Orla: International Women's Day around the world

US congresswomen have walked out of work, joining women around the world who are going on strike as part of International Women's Day.
The move by House Democrats is part of a "Day Without a Woman" strike, designed to highlight how crucial women are to the US national workforce.
"I think it's important women in Congress show our solidarity," said Congresswoman Lois Frankel.
Schools in some districts were forced to close after staff walked out.

International Women's Day has grown from a labour movement with its roots in a 1908 protest to a UN-recognised annual event.

Protests of various kind took place around the world. In Ireland, women across the country went on strike and wore black to protest against the country's restrictive abortion laws.
Solidarity protests were held in London, Amsterdam and elsewhere to call for Irish laws to be changed.
Women in Poland staged rallies and marches to demand protection against violence, equal rights and respect. They were joined by actress Jessica Chastain, who was in the city for a screening of her latest film.

In Germany, airline Lufthansa said six all-female crews would be flying in support of the day. Just 6% of pilots in the airline's parent company Lufthansa are women.

Sweden's women's football team replaced the names on the back of their jersey's with tweets from Swedish women "who have struggled to gain ground in their respective field".


In the US, thousands of women were expected to not work or spend money, to demonstrate their economic strength and impact on society.
"We provide all this value and keep the system going and receive unequal benefits from it," said Cassady Findlay, a spokeswoman for the organisers behind the idea.
US women are paid just four-fifths of their male counterparts' wages.

The "Day Without a Woman" is being organised by the group behind the Women's March in January, when millions across the US gathered to protest the day after Donald Trump's inauguration.
International Women's Day rallies are planned in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Washington and Berkeley, California, with some employers giving women time off to attend.
Mr Trump tweeted on Wednesday to say he had "tremendous respect for women", but the president has been accused of sexism and forced to deny a series of claims of sexual assault.
The White House said that none of its female staff members had taken part in the strike. Spokesman Sean Spicer said everyone had "shown up" and was working hard to advance President Trump's agenda.

Elsewhere, Iceland's government said that it would begin to make employers prove they offer equal pay regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality, becoming the first country to do so.
And in Finland, the country announced a a $160,000 (€150,000) International Gender Equality Prize to be given to "a dedicated defender and builder of equality".

Hundreds of women in the tiny state of Montenegro protested against cuts in state aid for mothers of three or more children, and in Romania dozens of women lay on the ground and read out the names of women killed by their partners to highlight domestic violence.

Katharine C: International Women's Day, March 8 2017

International Women's Day 2017: Five things you need to know about this year's celebration.

The day was born out of a famous strike:

International Women's Day evolved from the union movement

Wednesday 8 March is International Women's Day, an event held around the world to commemorate the struggle for women's rights.
Here are five facts about the day:
1. Originally called International Working Women’s Day, it was first celebrated on February 28, 1909, in New York in remembrance of a 1908 strike of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union when 15,000 workers, including many immigrants, marched through the city's lower east side to demand social and political rights.
2. The first modern International Women’s Day was held in 1914, five years after its inception, on March 8. The day was chosen because it was a Sunday, which the majority of women would have off work allowing them to participate in marches and other events, and has been celebrated on that date ever since.

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All you need to know about International Women's Day 2016

3. The day was declared a national holiday in the Soviet Union in 1917, and was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted by the UN in 1977. Since 1996, the UN has assigned a theme to every IWD. This year’s theme is “Be bold for change”.

4. According to the UN, it is “a day when women are recognised for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.”

5.  The day is now an official holiday in several countries including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam and Zambia and for women only in countries including China, Madagascar and Nepal.

Cerese: Coffee Chat in February

Any time of the day is a good time for AWG - LR members to gather together and enjoy fellowship! Here we have some of a number of our morning Coffee Chat attendees this year.

Pictured from left to right are: Susan Rey, Appoline L, mom Linda, Katharine C and Cerese.
You may take guesses at who our devoted photographer and a bit camera shy member  might be...

Cerese: Afternoon Tea at the Clubhouse

On January 26th, a few of our members inaugurated a new AWG-LR activity, "Afternoon Tea at the Clubhouse". A few goodies were shared thanks to the Afternoon Tea's activity chair, Genette,  and our ever-talented Anne S. Anne's homemade rendition of "financiers á la griotte" get a very special mentions... Here standing by the window, we see Anne conversing with Dalene. Susan Rey is in the foreground chatting with Barbara.


 


AWG Afternoon Teas are great opportunities to share what we like to do; little and big projects and passions such as Genette's fine handcrafted quilts and Mariannick's marvelous patch worked baby's coat!  


 Here we see new member Barbara and Susan Rey.
 

Through the doorway, Dalene is seen in the corridor showing Mariannick's fine patchwork to a neighbor on what is literally "International Row".

In the Jacques d'Aragon Building complex where our Clubhouse is comfortably located, the ambience is quite international (Other clubs on the  same floor originate from China, Brazil,  Germany and of course, our friends from the British Cultural Association with whom we share an office space) in the foreground Susan and Barbara are sharing notes on expat life.

Barbara and Susan with Dalene in the new clubhouse

 In the picture above are the shelves of AWG's lending library (many of the books have been discussed at AWG's Book Group), as well as books for sale (proceeds as always go to FAWCO).

Come and join us every month for Afternoon Tea at AWG's fabulous new Clubhouse.  

Katharine C: Cook&Eat on Valentine's Day

A group of us - Orla, Anne, Jan, Katharine C - convened at Denise's for our February Cook&Eat session.  Our menu was:  Beet Wellington (yes, sliced yellow and red beets, wrapped in a leek and crushed walnut cover (rather than being wrapped in the traditional duxelles mushroom covering) and wrapped in puff pastry.  It was delicious. 

Beet Wellington

The cooked Beet Wellington

Denise, Jan, Anne and Orla

Katharine, Jan, Denise, Anne, and Orla (seated)

The Beet Wellington was accompanied by an avocado salad and cresson

Our delicious Valentine's Day dessert

Our dessert was created by Orla - a rose biscuit base, then a layer of whipped cream and
blended lychees, then a layer of raspberry gelee using agar-agar (rather than gelatin) topped with
fresh raspberries.  Orla brought some pink champagne for lunch and we had a very convivial
time.

Many thanks to Denise (and her husband Gerard and her two sons) for allowing us to take over the kitchen and dining room for the morning. 

Katharine: letters to our President

 Editor:  I know that President Obama is no longer our President, and I need to get over it, (haven't yet)  but this lengthy piece in the NY Times documents the letters sent to him during his tenure in the White House, each one of which was read by a team of staffers, and 10 letters each day were prepared for him to read unedited.   They were varied - poignant, hurting, volatile - you name it, they were there.  But the President insisted on this - he wanted to know what the American people were thinking - and when he could do something, he did.
You can either copy/paste it or click on the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/magazine/what-americans-wrote-to-obama.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Over eight years, through millions of letters, the staff of the White House mail room read the unfiltered story of a nation.

          Letter from grieving parents and the President's response:

Asked and Answered: The Promise “Never to Forget”

January 21, 2009
Dear President Obama,
My name is Thomas J. Meehan III, father of Colleen Ann Meehan Barkow, age 26, who perished on September 11 2001 at the WTC. Colleen was an employee of Cantor-Fitzgerald working on the 103rd Floor. Her upper torso was found September 17th, 2001, the date of her first wedding anniversary. In the days and months afterwards there were to be additional discoveries of her, a total of six, which still did not amount to a whole body, but was more than what some other families affected have been given back, Families still speak in terms of body parts found and not found, and what will never be found.
In the past seven years, my wife and I have been committed to the issue of the ashen remains of those lost that day, which have been interred (bulldozed) into the 40 acres of land known as the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, New York. For the one thousand families who did not receive any remains, this is the final resting place, an un-holy, un-consecrated landfill. The live lost are there with garbage beneath them and construction fill above them, an unbefitting resting place for those we called heroes and took an oath never to forget.
While this issue has been before the courts, and remains may in fact be permanently interred at the landfill, parents, spouses, siblings, extended family members must live with the knowledge that their loved ones lie in what was the world’s largest dump. How we as a society will be judged in the treatment of those lost, only history will record.
My wife and I mourn the continued loss of Americans in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan while we still await the apprehension and trial of those we hold responsible for the death of our daughter and almost 3000 other American and international citizens.
While we understand the reasons for closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, we urge you to allow the trials of those defendants charged in connection with the attacks of September 11, 2001, to go forward and complete the judicial process and give some small measure of justice to all of the 9/11 family members, while we still await the capture of Osama Bin Laden.
Our lives have been forever changed by the events of September 11, 2001, and yet life goes on, we now have two granddaughters, Brett Colleen, age four and Ryann Elizabeth, age two, we hope that their lives will be in a better world that the one which claimed their aunt. And they will have the opportunities to live their lives to the fullest and live in a safer world, free of the threat of terrorism.
I share these facts with you so that you will understand why these issues mean so much to us, and ask that you not forget the promise “Never to Forget”, and will bring to justice those responsible for September 11, 2001.
God Bless You and You’re Family,
May the Peace of the Lord Be Upon You and Remain With You,​
Respectfully,
Thomas J. Meehan III & JoAnn Meehan
Toms River, New Jersey
The President’s Response

Dear Tom & JoAnn —
I am in receipt of your letter, and wanted to respond personally. Your story is heartbreaking, and we will do everything we can to ensure that the process of bringing all of those involved in 9/11 is completed.
In the meantime, know that we will never forget Colleen, and that I spend every waking hour in search of ways to make the future brighter for your granddaughters and my daughters.
God Bless,
Barack Obama 

Katharine C: inaugural meeting of AWG's MOOC

Over the last 18 months, Mireille has been inspired to undertake online learning courses - one on
Six Sigma methodology, a data-driven methodology for business/manufacturing process improvement,  from the University of Sligo in Ireland, and one on bio-ethics from Harvard University.  Mireille shared her journey with the group of us - Orla, Mary-Catherine, Cathy, Genette, Mariannick and Katharine C, and how this experience has opened up a new world of potential lifelong learning through free online courses - MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).

The group had assembled to discuss how members of AWG can become MOOCers - the idea being that individually we choose an online course (from the thousands available - most of them free, although some courses apply an administration fee for a certificate of completion,  which is optional 
(one of Harvard's course fee certificates, for example,  is $88).

l to r:  Katharine, Mariannick, Mireille, Orla, Cathy, Mary-Catherine

The group met in AWG's light and airy office, and it was agreed that the group will meet there monthly on saturday mornings from 10 through noon, to share their experiences of individual online courses (MOOCs) in order to encourage one another,  to discuss curricula offered, to examine the pros/cons of the courses (which normally run for 8 weeks each), and to keep one another motivated in our individual course choices.  (A bit like Weight Watchers, except I expect we'll skip the weighing-in).  Course choices are enormous and vary from the practical (e.g. digital photography), to the career-enhancing (law, global health, business), to liberal arts (the art of photographic advertising or modern American poetry) to the artistic (quilt-making).

For more information on this exciting new AWG program, contact any of the group above.  We are grateful to Mireille for introducing this idea to AWG - but Mireille pointed out that she is one of the group, she's not the leader and we won't be taking a top-down approach on this from her - we are
collectively going to make this a fruitful endeavour for all those participating, and we encourage many members of AWG to join in.