Global Female Leaders at AWDF's first book club meeting

On the 18th of June, AWDF held its very first book club meeting for staff. This was an informal gathering of staff whom convened to discuss the topic of women global leaders. Each woman shared their stories from books they individually read which related to the topic of global female leaders. I enjoyed listening to the accounts of each woman’s stories. I myself do not have such a vast collection of African female authors, so after today’s meeting, I became more inspired to seek such authors and genre’s of books. I personally believe that having this sort of informal meeting is a really good way to have a forum where women can not only learn about the contributions and effects of other women, but engage discussion on issues African women face.

One recommendation I would have in order to promote a dialogue that brings into conversation the international shared struggle amongst women would be to incorporate the stories of women across the different continents. Often I’ve observed that within the women’s movement there are so many varying efforts to unite one certain group of women’s causes and then another’s. These efforts are very disconnected in the sense that women are not united so not all women are listening to the other group of women’s distresses or issues which need attention. As a result, I would provide the recommendation of looking into other women authors from around the world who speak of their respective struggles in order to generate a different approach towards issues talked about when discussing women’s rights and how to attain what the women’s rights movement is established to attain. I like the atmosphere of meetings like these and I look forward to more.

I had a few couple of favorites amongst the titles discussed. I am expecially keen on reading “Heart of Fire”, Unbowed”, “Left to tell”, “Aman story of a Somalian girl”, “The Struggle of Winnie Mandela” and many more! Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the meeting comprised of women under 25 who met this week to discuss the millennium goals but I will try to make it to the next meeting.

Hawwa Muhammad
Political Science, Rutgers University '09
AWDF intern