Read About Women Who Are Changing the World

written by ann jandafor Venus Rising Magazine

Gemini 09 - The Summer Reading Issue Issue

If you don't know who Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wangari Maathai, and Nina Disesa are, then you have some reading to do this summer!

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Memoirs by these three women gave me inspiration and courage because each of them learned how to survive and succeed in male-dominated environments that were oppressive to women.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was raised as a traditional Muslim in Somalia, was married off by her father to a distant cousin in Canada against her wishes. She fled to the Netherlands where she was given asylum and eventually citizenship. Ms. Hirsi Ali is now a champion of free speech and women's rights.

Wangari MaathaiWangari Maathai is the first woman in East and Central Africa to receive a Ph.D., and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940 and educated in the U.S. in the same exchange program that brought President Obama's father to the states, Ms. Maathai founded the successful Green Belt Movement in 1977.

Nina DiSesa, Chairman of the largest advertising agency in the world made it to the top by learning how to understand Nina DiSesaand manage men. About halfway through her career, Ms. DiSesa decided that if she was going make it in the advertising business, she had to aim for the top. What she didn’t realize was that getting to the top meant she would have to make some major adjustments to gain access to that world – the world of men where arrogance and sexual humor prevail – the boys club!

See all three memoirs in the advertising section on the right.

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