For Women’s Day

Today, and this whole month, we celebrate women. Basadi. In that spirit, I thought I would whip up this blog with women-related things that have come into my space recently.

This blog is not just for women. If you would like to celebrate women and learn more about interesting women in our world, read on.

A quote

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.” – Unknown.

Nuff said.

Encyclopaedia Womannica

In my newfound love for podcasts I came across this unique podcast by two sisters in the U.S. Their goal is to share a podcast every weekday for a year about ground-breaking women throughout history who have shaped the world around us. Writers, astronauts, monarchs, and more are all included. Jenny Kaplan is an award-winning journalist and the co-founder and CEO of Wonder Media Network. I love that the podcasts focus on celebrating women throughout history and they are put together into 5-minute (or less) podcasts. The information is packaged into easy-to-digest chunks and the podcasts do not take too much time to listen to.

The women are profiled according to themes including pioneers, dreamers, villainesses, and creators. My favourite theme so far is “Dreamers” which profiles icons such as Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, and Sofonisba Anguissola (who I didn’t know about until I heard the podcast).

The pioneers category was really informative and taught me lots about women I knew about, like Queen Victoria, and women I didn’t know about, like Ethel Payne who is often referred to as the “First Lady of the Black Press”.

P.s. it’s an American podcast so it’s spelt “Encyclopedia” if you’re looking for the podcast. Or if you have five minutes (literally!) you can choose one and listen to it here.

A TED Talk by the Scottish Prime Minister (who is a woman)

We love TED Talks at CN&CO and I’ve recently gotten into TED Talk podcasts so it’s no surprise that I was listening to one. The topic interested me but the speaker really captured me. The talk is about wellness and why governments should prioritise the well-being of their nations.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (of Scotland) shares how her government is prioritising well-being. This includes sharing how it has partnered with Iceland and New Zealand in making the well-being of citizens a global priority. She highlights that what countries choose to measure drives a number of things including political focus and public activity. Governments often profile their GDP as the best measurement of a country’s success when, in fact, GDP is limited because it does not measure other important factors. “It measures the output of all of our work but it says nothing about the nature of that work…about whether that work is worthwhile or fulfilling.”

She continues: “It values activity, in the short-term, that boosts the economy even if that activity is hugely damaging to the sustainability of our planet in the longer term.”

She points out that the three nations leading this diversification of governmental objectives and research (from just GDP) are all led by women. Something important to point out to anyone who thinks women should not be in politics or in the workforce. This point is met by resounding applause from the audience – and many snaps and shouts of “Yaaas queen!” from me.

Listen to it or watch it.

Happy Women’s Day, South Africa!