Herstory in ICT ...100e blog

In 1995 I became an early adopter of Internet by visiting as an individual the NGO Forum of the 4th World Conference of Women in China. Since that time I am a professional in ICT. I was proud to be able to sent a mail to Amsterdam from Huairou (China). This email is in Atria and by that mail I am good example / best practice of 'early remote work' in the Netherlands. In 2016 I wrote a letter to young feminists a.o. with a picture of emailing in Huairou. (Note 1) In 1997 I became a projectmanager of the first site about women in politics the so-called VIP-site (Vrouwen in de Politiek website) during the project Emancipatie op Internet. I can remember how proud I felt, when I saw at the start of the Conference the VIP-sie in the Hague. Special was the number of people I know as a person... instead of everyone in the area of advancement of women 25% of all the: participants of this Conference to end the project Emancipatie op Internet. At that moment I was working in Flevoland (Lelystad) Zie LinkedIn profiel van Arina Angerman. I bought in 1995 and read the book door Marianne van den Boomen Internet ABC voor vrouwen met als prachtige subtitel: Een inleiding voor d@t@dmes en modemmeiden en zie nu dat het boek is uitgegeven door het Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek (IPP) waar ik werkte als progrmmaleider van 2000 tot 2003. (zie LinkedIn profiel van Arina Angerman) I wrote a blog on IWD in 2018 with a reference to this book (Note 2) In my years with IPP I Know I travelled to Rotterdam (Sparta stadion) to chair a discussion about the Digitale Trapvelden. You can find de Digitale Trapvelden by searching by Google or Ecosia. In 2003 - 2009 I was managing director of NSI Zuid-Holland and involved in ICT and remember visiting a Conference about Open Source and Open Standaarden. From 2016-2021 I was a social entrepreneur Social Media 4 Boomers and used blogging as a tool to get customers. (Note 3) In 2024 I became a member of GroenLinks Netwerk Digitale Samenleving. Als lid van de PvdA sinds 1991 I remain an #activist now supporting Geen Big Mac wel Big Tech? en Pride = Protest.

Now at 70+ I am still financial independent and care about women's rights (SDG50) and remain using as social media tools Linkedin and Whatsapp and also Signal since the start of 2025. A nice to know is: our team won the 1st price in the Any Age AI Hacketon in juin 2025 (note 4) Note 1 link to blog in 2016 at angerman.europa Note 2 link to blog in 2018 at angerman.europa Note 3 link to blogs I wrote in LinkedIn profile and see at angerman.europa Note 4 In LinkedIn profile search for angerman.europa

Emancipatie van vrouwen en meisjes blijft urgent oftewel het streven naar gendergelijkheid

Eerder was het 30 april 2025. De dag die ik vele jaren vierde als Koninginnedag. Gelukkig vierde ik afgelopen zaterdag - 26 april 2025 - Koningsdag. Met de emancipatie van vrouwen kan het echter nog wel beter! Er is nog steeds sprake van een loonkloof en daardoor ook een pensioenkloof. Weet jij dat slechts 40% van de vrouwen in NL een aanvullend pensioen heeft? (Noot 1.) Inmiddels is het maandag 12 mei 2025, dus nadat ik de Dag van Europa op vrijdag 9 mei vierde in de prachtige stad Amsterdam! Bij de terugkoppeling van de 69e VN-Vrouwentop oftewel de 69ste Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in april 2025 beloofde ik dit blog te schrijven. Gelukkig leverde Wo=Men, Dutch platform voor Gendergelijkheid, met haar eigen blogs zoals deze al inspiratie voor de komende emancipatienota. Zelf nam ik als veertigjarige activist deel aan de vierde wereldvrouwenconferentie in Beijing (Huairou) en leerde verschillende van de genoemde sprekers in het blog door Wo=Men van oktober 2024 (later) persoonlijk kennen. Mijn reis naar Huairou in 1995 is nog steeds een hoogtepunt in mijn leven, ook omdat ik toen voor het eerst mailde naar Amsterdam. (Noot 2). 'Taal doet ertoe' zoals ook goed wordt beschreven in dit blog over feminisme door Atria! Wat is mijn input voor de emancipatienota i.o. van staatssecretaris Paul? 1. Wat gaat NL doen om de grote achterstand van vrouwen en meisjes in de ICT te verminderen en het hebben van digitale vaardigheden voor alle vrouwen en meisjes te verhogen? Hoe wordt de digitale kloof gedicht tussen vrouwen van verschillende leeftijden en met verschillende achtergronden? Op 8 maart 2025 publiceerde Age Platform een quote over dit thema van mij 2. Wat gaat NL nog meer doen om meer vrouwen in Raden van Bestuur - in besluitvormende posities - te krijgen? Toen ik het emancipatiebeleid in de jaren 90 volgde was het 5% en nu is het volgens de SER 33%. 3. Wat gaat NL nog meer doen aan de uitvoering van de Istanbul Conventie die NL al eerder ratificeerde. Immers het geweld tegen (oudere) vrouwen en vooral het online geweld tegen meisjes is nog te groot en een urgent op te lossen probleem! Uitspraken tegen seksueel geweld blijven absoluut noodzakelijk.(Noot 3) Hopelijk staat er in de nieuwe emancipatienota ook een passage hoe leeftijdsdiscriminatie van ouderen wordt aangepakt. Immers volgens de ANBO-PCOB geldt dit voor een op de drie senioren. Vooral data over 75 plussers zijn er nu niet! Noot 1 Zie de pitch van de voorzitter - Joke de Ruiter - van Oudere Vrouwen Netwerk NL tijdens de CSW69 bijeenkomst op het ministerie van OCW in febuari 2025. Noot 2 In 1995 begon mijn reis op en over het internet waar ik in mijn 100e blog over ga schrijven. Noot 3 Dank aan PvdA raadslid Fathiya Abdi in de gemeenteraad van Amsterdam. Vrouwen en meisjes voelen zich niet veilig: Niet thuis, Niet op straat en Niet online. De schrijver van dit 99e blog - Arina Angerman - steunt de SDG's en vooral die van SDG 5 over gendergelijkheid! Zij is onder andere lid van het Oudere Vrouwen Netwerk NL, de PvdA en de International Alliance of Women (IAW). Sinds 1979 heeft zij als bewuste #feminist een passie voor vrouwenrechten. Zij is een historica en onderzocht o.a. de eerste feministische golf, de aanloop naar de tweede golf door Vrouwenbelangen te onderzoeken van 1949 tot 1967 en de discussie over vrouwenarbeid in NL in de jaren dertig van de vorige eeuw.

IAW International Meeting in Sofia (Bulgaria) in 2024.

as an Individual Member and Convenor of the IAW Commission on the Digital Divide from the Netherlands [our IAW Commission report is in the IAW Annual 2024 Report, page 20-22] of the International Alliance of Women (IAW). "Our most burning issue is to endTFGBV (Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence)". I attended the International Meeting in Bankya, Bulgaria 5-9 September 2024. I stayed in Hotel Bankya Palace between 4 - 10 September. It was a pleasant stay and very nice to meet so many 'old' and 'new' IAW friends from four continents. It was the first in person event since the outbreak of COVID in 2019. The meeting was opened by Alison Brown, President of IAW. Photo at the right

I liked the Intergenerational Dialogue between Rosy Weiss, Honorary President of IAW with Sung Sohn, founder of Education for Social Justice Foundation very, very much. Rosy presented her book "Traveling in Friendship and Politics, 1982-2010". Rosy Weiss her personal stories of her Presidency contributes to the herstory of IAW. I liked her WHY and HOW in her many speeches she shared memories of the women and the women's movement of a given country in order to not again reinvent the wheel. She is a GREAT role model and feminist for me and others. I liked also the Keynote speech by Iliana Balabanova, President of Eurpean Women's Lobby and Co-founder and Chair of the Bulgarian Women's Lobby. She shared with us privately nice to know stories about her country Bulgaria and in her speech used also a quote by Simone de Beauvoir about women are agents of change and the recent UN report about the SDG's (SDG 5 is about Gender equality). Rosy Weiss used this quote of Simone de Beauvoir "As I started to write about me, it became clear that I had to write about the situation of women."

In 1937 women got the right to vote and to be elected in Bulgaria. At this photo (right) you see Iliana Balabonova with two members of her team. The right one is the woman from the Bulgarian Women's Lobby who gave her advice ín November 2023 to me: it is better to fly to Sofia. What is very special about IAW is Peace. Peace has to be a concept and has to start with the mind. Banner text of Peace tent in Huairou 1995 ''Change the Culture of War to a Culture of Peace" was mentioned a.o. in the IAW Annual 2024 Report by Manju Kak the Secretary-General of AIWC (All Indian Women's Conference). Manju Kak wrote "We must ensure the right to live in peace and security, with access to food and medical services, without fear of endangerment, oppression and warfare (...) 'Right to Peace is a fundamental human right'". I became a member of Vrouwenbelangen (Dutch Society of Women's Rights) when I was a student in Groningen (in the North of the Netherlands where Aletta Jacobs was born too) and am a feminist since 1979. This was a topic during the 120 year Celebration of IAW who started with demanding Votes for Women in 1904 and partipants enjoyed singing togehter the March of the Women Music by Ethyl Smyth 1910. As a historian fond of herstories I want to celebrate a special woman The Bronze woman - the mother of Eve Nobrega whom I didnot know before. The last afternoon of the meeting we went by bus to Sofia and the following day we, the 13th IAW President Mr. Lyda Verstegen and I,

said in the morning goodbye to the participants of IAW's Historic Bulgaria Tour. At the end of this blog I write a BIG thank you to IAW treasurer Antonia Lavine, Executive Director National Council of Jewish Women San Francisco - Bay Area, who organised in her country of birth, Bulgaria, a.o. Hotel, Tour and many, many other things.

Do women social entrepreneurs use IT and social media in EU? #eskills

One of the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action '95 is 'Promote women's economic rights and independence ...' Social entrepreneurship can be a promising avenue through which women can empower themselves and others. The European Women's Lobby (EWL) published a Synthesis report WEstart. Mapping Women's Social Entrepreneurship in Europe (September 2015). The WEstart project is the first-ever research study on this subject and got support from the Fondation d'Entreprise Chanel. The report was prepared by WEstart Project Manager Emily Usher Shrair of EWL. Note 1 A social enterprise 'is a company that sells products or services on the market. ... and a portion of its revenue is reinvested in its mission.' (p 4) 

Do women social entrepreneurs use IT & social media?
How many women social entrepreneurs are using IT & social media in the 10 studied countries? These countries are France, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Lithuania, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). One of the outputs is an electronic database containing information about 1,000 women-led social enterprises. In this blog I give a small answer about the UK after using this database. How many women-led social enterprises in the Information and Communication sector are there? I found in UK 16 Women-Led Social Enterprises (Social Mission, Woman Leadership, Portion made in market, portion of profit/surplus reinvested). Two of these have women or girls as primary clients/target population: Ogunte CIC and HighStreetFitFinder. They both use social media like Facebook or Twitter ...Yes!

Babyboomers in eSkills bootcamp
Women and men who are fifty-something learned how to use internet and e-mail in the 90's or 21th century. Even though they learned e-skills for job demands, business or other societal activities, navigating through new media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be challenging. That's why Digital Skills Workshop for Baby Boomers: Develop social media skills to transform your future was an official side event at the very inspiring Code to Change programme in Amsterdam (October 2015). The e-skills bootcamp and conference in Program Your Future are an initiative of ChunriChoupaal, a non-profit organisation, whose mission is economic empowerment of women through digital technology. Note 2

In the workshop I told my personal career story as ICT leader
- Projectmanager Vrouwen-Internet-Politiek site (1996-00)
- Director NSI Zuid-Holland (2004-08)
- Networker at LinkedIn & Twitter (2009)
NOW
- Blogger at angermaneuropa.blogspot.com (2011 - 55 blogs)
- Board member of European Women's Lobby, representing International Alliance of Women (2014)
- Entrepreneur Social Media 4 Boomers (website in Dutch 2015)
Conclusion: ICT for me is 4 x C in IT: Communicate, Connect, Content & Co-create with IT. Note 3

From words to action?
Let's connect & share in order to get more women from different generations and backgrounds involved in social entrepreneurship who are also using IT & social media in order to #worktoequality! 
My learning style is learning by doing and I'm at #55plus still an advocate of lifelong learning. Do you want to know more or connect? Please send an e-mail to arina.angerman[at]gmail.com

Note 1 
For more details about WEstart visit www.WEstarteurope.org  
Note 2
Many thanks to Rose Iffat Gill, her #codetochange team and supporters & participants.
Note 3 
And I learned at #eSkillsNL (16.03.16) C is also to Celebrate with IT (Information Communication Technology)
Blog in Dutch Meer vrouwen in #ICT betekent 4xC = kansen Babyboomers?! 

Arina Angerman is an Activist, Blogger and Consultant. Please read additional information at website (in Dutch).

Van Beijing '95 tot Amsterdam '15: een leven lang leren #eskills

Door deelname aan de ronde tafel gesprekken 'I love feminism' met andere vrouwen over 'Van Beijing tot Feminisme Anno Nu' in 1995, 2005 & 2015 tijdens het Gelijk=Anders Festival, ging ik verschillende documenten over deelname aan het NGO Forum in Huairou (China) tijdens de vierde Wereld Vrouwen Conferentie herlezen. 

Beijing '95

Ik was toen 'in between jobs' en 'op zoek naar een nieuwe uitdaging' en ging als individuele deelnemer kansen verkennen van een nieuwe ontwikkeling: de elektronische snelweg = Internet en e-mail. Vrouwen hadden nog te weinig toegang tot de digitale snelweg, de wereldwijde koppeling van computernetwerken. 15% van de Internetters in Nederland was vrouw.
Als online reporter / verslaggever maakte ik gratis gebruik van de uitdaging te communiceren met Nederland via e-mail (elektronische post). Op de eerste dag van het NGO-Forum in Huairou - 30.08.1995 - vond een spannend e-mail gesprek plaats met Rob van Kamp (wethouder) en Saskia de Man (beleidscoördinator emancipatie) van de gemeente Amstelveen. Saskia antwoordt ‘Het is te gek om zo snel al je eerste indrukken te lezen. Dat maakt dat we ook een beetje in China zitten'. 

Arina Angerman (met baseball-cap) en Maja van der Velden (Antenna APC Nederland) e-mailen in Huairou in: Vrouwenbelangen Jaargang 60 Nr. 4

Op 5 september verstuurde arina@wcw.apc.org een e-mail ‘vrouwen in de besluitvorming’. 'Beste vrouwen en mannen in NL. Half the world; half the power. We love power and it is okay. E-mailen is een van de leukste dingen die ik tot nu toe op het NGO-Forum heb gedaan. Ook omdat het nieuw voor mij is.' Op 4 september 1995 waren er reeds 1500 e-mail accounts (postbus-adressen) in Huairou. Dankzij het NGO-Forum worden e-mailen en Internet nieuwe manieren voor (inter)nationaal netwerken en lobbyen. Vrouwen en hun organisaties gaan websites maken zoals op het Vrouwenplein in De Digitale Stad Amsterdam.

Amsterdam '15
Van communiceren en verbinden via e-mailen is 't NU via social media als Twitter, Facebook en blog geworden. 
Hoeveel vrouwen van toen zijn er nu actief op social media? 5 van de 18 aanwezige abonnees van Vrouwenbelangen die deelnamen aan het NGO-Forum in 1995, zijn nu aanwezig op LinkedIn. Van hen stuurt er niemand tweets en deelnemer Lyda Verstegen (workshop Vrouwenbelangen) plaatst vaak een bericht of vind-ik-leuk op Facebook. En deelnemer Joke Sebus (workshop European Anti-Poverty Network) schrijft en plaatst al vele jaren berichten op de website van Vrouwenbelangen. 
Bijna 20 jaar na Beijing is het gebruik van Internet volgens het CBS (2013): thuis toegang tot en e-mailen door mannen en vrouwen in NL tussen de 99% en 95%. 

Een leven lang leren #eSkills in Agenda voor de Toekomst
Het vergroten van de economische zelfstandigheid van vrouwen is sinds 1985 een speerpunt van het huidige emancipatiebeleid. Economisch zelfstandig worden en blijven is al decennia mijn persoonlijke ambitie. In 2011 was de helft van de vrouwen (52%) tussen de 20-65 jaar economisch zelfstandig tegen driekwart (74%) van de mannen. Voor een alleenstaande is dat in 2014 70% van het wettelijk minimumloon en dat is circa 900 Euro per maand. (Bron: Wikipedia en SCP)
Financieel onafhankelijk zijn door te (blijven) werken in een baan of (online) onderneming betekent een leven lang leren van nieuwe digitale vaardigheden - eSkills - zoals Internet en e-mail in de jaren 90 en social media zoals Twitter en Facebook NU. Foto van toen Arina over het agendapunt een leven lang leren #eSkills sprak tijdens #gelijkis door @NancyJouwe :-) Immers zonder een leven lang te leren worden en blijven we - vrouwen in al hun verschillen - niet economisch zelfstandig!!!!!
In 2018 houdt Economische zelfstandigheid volgens Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau (SCP) een inkomen uit werk van ten minste 920 Euro per maand in. (gehoord tijdens #Prinsessendag NVR op 18.09.10)

Meer informatie
1. Gelijke vertegenwoordiging van vrouwen in (Online) Media? English http://angermaneuropa.blogspot.nl/2015/05/equal-representation-of-women-in-online.html
2. Get Social: Babyboomers die informatie delen op social media?! http://angermaneuropa.blogspot.nl/2015/04/get-social-babyboomers-die-informatie.html

Arina Angerman was 'n activiste voor het meer gebruik gaan maken van internet en e-mail in de vorige eeuw en 
schrijft NU blogs, voert acties uit en geeft advies over social media aan (Baby)Boomers ArinaAngerman.com
Meer info linkedin.com/in/arinaangerman Twitter @ArinaNoel

Equal representation of women in (Online) Media? #Beijing20

One of the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action '95 is ‘Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and the new technologies of communication.’ In 2015 the (inter)national community is celebrating the 20th anniversary of this fundamental human rights instrument for women and girls adopted in 1995.
Did you know that only 16% of photos in European newspaper show women over 45 years of age (according to the project “You can’t be what you can’t see”)? In the EU, women account for only 24% of people that we hear and read about in the news. Only 4% of the news coverage is against stereotypical portrayel. Note 1 In May 2015, European Women's Lobby (EWL) demands ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall …a fair and equal representation of women in the media in Europe’.

#Beijing20 & Twitter

During the past decade, advances in information technology have facilitated a global communications network that transcends national boundaries. One of the challenges is that women who write on the Internet and participate in social media, on blogs and other online forums, meet increasing hostility and harassment. This is a way to silence women’s voices in the public sphere.

At my public sphere Twitter account - @ArinaNoel - I retweeted an infographic of women in the media by UN Women. Note 2 There are around 2 Billion active social media accounts. Roughly half of social media users are women. Feminist hashtags - # - that have added to global conversations on gender inequality are #Beijing20 #HeForShe and #EverydaySexism The # symbol, called hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. 

How Far are We from Gender Equality?
Representing Vrouwenbelangen I attended a China-Netherlands Dialogue event Paneldiscussion about Women's rights on May 20th 2015 in Amsterdam. Ardi Bouwers presented a report on behalf of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) on the (in)equality and representation of women in media. 
"Bringing media accountability into the struggle for gender equality was the original impetus for the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP)... Every five years since 1995, the GMMP has documented trends in the portrayal and representation of women and men in news media discourse and imagery." page 6

GMMP 2015 Preview May 2015, page 11

Summary of GMMP 2015 Preview ''women's presence in media hasn't changed much in the past 20 years, if this rate of change continues, it will take at least 40 years to reach equality." page 12

Do you want to help IAW at Facebook and Twitter?
International Alliance of Women (IAW) publishes and shares news in accordance with the focus at the website. At the time of writing this blog IAW has at Facebook 757 likes and at Twitter @Womenalliance has 354 followers. 

Part of flyer IAW

IAW is an international non-governmental, feminist organisation. It works for the empowerment of women, the promotion of women's human rights and gender equality globally. Founded in 1904 and based in Geneva. 
IAW has general consultative status to ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) since the beginning of the UN - 1947. 
Do you want to like, share, comment, follow or RT (ReTweet)? Please help us with small actions for gender equality!

Note 1 Read more in factsheet

From Words to Action 1995-2015 A European Women’s Lobby review of the activities of the European Union p 26-27 

Note 2 http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/infographic/media

Blogger Arina Angerman 
is representing International Alliance of Women (IAW) in the Policy Committee of the European Women's Lobby (EWL). 
In 1995 Arina participated in the NGO Forum in Huairou during the United Nations 4th World's Women Conference in Beijing. During this NGO Forum she started sending emails as a reporter and learned how to use the world wide web as an activist. 
Arina is a consultant in how to use social media as a board member, entrepreneur or manager: Social Media 4 (Baby) Boomers

Internet of Customers Salesforce1 WorldTour Amsterdam 2014.05.27

Salesforce.com started in 1999 and I discovered the cloud computing company in 2013. Attending salesforce 1 WorldTour was an inspiring experience!

Personal report

Focus of salesforce 1 WorldTour are the more digitally savvy customers -:) 
My 3 key words as a feedback from Amsterdam: Internet of Customers replaces Internet of Things; Salesforce Foundation is an opportunity; Dutch fund Mama Cash is using its licenses.

Internet of Customers 
Salesforce.com is 'the world's largest provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software' . Two of their 'local' customers are KLM (service and engage customers through social media) and Philips Healthcare (service to employees). 

Salesforce Foundation 
is integrated philantrophy: 'leverage salesforce.com's people, technology and resources to improve communities around the world'. Since the start in 1999, there have been a focus on social good combining time, free licenses and grants. Every year, each employee is entitled to 6 days of paid time-off for volunteer projects of their choice. The 1/1/1 model is a giving back model to communities. Employees of Salesforce.com have giving 620,000+ service hours to 22,000+ Nonprofit & Higher Education Organizations.  


Mama Cash
Since more than 20 years I donate money and time to Mama Cash, an international women's fund based in Amsterdam. I attended a breakout session in which Mama Cash (she changes the world) told how she accelarates fundraising and grantmaking with Salesforce.com technology. 

Nice to do and share

My own selfie with Google Glass  
Google is one of my favorite services - Search, Gmail, Blog, Chrome, Play. Selfie with Google Glass made by crmwaypoint.com the recognized market leader with regard to Salesforce.com in Benelux. 

ObamaforAmerica2012 
I'm a political activist using the internet in elections since 1997 and a digital campaigner using Twitter since 2010. Writing this blog I discovered a best practice - how Obama for America succeeded with Salesforce.com YouTube.

Tulip Cathay, Year of the Horse and blogger: connecting China with Amsterdam 2014-1995

Tulip ''Cathay'' is the old name of China in Holland and is meaning ''prosperous country''.
First lady Peng Liyuan of China blesses a new type of tulip
in the presence of President Xi Jinping, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima in: China Daily March 24,2014


The famous Dutch artist Rembrandt is born in Year of the Horse 

President Barack Obama in front of Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch (De Nachtwacht) at The Rijksmuseum with Wim Pijbes, Director, and Mark Rutte Prime Minister in: de Volkskrant 25 maart 2014

The spirit of the Horse is energetic, bright, warm-hearted and able. ''People born in Year of the Horse have ingenious communicating techniques (strength) ... and are independent (weakness)" 

In 1995 I participated in the NGO Forum in Huairou during the United Nations 4th World's Women Conference in Beijing. Before this inspiring event I travelled by train from Beijing to Xian where I bought this horse stamp. In Huairou I started sending emails (blogger), learned how to use the world wide web (Internet): developing digital skills.  

27.02.15 I received a mail with an inspiring quote: ''In the era of the Dragon, the year of the Sheep is very active and powerful."

Visual storytelling IAW event Towards Equality Melbourne 2012 #IAWMel

Entrance Queen Victoria's Women's Centre were International Alliance of Women Melbourne event was. Special of QVWC is the Shilling Wall.

More participants than earlier brought their own devices: laptops and tablets. And there was the first live reporting by Twitter #IAWMel

Helen L'Orange, WEL Australia Chair, inspired us by telling how Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) recruits younger members (below 30) and uses Facebook and Twitter in a successful manner as networking tools @welaust 

Unique of IAW is 
Helen L'Orange: institutional sustainability: its consultative status and influence with the UN since 1948!
Lene Pind, Secretary-General IAW: a real NGO working from the grassroots level through national, to regional onto international level.

Speaker Susan Ryan has a strong focus on gender equality in politics and now is Age Discrimination Commissioner. Australia has to support a UN Convention on the Rights of Older People, including a right to information and to learn new digital skills. 

Melbourne Girls' College with the Purple, White & Green  - feminist colours - who want to lead & achieve. In 1993 I visited an exhibition with the same title about Suffragettes in London 1906-1914. 'Purple ... stands for freedom and dignity, white stands for purity in private and public life ... green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring.' Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, 1908

Sri Samy Candidate for Lightwood Ward of City of Greater Dandenong. She is a small business owner and one of 664 women candidates (just over 33%) in the local government elections in Victoria. I helped her door knocking. We spoke to 45 people, got 13 banners confirmed and distributed 350 flyers.

Last results: 34% of Councillors in Victoria are women ranging from 1 woman to 6 women. Unfortunately Sri Samy is not elected at 27th of October. 

Initiative by Victorian Women's Trust for women & girls: A switch in time restoring respect to Australian politics by Mary Crooks. Launched in September 2012 is a call to action in gender equality, strengthening democracy and climate change. See also blog Women in Politics

A contribution to 'she is young, she is fifty' are fiftyshadesof50.com.au/ She is 50+, confident, healthy and has a mid-life opportunity. Online? Of Course!