(Male) Elders to the Rescue (Spare Us)
Darned good idea, only one extremely fatal flaw–There is only one woman on this panel!!! Earth to self-appointed elders, if you do not include the wisdom of women, do not waste your time, this ain’t gonna work.
“JOHANNESBURG — The Elders, a new alliance made up of an elite group of senior statesmen dedicated to solving thorny global problems, unveiled itself today in Johannesburg.The rollout coincided with founding member Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday.After a grand entrance, Mandela, the former South African president, announced the rest of the Elders.
The members include Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop emeritus of Capetown; former U.S. President Jimmy Carter; former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and Mohammed Yunus, the Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Bank in Bangladesh.
The group plans to get involved in some of the world’s most pressing problems — climate change, pandemics like AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, violent conflicts.”
ps–If you don’t get that misogyny in all its awful forms should be on that list of pressing problems then again, this is a pointless effort. And having just spent 5 days in the company of 1000 peacemaking women, 3 of whom were Nobel Peace Prize women, let me assure you that there are more than enough qualified women to choose from. However if you insist on being an “elite group of elder statesman” you effectively close the door to those very qualified women since the position of head of state in this world is chosen in a patriarchal power structure that routinely and systemicallly excludes women.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Commentary
You didn’t actually check this out did you? There’s four women - Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundt, Graca Machel and Mary Robinson.
Very lazy.
In regards to your comment about the the elder statesmen, where did you get this information, I can’t find it. I posted what was in the original article. If there are more women involved that is great, what percentage of the total participants are they? I thought it was telling that Nobel Prize winners like Wangari Maathai, Jody Williams, etc. were not mentioned. Are they a part of this work, if not, why not?
I did not appreciate your suggestion that this blog is lazy. It is the work of one woman very overworked woman who receives no compensation for her work. What was lazy is that you provided no link to the information that you provided, it would have been most helpful.