Women: Checklists

Ask a woman from another country about her life. Share your own life story with her.

Become friends with a teacher, professional, or mentor who can help you find new opportunities.

Go to the library and ask the librarian to help you find a book about women’s issues.

Find out the rank of women in politics at the Center for Gender Studies:

• http://gstudies.asp.radford.edu/sources/wage_gaps/countries/global%20gender%20gap%20rankings.htm

Google Search: “find jobs for women.” Search any of the organizations listed on the page that appears. Other excellent sites include:

• Career Women — http://www.careerwomen.com/
• Women For Hire — http://www.womenforhire.com/

Google Search: “free classes” to take a free online education class. Other sites include:

• Free Online Courses — http://www.docnmail.com/
• Free-Ed.net — http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdMain01.asp
• MIT OpenCourseWare — http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Learn how to do well on a job interview at:

• About.com — http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/interviews/a/jobinterviewtip.htm
• Coachville — http://topten.org/content/tt.AB8.htm

Google Search: “child care help” and “name of your country” to find help with child care while you are working. Other sites include:

• Sure Start in the United Kingdom — http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/support/helpwithchildcarecosts/
• Child Care Bureau in the United States — http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/parents/

For help on an abusive situation, visit the International Directory of Domestic Violence Agencies — http://www.hotpeachpages.net/ — and search for “free health services for women.”

Contra Costa Health Services provides information on how to get free pap smears, birth control, and other services for women at:

• http://www.cchealth.org/services/womens_health/health_in_ccc.php

Search “take action for women” for action that you and other can take for women all over the world. Other sites include:

• Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org/student-center/take-action-at-your-high-school/take-action-for-womens-human-rights/page.do?id=1041107)
• CARE — http://www.care.org/

Explore your own views on women and write them down. Are women equal to men? Why or why not? Discuss your answers with a mentor or a friend.

Raise your children to respect and value women.

Join a social network for women, such as:

• iVillage — http://www.ivillage.com/
• CaféMom — http://www.cafemom.com/

Visit another country and learn how the women there are treated.

Work to make equality happen. Attend a meeting. Write a letter to a leader. Search for groups in your area that are already empowering women.

Put yourself in another woman’s shoes for a day. Try wearing clothes from head-to-toe to simulate wearing the burqa, or imagine what it might be like not to own property.

Support the International Violence Against Women Act at:

• http://www.womensedge.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=366&Itemid=121

Do an Internet search or check out a book from the library on “inspiring women.”

With Women Worldwide: A Compact to End HIV / AIDS is a compact on the International Women’s Health Coalition site, where you can learn more about the effect of HIV / AIDS on women and sign a compact to combat this issue at:

• http://www.iwhc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3321&Itemid=581

Google Search any of the issues or terms listed throughout this section that you would like to learn more about such as microfinance, matriarchies, etc.

Refuse to be a second-class citizen. Speak up, stand strong, and know in your heart that you are never second to a man just because of your gender!