Who empowers women? “Themselves,” according to Gloria Steinem, and who’s going to argue with her?

14. 04. 09

This year marks the 5th anniversary of the DVF Awards. The DVF Awards were created in 2010 by Diane von Furstenberg and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to honor and support extraordinary women who have had the courage to fight, the power to survive and the leadership to inspire. Women who have transformed the lives of others through their commitment, resources and visibility.

GLORIA STEINEM

Ms. Foundation for Women

forwomen.org

“There is no bigger gift than doing the work we love. I was given this gift by everything from witnessing grassroots activism in India to the example of wise women like Bella Abzug, Alice Walker, Wilma Mankiller – and many more. They taught me that people are linked – not ranked – and that transformation must be made from the bottom up. It’s a simple message that saved my life. It now makes my life by passing it on.”

ALICIA KEYS

Keep a Child Alive

keepachildalive.org

Alicia Keys is a 15-time Grammy® Award winning singer/songwriter/producer, an accomplished actress, a New York Times best-selling author, an entrepreneur and a powerful force in the world of philanthropy and in the global fight against HIV and AIDS.

VERONIKA SCOTT

The Empowerment Plan

empowermentplan.org

"Growing up with addicts for parents, everyone treated me as if I was just an extension of them. I spent my childhood trying to prove to people that I had value and that I was worth investing in. Every woman we hire at The Empowerment Plan has experienced so much in her life and yearns for the chance to be given a clean slate and to have someone see them for the amazing, talented, and valuable person that they are."

KAH WALLA

“As women – and I think as African women – we are a significant part of these economies. And if this economy wants to grow – if this country wants to grow – then it’s a good idea that we sit at a table and that we start talking to each other and seeing what’s best on both sides.”

LIRON PELEG - HADOMI & NOHA KHATIEB

“You have to be optimistic that peace can be possible because otherwise you cannot continue living your life. There are difficult times. But I don't see myself living in Israel and not working to bring together communities and trying to make an impact.” – Liron Peleg-Hadomi

“This is how change starts. I believe in the small steps. These drops will eventually bring the big rain. And it will come.” – Noha Khatieb

The DVF Awards, supported by The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, are given annually to provide recipients with the exposure and resources necessary to extend their efforts on behalf of women all over the world. The DVF Awards were conceived by Diane von Furstenberg in 2010 with the goal of honoring women who have displayed leadership, strength, and courage in their commitment to their causes. Every year, each Honoree receives a $50,000 grant from the Foundation to further their work. The inaugural DVF Awards were presented on March 13, 2020 at a ceremony hosted by Diane von Fürstenberg and Tina Brown at the United Nations on the closing night of The Daily Beast’s Women in the World Summ it. Each year, two DVF Awards are given to women within The Vital Voices Global Partnership.In addition, the Inspiration Award is given to a woman who has demonstrated strength and courage in the face of adversity, and is using her experience and influence to effect positive change. The People’s Voice Award is also given annually to a woman chosen from a field of nominees selected by The DVF Awards Board of Advisors and voted on by the public at DVFAwards.com. The Lifetime Leadership Award honors an individual who has dedicated her life and body of work to instilling in other women the courage to fight, the power to survive and the leadership to inspire. Past recipients include Ingrid Betancourt,Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Robin Roberts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DVF_Awards

http://www.dvf.com/dvf-awards.html

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Why do you think more men are drawn to Bitcoin than women? Why is there a disconnect between females and Bitcoin?

That was the question I started to ask myself when I learned about bitcoin, why we are different than men in tech, why men still dominate STEM college majors and careers. Because this is the real issue. I think finally I found the answer- I assume it's not the matter of Bitcoin but information technology. Why there is such a great technological gap between men and women.... Stats are clear: 'women currently comprise 18% of computer science undergraduate majors'. In US. In EU, in IT sector work only 1.5% of women.

What are possible reasons? I did a small research.

Maybe we are just inherently stupid? Apparently not. It was proven by a lot of researches (even not ideologicaly motivated) that women are comparably intelligent to men. At least at an early stage of life. Later, men who are more often involved in activities requiring learning new things become a little more intelligent due to such training. However the difference is usually not more than 3%. This suggests, that despite lack of training and multiple factors potentialy negatively affecting women intellectual development, they are at least as intelligent as men.
The above gives us answer what is not responsible for handicapped position of women in more serious areas of human activity, but what is responsible?
I can pinpoint two factors.

Biology.

People often disregard biological differencies as just a matter of appearance and physiology. In fact we are shaped through our entire life by experiences. These experiences are different between men and women. And not just because we cannot easily urinate standing and men do not menstruate :) . There are more subtle, but ultimately more important for intellectual formation differences. Just to show a few: women visual perception is focused on colors and general image, while men more precisely perceive details and movement (this is due to different hormones inhibiting formation of respective neurones); there are differences in three dimensional orientation based on visual perception; there is measurable difference in sound perception between both sexes. There are lot more such cognitive differences that made up and affect our experience.