- By Kamla Bhasin
India

A father asks his daughter:
Study? Why should you study?
I have sons aplenty who can study.
Girl, why should you study?
The daughter tells her father:
Since you ask, here’s why I must study.
Because I am a girl, I must study.
Long denied this right, I must study
For my dreams to take flight, I must study
Knowledge brings new light, so I must study
For the battles I must fight, I must study
Because I am a girl, I must study.
To avoid destitution, I must study
To win independence, I must study
To fight frustration, I must …

For those of us who are Christians, this week brings bitter death and glorious resurrection. For Good Friday and for Trayvon
Martin I offer Sweet Honey in the Rock’s timeless anthem “The Women Gather.” Be sure to watch it all the way through.

Still on the dark side, news that US Marines are building a nest for our killer drones in Australia and Fukushima radiation is moving across the Pacific.
My mood lifts toward light and sanity when I read this comment from Waging Nonviolence: “Resisting All Armies, Not Just Kony’s.”
As more evidence that …

-By Kim Weichel
CEO
I just returned from an inspiring trip to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. We participated in the Women as Global Leaders Conference at Zayed University with women from throughout the region who spoke passionately about advancing the role of women in leadership. We met Emirati students, business and professional women, professors, and media personalities. After the conference we met with women in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha (home of the Education City), including a number of Qatari college students at Qatar University.
What struck me at the conference …

- by Mary Liepold
  Editor in Chief
After graduating from secondary school, working for several international organizations, and earning a reputation as a poet and media personality in her native Afghanistan, Alaha Ahrar won a scholarship to Virginia’s Mary Washington University in 2008. People in Afghanistan who are opposed to the education of women sent emails to the program to stop her from coming to the US  to study. Alaha gathered her courage and came nonetheless. She started classes and made the adjustment to a new culture while fearing for the safety …