A woman full of principles

I have a new hero! Tehmina Durrani.
The woman who took care of Fakhra Yunas, the Pakistani victim of an acid attack. Fakhra committed suicide a couple days ago. But Durrani arranged to take her abroad, capturing media attention for acid attacks in Pakistan.
Her own life story is amazing too. She grew up in a wealthy family, but after being used in her own marriage, she wrote about it, and questioned women's issues in Pakistan. Not by publishing her own book, but by funding an NGO for protection and care for other women in Pakistan. She distanced herself from everything to get rid of the manipulative patriarchal society, even signing for distance from her kids, to be able to do her work...

A woman full of principles...

Normally I don't post pictures on my blog but look at this beautiful picture of two women, how they support each other, probably knowing that it could have been either of them. It can happen to any of us. Maybe not the acid attacks, but all sorts of violence against women. It makes me hate societies in which these things happen. And I just can't understand how people, men or women, can sleep while this is happening.
Here is the link to Tehmina's full biography, I insist you read it.

Vyjanthi and the princess of Oman

Yesterday, the whole world celebrated International Women's Day. It sounds rather ridiculous to celebrate a day especially for women but as long as it's necessary we will do that. According to a survey of the Virginia Commonwealth University it will take 580 years before there is gender equality in top managerial positions. Yes, we have a long way to go... Not in executive and leading positions but in almost every level.

Yesterday, I watched a very sad documentary 'No country for young girls?' about a young Indian woman who has to choose - stay with a husband who doesn't want female children, or make it on her own?

Twenty-seven year old Vyjanthi, already mother to one 3-year old girl, was forced by her husband and in-laws to have a scan to determine the sex of the foetus, when she became pregnant again. Told she was carrying a girl, they tried to pressure her to have an abortion, and after a major argument she fled to her parents' home. But she felt bad, went back to her husband, got pregnant again, and the same thing happened all over again.

Now she's living with her parents, with two young daughters - and undecided whether she can make it on her own, or will have to go back to her husband again. Sex-selective abortion is illegal in India, but so widespread that there are many more boys than girls, especially in India's more prosperous states. Vyjanthi wants to know if things are really as bad for girls in the rest of India as in her own neighborhood. Isn't India now one of the world's booming economies, thanks to its embrace of globalization?

Life takes Vyjanthi on a journey through India, and films as she makes a disturbing discovery. Just because a country's becoming richer, doesn't actually mean life's going to be better for most people. In fact the status of women in India is falling behind that of women in many other countries, even in South Asia, and the newly prosperous middle class are particularly likely to abort female foetuses.

Will Vyjanthi decide that India can offer her and her daughters a fair and prosperous future on their own? Or will she decide that India is no country for young girls, and go back to her husband?

Heartbreaking documentary, but very inspiring to see that women are 'searching' for what they want for themselves. Vyjanti was my hero.

Vyjanthi's journey ended in Bangalore, the place where I have met another, of a very different level, woman a couple of years ago, the Omani princess Susan al Said. She is an empowering woman who fights for women's rights in Oman. American by birth, Omanese and muslim by marriage, she also owns a galery in Muscat. We had a nice and long chat after her speech at this woman's conference in Bangalore. She was very curious about my magazine and took with her three copies of SEN, folded in a veil, because it contented 'obscene' images (according to Omanese Arab standards). She said it could take decades before something like SEN could be possible in her country; if ever possible.

Vyjanthi and princess Susan, both so different women with a totally different background, and yet so close to each other, both trying to balance out stereotypes. That's so inspiring! I wish everybody a happy International Women's Day!

Arianna Huffington

I realized how encouraged I was the moment I heard the news about AOL merging with the Huffington Post. If there is one woman who inspires me at this moment, then it’s Huffpost’s founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington.

She is a fascinating woman. As the author of the book ‘On Becoming Fearless ... in Love, Work and Life.’ she already has illustrated multiple times to be fearless. The first time was when she left Athens, Greece, where she was born, to go to England in order to study at the Cambridge University. Many people want to study internationally, but let’s face it, there are still far too few women who take up that challenge.

The second time she was fearless was when she left her then-boyfriend, the famous Times-journalist, Bernard Levin. She broke off the relationship and moved to the United States, because of Levin's refusal to get married. I feel pretty certain that Arianna NOW thinks it was probably the best thing she did back then by leaving him, but we women know how difficult it is to end a relationship, and certainly with someone you say was the love of your life.

The third time she showed her fearless power- no, that was not the time when she married a millionaire- was when she found Huffington Post and made it the most successful blogging-site in the world, and became a millionaire herself. Maybe the men in her life partially contributed to her success, - of course everything and everybody in her life probably influenced her decisions on some levels - but it always makes me happy when women rise up, and show leadership by really changing the concept of the news industry. My fascination is more as I also created a different model in the media: a magazine for Mediterranean women.

As Forbes ranked Arianna one of the 12th most influential women in the media, she is a role model for we women journalists, and for women in general, to be fearless and really go for our dreams. She has defined how she can be a leader, and not be let a man or a past career move keep her from reaching her goals. It is inspiring to read stories about women who not only SAY what they want to do, but to act and actually DO those dreams.

I remember her saying in one of the interviews about her book - on how you become your own leader - by looking in the mirror, and you should stop searching for the knight on the white horse who is going to “save” you; And she is right, that only results in your being disappointed again and again.

Her life is the best example for the power of a woman. She divorced from a wealthy man (after he made it clear that he was more attracted to his own sex), she became an influential and wealthy woman in her own right. Her looks and name may mislead you, with her sexy business suits, blond hair and “enhanced” face; she looks like a typical American businesswoman. But then you discover she is not American at all, but conquered America, she becomes a role model for every one of us in the world.

I hope the story of Arianna will inspire more women to pursue their goals, and to become their own leaders.