Creating Connections

When the 1998 Women's Leadership Forum, "Creating Connections," met at the Boston Research Center in early December, a Who's Who of Boston's prominent political, social, educational, and religious leaders were present to share their concerns and agendas with other women leaders committed to making their communities better places to live and, in the process of networking, to have some fun.

Cosponsored with the BRC by seven women's groups--the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston, the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, the Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change, the Wellesley Centers for Women, the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School, Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union (WEIU)--the forum provided a means for Boston area women's organizations to explore ways to work together toward shared goals. As BRC executive director Virginia Straus put it, "Women uniting, women collaborating, women creating the future together is our goal in sponsoring this forum."

Women, Ms. Straus suggested, have developed leadership and coalition-building skills that are characterized by inclusiveness. Using the metaphor of the children's game, musical chairs, Ms. Straus described women's approach as one of adding chairs to enlarge the circles of participation, one that invites more voices and perspectives. "Because women's leadership is key to peace in the world," she continued, "this Center each year undertakes an effort to support its development."

Marti Wilson-Taylor, president of the Boston YWCA, enthusiastically observed that "women's events are growing stronger and stronger." This was a view shared by keynote speaker Swanee Hunt, director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who remarked that "I have long appreciated the power of women linking up."

The former ambassador continued, "Our challenges are becoming more and more complex. We've got to keep evolving in our work." She argued persuasively that "it has never been more important to be connected."

Speaking of her international experiences, Swanee Hunt paid tribute to the spirit of the thousands of refugees she has met: "Women in situations like Bosnia have played an extraordinary role as the glue that binds." When Bosnian and Serb women, nominal enemies--women who had lost husbands and sons, fathers and brothers in some of the worst atrocities since World War II--agreed to come together for an anniversary celebration of remembrance, it was, they said, because "we're all mothers. It is our challenge to mother this community and this world into wholeness."

Marti Wilson-Taylor, responding to the keynote address, suggested, "We're living in a time that is quite confusing. It is an exciting time for women; yet, persistent poverty affects women and children more than any other segment. More women are living on the streets. Women have always been at the forefront of change. Now, how do we address the challenges we face?"

Responses from the audience of nearly one hundred included the following: "What we face is an organizing task," and "We can't accept things as they are. We have to, for example, abolish the two-year welfare limitation." "We need to change policies." "We need to do a better job of articulating what it takes to provide for a family." "We need to challenge the power and the impact of the Radical Right." "We need to bring homeless mothers and suburban mothers together." "We need to help establish economic self-sufficiency for women and girls." "We need to sit down across race and class to develop actions we can take together."

Following the keynote remarks, women gathered in small groups to address the following issues: sharing funding strategies; focusing on the next generation; reaching a broader community of women; changing the face of power; creating a new vision for society; sharing resources and working together; and building women's health and safety networks.

As the title of the evening event, "Creating Connections," had suggested, the women who gathered together in the Boston Research Center facilities created personal and professional connections as well as organizational links with each other. They shared organizing strategies and agendas for political action. They provided good reason to concur with Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist peace activist and founder of the BRC, who has said on many occasions that the next century will be the age of women and that there will be widespread demand for leaders who serve the people, which is the great strength of women.

--Helen Marie Casey