Archive for women in politics
April 9, 2009
· Filed under environment, renewable energy, women in politics · Tagged alternative energy, economy, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, renewable energy, solar power, wind power
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed into law Senate Bill 108, which is designed to bring solar and wind energy companies to the state via new economic incentives.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the new law enables the state to issue up to $5 million in bonds to support solar and wind companies that bring research, development, engineering or manufacturing facilities to Kansas. Qualifying companies need to put forth a minimum of $30 million in proposed Kansas-based investments and hire at least 200 full-time employees within their first five years of operations.
“To recover from this economic recession, we must look to new industries and new opportunities,” says Sebelius. “Renewable energy companies are a perfect fit for Kansas, as we’re the third-best state in the nation for wind energy and we have a trained and able work force.”
SOURCE: Topeka Capital-Journal
Source cited: www.aer-online.com
Alternative Energy Retailers online
Energetically Yours, Diane Tegarden
March 30, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in politics, women world leaders · Tagged Edith Cresson, famous firsts, France, Golda Meir, Great Britain, India, Indira Gandhi, Israel, Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, women in politics
The first woman prime minister of France from 1991-1992; and the fifth prime minister appointed by President François Mitterrand, Edith Cresson (born 1934) was named to the office May 15, 1991. Edith Cresson was born January 27, 1934, in a fashionable Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. Her father was a senior civil servant. Raised by a British nanny, she became fluent in the English language.
Cresson attended the School of Advanced Commercial Studies, earning a degree in business and later a doctorate in demography. A successful businesswoman, she added a second career in politics when she met François Mitterrand in 1965. For the next 26 years the future president helped Cresson advance through the ranks of what is now the French Socialist Party, calling her “my little soldier.”
After Mitterrand became president in 1981, Cresson served first as minister of agriculture (1981-1983), then as minister of external trade and tourism (1983-1984), as minister of industrial restructuring and external trade (1984-1986), and finally minister of foreign affairs (1988-1990).
She resigned from the government on October 3, 1990, to work as a consultant on international development. Meanwhile she was three times elected a deputy to the National Assembly from the Vienne province (1981, 1986, and 1988).
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/edith-cresson
Well known women world leaders: * Indira Gandhi, India, Prime Minister, 1966-77, 1980-1984; * Golda Meir, Israel, Prime Minister, 1969-1974; * Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain, Prime Minister, 1979-1990;
March 27, 2009
· Filed under Native Americans, Women's History, environment, politics, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged activist, Anishinaabe, environmental, Native American, United Nations, Winona LaDuke, women in politics, women’s issues
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) is an internationally respected Native American and environmental activist. She began speaking about these issues at an early age, addressing the United Nations at the age of 18, and continues to devote herself to Native and environmental concerns, as well as political and women’s issues. LaDuke also served as Ralph Nader’s vice-presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections.
Source Cited: http://www.speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=79
Winona LaDuke, Anishinaabe, Native American, environmental, activist, United Nations, women’s issues, women in politics,
March 26, 2009
· Filed under Quotable Women, Women's History, women in politics, women world leaders · Tagged Aruba, Carnival, Maria Liberia-Peters, Netherlands Antilles, New York Times, Prime Minister, Shell Oil, Staten, women in politics, women world leaders
Maria Liberia-Peters, Netherlands Antilles; Prime Minister, 1984-1986, 1988-1993;
In 1982 Maria Liberia-Peters was elected to the Staten, or legislature, of the Netherlands Antilles. She quickly was appointed to be Minister of Economic Affairs by the coalition government in power. This government lasted only a short while before collapsing in 1984.
In September of that year Maria was asked to form a new coalition government, and she was sworn in as Prime Minister. She was soon demonstrating her independence as she chose to dance and participate in the annual Carnival parade instead of sitting in the traditional, reserved seat of the Prime Minister.
She told the New York Times that “she would not feel happy as a spectator … knowing that I am standing at the side.” Liberia-Peters went on to explain that “some people just feel it’s not appropriate for the prime minister. But she added, “In the first place I’m Maria and in the second place I’m the prime minister. So I’m going.” So participants in the parade could see her tall figure dressed in a green and pink lame dress dancing in the streets.
Maria Liberia-Peters served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles on two different occasions. The first time was brief, from 1984-86. The second time was from 1988-94.
She states that her biggest challenge was during the period when Shell and Lago Standard Oil had announced the intended closure of their huge oil refineries on Curacao and Aruba. Liberia-Peters was able to work out an agreement with the Venezuelan state owned oil company, PDVSA, to manage the refinery.
Maria was followed by *Susanne Camelia-Romer, Netherlands Antilles; Prime Minister, 1993, 1998-1999.
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/maria-philomena-liberia-peters
March 22, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged China, Communists, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Kuomintang, Soong Ching-Ling, the Mother of China
Soong Ching-Ling, Peoples’ Republic of China; Honorary President, (1893-1981) (Madame Sun Yat-Sen) Leader of the Women’s Department of the Kuomintang
Soong Ching-Ling was born in Shanghai on the 27th of January in 1893 to well-educated, Christian parents. Before marrying Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Ching-ling traveled to the United States for her education; she and her three sisters became the first Chinese girls to be educated in the states. At the age of eighteen, Ching-ling began to speak out against the conditions of women in her country in a non-violent manner which expressed her ideals of Liberty and Equality.
For the next seven decades, Soong Ching-ling became an active character within both the political and social arenas of Chinese culture. She came to be known as “the Mother of China” by both the main political parties, the Kuomintang and the Communists.
Source Cited:http://people.brandeis.edu/~dwilliam/profiles/ching-ling.htm
March 18, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, politics, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged firsts, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway, Prime Minister, WHO, women in politics, World Health Organization
Norway’s first woman prime minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, a physician, was Prime Minister of Norway 1981, 1986-1989, and 1990-1996. She has worked on health and environment issues internationally, and since 1998 has been the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/brundtland/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland.htm
March 14, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, politics, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged Sirimavo Bandaranaike, socialism, Sri Lanka, womens rights
Sirimavo Bandaranaike (born 1916) became the first woman prime minister in the world when she was chosen to head the Sri Lankan Freedom Party government in 1960, following the assassination of her husband. She pursued policies of nonalignment abroad and democratic socialism at home, and was reelected three times, she served from1960-1965, 1970-1977, and 1994-2000.
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/sirimavo-bandaranaike
March 11, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, politics, women in politics · Tagged Catherine Shouse, DNC, Harvard University, National Women's Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, women in education, Womens History Month
Catherine Filene Shouse (1896 – 1994) the first woman to receive a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University and the first woman appointed to the Democratic National Committee in 1919 was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
The National Women’s Hall of Fame, founded in Seneca Falls in 1969, was created to recognize that “the contributions of American women deserved a permanent home.”
Every year in New York Village, NY, in the very same building where the First Women’s Rights Convention was held in July of 1848, women gather to induct honorees into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recognizes women who have made outstanding contributions to the progress of women’s freedom and to society in general.
Source Cited: http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=224
March 10, 2009
· Filed under Women's History, politics, women in politics, womens issues · Tagged Argentina, Isabel Peron, Juan Peron, Latin America, Womens History Month, womens rights
Isabel Peron, Argentina, President, 1974-1976
Isabel Perón was born María Estela Martinez Cartas on February 4, 1931, in La Rioja, a provincial capital in the impoverished mountainous region of northwestern Argentina. Her father, a local bank manager, died when she was still a young child. By the time of her father’s death, the family had moved to Buenos Aires, where she studied piano, dance, and French, although she was not able to finish her formal education.
In 1956, while on tour with a dance troupe through Latin America, she met Juan Perón, who had recently been ousted from the Argentine presidency after roughly ten years in power.
Giving up her career as a dancer, she became Perón’s personal secretary and accompanied him into exile in Madrid, where the two were married in 1961.
Isabel Martinez de Perón (born 1931) became the first female president in Latin America when she assumed the Argentine presidency upon the death of her husband, Juan Perón. Her term in office was characterized by political violence and economic instability until she was finally overthrown by the military.
Source Cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/isabel-mart-nez-de-per-n
