Making Way for the Feminine for the Benefit of the World Community

There has been increased focus over the past few years on strengthening opportunities for women around the world, but little serious reflection on the ways in which women’s leadership can create significant change at various levels of society. If women were elevated to leadership positions in equal numbers with men, would we see a more caring society with less violence, with more attention to the needs of children and youth, and with greater sensitivity to the environment? What can women as lifegivers bring to the table at this moment in history that can help steer our global community in a different direction?

The Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) is organizing a global reflection on these issues – based on the claim that it is not enough merely to seek more representation for women, but rather we must work toward a new vision of leadership based on “feminine principles.” Although there may be no cross-cultural consensus on what are the “feminine principles,” or on what is innate and what is conditioned, there is a widespread understanding that women do offer different perspectives and ways of operating. There is also growing understanding that as women climb the ladder of success, they often must adapt themselves to existing modes of leadership, suppressing their “feminine” side. Is it perhaps not time to liberate the feminine qualities so that we can truly guide the world in a different direction?

This global summit, Making Way for the Feminine: for the benefit of the world community, will explore how the leadership of women can make a difference in the religious, political and economic arenas and aid in social transformation. It will take place in Jaipur, India on March 6-10, 2008. India has a special role to play in initiating this global reflection because of its long history and continuing tradition of honoring the feminine aspects of the Divine, although existing social conditions have not always reflected this tradition. Making Way for the Feminine will gather several hundred women, men and young people from around the world in leadership positions in their communities. They will be religious and spiritual leaders, government leaders, policy makers, development professionals, experts, academics and educators, healthcare professionals and those working in the field of human rights. During plenary sessions, working groups and small roundtable discussions, they will share their experiences from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North and Latin America. These sessions will be interspersed with times for reflection, silence and spiritual practice from many traditions. These times for inner reflection are meant to help inspire new ways of thinking, deeper motivation and creative approaches to the themes under discussion.

As long as large numbers of women around the world are repressed, raped and traded as sex objects; as long as the earth, the mother of us all, is abused and degraded, the world will be greatly out of balance and will not know peace. This Summit is one effort to help shift the awareness so that we can ultimately bring the much needed rebalancing to our world. Our convening of gatherings around the world have shown that at the heart of almost every problem is the issue of gender imbalance—whether the concern be conflict, health, poverty, or environment. Working together across continents and regions, women can strengthen their efforts and sustain their momentum in the face of these threats.

Making Way for the Feminine will be a time when women, men and young leaders can join in asking and answering thoughtful questions. Will the increased role of women in leadership positions help bring this balance—or is it less about gender than adopting the feminine qualities of love, compassion, wisdom and consensus building as models for a new leadership style? How will

it affect the priorities of our societies, in particular the importance we ascribe to the safety and wellbeing of children and youth, the dignity of women, and care for the more vulnerable members of our communities? How can women strengthen and improve education, working toward a form of education that balances the masculine and feminine traits? How can the feminine principles in business help create an economic system driven less by the desire for personal gain than contribution to the social good? Will deeper recognition of the feminine enable us to stem the violence and halt the destruction of our environment? There is great need for new leadership models in the world today, but the search for change in the outer world must be accompanied by changes within—in our thinking and way of being.

Making Way for the Feminine is a celebration of the five-year anniversary of the Global Peace Initiative of Women. In the fall of 2002, over 600 women leaders from religion, business and government came together at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to launch a new peace effort conceived and led by women. Since then we have grown tremendously. We have been working with women around the world in the effort to strengthen the participation of women locally and highlight the urgent need for a greater feminine voice and vision at the global level. We have also engaged men from many regions to enhance gender partnership, and young people on all continents as the bridge to greater balance and harmony for the future. We have partnered with the United Nations and government bodies in the effort to help women stimulate peace efforts and to support local development activities led by young people. Our programs have led to the organization of on-the-ground environmental projects, income-generating businesses for women in conflict and crises areas, and networks for ongoing training and leadership development. We seek not only to generate change at the community level but also to help shift global perceptions so that we begin to think, act and be one global family, appreciating all members equality, working toward the much needed balance of East and West, North and South, Masculine and Feminine.

About the Summit