February is Black History Month
“Mobile phone technology can help to
bring financial services to the 80% of
African women who do not have a bank
account and bolster the growth of the
world’s poorest continent. It’s not just
about empowering women, it’s about
economic growth. Unless we can make
access to finance easier for women in
their businesses, we will be missing out
on a significant portion of growth
within our economies.”
–Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
first woman and first African leader to
head the World Trade Organization
________________
WOW2 is a four-times-a-month sister blog to This Week in the War on Women.
“The time when you need to do
something is when no one else
is willing to do it, when people
are saying it can’t be done.”
–Mary Frances Berry,
American historian, and
civil rights activist________________
“In all his imaginings, he had never
envisioned her crying. He knew that
her son had died, but he’d never
expected that her pain might be
anything he could recognize, almost
as though he believed that Negroes
had their own special kind of
grieving ritual, another language,
something other than tears they
used to express their sadness.”
–Bebe Moore Campbell, from
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine________________
The purpose of WOW2 is to learn about and honor women of achievement, including many who’ve been ignored or marginalized in most of the history books.
These trailblazers have a lot to teach us about persistence in the face of overwhelming odds. I hope you will find reclaiming our past as much of an inspiration as I do.
WOW2 began as a once-a-month post, then as more and more trailblazing women were added to the lists, it expanded until it became a four-times-a-month post. The lists became so long that I’m switching to posting only a selection of these amazing trailblazers — for those who want to see the glorious and much more complete list of outstanding women for this week, click:
THIS WEEK IN THE WAR ON WOMEN
just posted, so be sure to go there next, and catch
up on the latest dispatches from the frontlines: