Woo-Ha (got you all in check)

This is Herceg Novi, Montenegro. When Dao and I looked out of our room, this is the view we saw. It was beautiful, but the lady we rented our room from was extremely odd, to say the least. What a view!

The feminization of the women's movement...I read an article a couple months ago about how feminized the women's movement and women's NGOs are by focusing mostly on domestic violence and women's health. I could not agree more and here is why. The majority of funding surrounding women deals with domestic violence and health, both private sphere issues, often focusing on women as victims. While these issues are very important, by spending most of our resources on the private sphere issues, we continue to keep women there - in private and, often times, as victims. Think about it. Why don't we spend more of our resources on bringing women into the public sphere through conducting research and advocating for women's economic rights, political participation and being part of decision making processes? Isn't one of the main points of the women's movement to say that women are equal to men and by equal meaning allowed equal access to the public sphere and public life? I know I am over simplifying the women's movement and it is important what the domestic rights advocates and women's heath proponents have done. I am by no means diminishing their dedication and work surrounding these key issues and the progress that has been made, by which I would not be writing this today. However, it is my personal belief that until we start advocating for women's equitable participation in the public sphere as vehemently as we do surrounding private sphere issues, we will not progress much further than where we are today. Just a thought. Let's take the women's movement public.