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It was about 9 a.m. when I arrived in the lobby of the hotel for the Global Women's Forum. Signs directed me to the ballroom where I registered for the Forum and was greeted by the hostess. As I pinned on my name tag, I was introduced to several other women who were standing there drinking coffee. I noticed that the flowers on the coffee table carried out a theme along with those on the registration desk and at the head of the seminar tables. The background music did not intrude as we talked and met new arrivals.
We finished our coffee and roll around 9:30 and moved to the tables set for the seminar. The area was elegant but simple with colorful programs and packets at each place. I began to anticipate an exciting day ahead as I leafed through my packet and saw the materials including pencil and paper.
When we adjourned for lunch, I was surprised to realize that three hours had passed. Our conversation in the adjoining room was lively as we discussed the talk and morning workshop. The table" were set for a light, leisurely lunch by waiters who worked quickly while we were out of the room. After lunch, while we freshened up, the room was cleared in preparation for the afternoon. Coffee and soft drinks appeared at midafternoon with as little interruption as the lunch preparation had been. Now that I think about it, the whole day was like that. All that we needed throughout the day was there at our fingertips so that we could participate fully in the Global Women's Forum.
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Our time is an extraordinary moment of history. This is a time between the memory of past images and the expectations of the future. Most people today, men as well as women, believe that the most profound historical happening of our time is the women's revolution. The scope of it is so far reaching that women in every nation and circumstance, no matter how unaware, are experiencing it' profound effect. m e sobering issue that faces the women's revolution is the same that lies at the root of all current world development. The tragedy is that 85% of the world's population live in an entirely different universe than the remaining 15% who control the health> education, technical knowhow, resources, monies, means of production, and the general essentials for the good life. This means that of the four billion people in the world, 3.4 billion are suffering severe deprivation. Some 1.7 billion of these in dire need are at the level of what is meant by the "poorest of the poor". Around 900,000,000 are female who live in the worst of all circumstances, perhaps the most abused humans on earth. Many women today are seeking a way to effectively bring depth awareness and practical methods for new possibilities to these millions of oppressed local women. The Global Women's Forum is aimed first at awakening participants to new images of what it means to be a wor~an in the postmoceln horld, and then at enabling effective engagement in their. own communities toward shaping the future of civilization.
The Global Women's Forum began with a research phase from 1965 to 1975. Then, in conjunction with the United Nations' International Decade for Women, the initiating phase began in the fall of 1975. The first program was held in Houston, Texas, with fortyfive women in attendance. From then until the end of 1976, the Forum was held in eight cities in the United States, seven in Europe, th~o in Southeast Asia, and three villages in the Marshall Islands. Based on the reception in these places, January to June, 1977, was chosen as a time to demonstrate to a larger population the effectiveness of this program. by June, 1977, sixtythree forums had been held in a total of fourteen rations. In 1977 alone, twelve of these forums were held in villages with 829 women attending and thirtyone were held in urban areas with 939 present, totaling 1,768 women. As the program is accelerated, the projection is that GWF will have influenced 1% of the two billion women in the world, or 20,000,000 urban and village women by 1985. "Action brings with it its own courage it's own energy a growth of self confidence that can be acquired in no other way Eleanor Roosevelt |
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BUDGET GUIDES
I Local Global Women's Forum Fi
'nancinR
The Global Women's Forum 1B a selfsupportlog program of the Instltute of Cultural Affaira, The courre La lutended for every woman regardlesa of her education or economic condltlon and ls offered in cities and villages around the world. The charge for each forum covers the ICA expenses lneurred ln coordlnatlng and marketlug the program, tralnlng consultants, conduetlng course research and evaluatlon, and provldlng materials and transportation. In order for the ICA to continue to offer this program around the world, the Global Women ts Forum must remain a selfsupporting program. Thls can be insured only if every local sponsor pays the ICA fee in full.
The total cost of holding a Global Women 'a Forum includes local expenses for program marketing and forum staging in addltlon to the ICA program charge. In calculating the local marketing costs, the local coordinator needs to be a~are that these coats include the expenses of scheduling the forum, locatlug sponsoring organlzatlona, galnlng local authorlzatlon, and publlclzlng the forum, l.e., all the actlvltlea assoelated with setting up a forum. Thus, you might have expenses for local travel, phone, postage, posters, paper, a presentation book etc. Forum staging includes the expenses of provldlng a faculty food and decor for the forum, and such lucldentals as name tags and masking tape. The local sponsors who incur these expenses can choore to keep them at a mlnlmum by ldentlfylng expenditures essentla' to holding a good forum and by lnklndlng large cost items.
7
June 22, 1977
Dear Xra. Cole,
I would like to take this time to tell you how pleased I was to attend the Global Homen's Forum held in Kobe last May. I enjoyed the day very much and benefited so much by discussing social issues with other women.
I hope you ~rill be having more Clobal Woman's Forurea in Japan since, I feel, it is so timely. The U.N. International rlomants Year brought an awareness of the great potential and resource that women are in this nation. The Global }iomen'a Forum allows a group to discuss the implications of such awareness and therefore objectifies it.
Global liomen's Forum is particularly valuable here, since it is an international program. Forum6 ~rhich allow ua to look at social issues in an international context are most needed here. Please keep me posted regarding your future schedules.
Sincerely,
l
,~e~Co ~}A' Fl';
Setsuko Miyoshi, Ph. D.
University of the Saored Heart
May 26, 1977
The Institute of Cultural Affairs 4750 N. Sheredan Road Chicago, Illinois bO640 U S A
Attention: Doris Hahn
Dear Dori s:
Thank you very much for your letter and the eniLosed story.
That was a great opportunity for women representing different organizations to have gathered in the forum. It put their visons and challenges together through the new approaches we applied.
It gave life to thoughts and ideas which enabled women to be more excited wi th whatever endeqvor they may be as a hcDsewife, a lawyer, a social worker, teacher or student. It made us realize the value of team work, considering it not only as a ptocess but as a harmony of different people doing different roles' like an orchestra. The workshops have given us all these opportunities to come together and put ourselves together and produced common results to be claimed by everyone as OUR work,
We do hope that this same style of work the TEAM' approach be more applied in achieving comr^on goals to meet common demands.
I have done an echo forum with my fellow staff members here in the YWCA of the Philippines. This added to our knowledge and skills in conducting various programs meeting different needs and interests of women and girls in our country.
We look forward to your coming to this country again.
Very si~cerely yours,
{/},<7^:
ANA MARIA M. VERIA
Program Development Officer
SOCIAL DEMONSTRATION LOVE SONG
(Tune: "The Last Farewell)
The Land 17es dark and shrouded In the mystery Of brokenness and pain of all mankind The consciousness flows forth from every human A river of Hope begins to wind And In m e midst of Innocent human suffering A mountain of care begins to svall . The sea lies tranqutl for I have been loved dearly More dearly than the spoken word can tell.
Flfth Clty, MaJuro and Oombulgurl HeId up a sign of hope for local man Kawangware, Isle of Dogs and Mallwada Changad the story from we can't Into we can Sudionggan, Kwangyung 11, became a symbol Of possibiITty for all to tell That L.ife is beautiful For they have been loved dear Iy More dearly than the spoken word can telI.
El Bayed, Termine and Cano Negro Stand now to claim thelr future destiny OyubcrT, Sungai Lul and Ivy Clty Found life where none had been for all to see Shantumbu and Hai Ou were added symbols Of posstbillty for all to tell That Llto is beautiful For they have been loved dearly More dearly than the spoken word can tell.
Nam Wal, IJode and Kelapa D ua Oec tared themselves as new
communities Lorne, DeIta Pace, and Inyan Wakagapl Foretold a world
of fresh vitality Vogar and Kreuzberg 0st complete the circlo
Of demonstration signs for all to tell That Llfe Is beautiful
For ALL have been loved dearly More doarly than the spoken word
can tell.
7.
To: Doris Hehn
Marle Paul
Betty C. PeseK
The 3C^stltute of Cultural Artalra
2043 Eacaler
Sartacr~z, 15r,nlia
My Reactlon to the Glob&1 WoF'ffn's TioruF.
Methodology: 15 ln erfect quite strlklng~end unique in the 6ense that there were no outside apeakere. It WBS understandable however, that there is no better panel who could orler,t the partlclpants thran those who Are 8 part cf the 6taPr.
ObJectlves: Very much concerned with the full lntesratlon of women ln the total development of the globel humen through comFltment and lnvolvement. The obJectlvee' however, were at the beginning too general until after the small group dlscueelons came al out.
Partlolpatlon: I xcellent partlelpatlon given to the workahoper6 which kept thQ in thelr toes. The group work was challengli~g and exclting. It brought about spontaneous reaction end the splrlt Or team work, ~ '
:~ :
Impllcatlona and }lghllght6:
1. cha31enge to the women today la for an increased lucldlty of the role they have to play in value Judgerrent
2. _ ___.. A~ concern Or the new hurean as we ettect the reconstruction of society in our values which ere being questioned
.,, ~ .^ . ...
3. every clblzen must, therefore, contribute his 5Lare to community d ev elopF ent
4. seminar workshops aimed at treinlag leaders are, therefore importart in the reachout process
5. Men rnd Woren have thelr own roles ln the performar.ee of~ thelr 9utles
6. women should rraAirlze whatever potentla'ltler. they are endowed with, but not to the extend of usurping thero
the human right to live end to improve the qusli ty of llte and to give 3ustlce to all.
I enJoyed the cneday workshop despite the fact that I have partlclpated ln Fany workshops befcre, thla was due to l`~rovatlve features involved ln the process,
I dlacuseed the workshop ~'th some of ry friends and recormcoded that they,too, get involved. It would be interesting and frultfu3 I suppose to participate ln more Eimllar warkshops.
To the orer.nlsors and staRt, I say, work well done, go ahead continue your F.lsslon until cltlzers of cour.trles becore globr1 clilzens, until women's potentials have been totally developed and intehrated in the national development. More power to you.
RermlnlE Ancheta
Croup III
^lU4~ 8~ mhlu 1~1~"- ^~ =`' ''' '
In the Spring of 1977, four treks traveled through four continents to awaken women to the global task, holding forty forums in cities and villages. There were seven Global Women's Forums in Europe, twelve in India, nine in Southeast Asia, and twelve in Northeast Asia, with a total of 1,768 women in attendance.
After these Spring treks, reports began to trickle back to the Global Women's Forum Post at Chicago Nexus about the excitement among women that was generated by these Foruma. These stories confirmed that, given the opportunity, women the world over are ready to move responsibly towards dealing with the needs of our times.
In Europe, The International Herald Tribune printed an article following the Forum in Paris, describing the day and some of the women's responses. Women from all over began calling for more information about Global Women's Forum and asking if there would be another one that they could participate in. A woman, from a village in India, experienced such a shift in her selfimage that she proclaimed her vocation to be that of insuring that all people of the world have a chance to participate in determining the future. She ia now a visible sign in Malivada of the impact of Global Women's Forum.
It was an address on all the women present at the Forum in Manila to have the Exeeutive Director of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women present and to witness her deep excitement, as she not only participated in the day, but enabled it to be the impacting event that it was. The Program Director cf that same Commission took on as her task the complete setting up of the Forum in Cebu and was able to inkind everything needed for the day. In the village of Xwangyung }1, Xorea, 160 women showed up for the Women's Forum, when only 40 were expected. The real impact of the day was felt following the Forum, when work in the village accelerated in preparation for the World's Fair for the Human Development Projects.
"the star is shining, that is, I am shining.
the star and I are one and the same."
The cost allocated to each participant as a charge for the pr gram depends on the number of participant. and the local costs T more participants in a forum, the lower the perperson cost. The overall cost of the forum is lower if the facilities, food, and su plies are donated. The cost per person does not effect the ICA fe which is constant. Below is a formula for calculating the cost pe participant:
charge to each participant
For financial purposes, it is best to estimate a low, number of participants than you believe will actually attend. Als experience has indicated that 95% of the women who register in advance and pay a portion of the participant fee will in fact attend the forum.
If the participant fees will not cover the forum costs, there are several ways of raising revenues. Hotels and supply companies are often willing to donate facilities, food, and consumable supplies. Scholarship schemes can attract money if they have an accor partying story such as women enabling women. It is also possible tc create local development teams of women ~,ho have taken the forum a: are willing to solicit funds from organizations and industry. Ano. ther possibility is for women to utilize their handicraft skills tc make procucts for sale to support the forum.
"I will never again be afraid to speak at a public meetinz."
in Maliwada, GWF Participant
During the year of 19771978 the above treks are planned globally. In North America a demonstration forum is planned for each ICA location from September through December, followed by a minimum of two forums per quarter from January through June.
To enable the forums designed and are included
1. Presentation Book:
2. Letters:
3. Newspaper Articles:
4, Marketing Strategies:
5, Dnily Appointments:
6. Budget:
7. Checklist:
8. Registration:
9. Followup Forms:
to happen, a series of tools have been in the handbook for your use.
Four page model which shows how to compile a presentation book which will aid in setting the stage for talking about Global Women's Forum.
Four letters of appreciation and endorsement from various parts of the world.
Sample of publicity received during the spring treks of 1977.
Women's groups that may be key for setting up a Global Women's Forum.
To enable easy tracking of appointments with comments and the next steps needed.
A statement and guidelines to insure a selfsupporting program.
Prose about the day to allow you to envision the actual setup and a simple checklist in three parts to enable the easy sequence of the day and followup.
Suggested styles that have proved helpful to other forums for possible registration and invitRtion forms.
To ensure that the ICA office in y o~ir location
and Chicago Nexus hRve co~riplete records of ench forum.
