. They also shouldn't have to forsake time with their family for their career. As a matter of fact, men shouldn't either. Here's hoping the new millennial generation brings a little bit more work/life balance into the corporate mindset, especially here in the U.S. People should live filling and productive lives, without having to sacrifice their family time.