2 Fil-Am women recognized for outstanding work

The entire month of March is being celebrated in the United States as Women’s History Month, where the struggles and achievements of American women throughout the history of the United States are honored.

Last week at a stellar gathering of leaders from business, philanthropy, government, and non-profits, the National Council for Research on Women kicked off 30 years of transforming the way the world looks at women and girls at its annual Making a Difference for Women Awards Dinner.

The Council will honor Beth Brooke of Ernst & Young; Abigail Disney, Pamela Hogan, and Gini Retiker of the Women, War & Peace series on PBS; Anita Hill of Brandeis University; and Soledad O’Brien of CNN at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

“Our honorees reflect the depth and breadth of our network of researchers, policy specialists, and advocates across business, communication, academia, and the arts. We will not only celebrate all that we’ve accomplished but also focus on all that still needs to be done to improve women’s economic security and advance a critical mass of women into leadership positions by 2015,” said Linda Basch, PhD, President of NCRW.

The Council also recognized 30 outstanding leaders for their contributions to changing the way the world looks at women. Immediately preceding the Awards Dinner, the Council will presented expert roundtable: Women 2012: Taking a Worldwide Reading at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (RSVP details at www.ncrw.org) which featured top experts from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the White House Domestic Policy Council, as well as the Harvard Kennedy School.

Among those honored were two women of Filipino descent – Analisa Balares, CEO of Womensphere and Stephanie Mehta, executive editor of Fortune Magazine.

Mehta, whose mother is Filipina, oversees technology, international, and Washington coverage at Fortune. She also helps set the overall editorial direction for the magazine and serves as co-chair of two of Fortune’s live events, Brainstorm Tech and the Most Powerful Women Summit.

“I feel honored to receive the Outstanding Woman Leader Award on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the National Council for Research on Women. I’m grateful for the recognition that the NCRW is giving to me and to Womensphere, for the impact that our work has made to women and girls around the world.  I’m also quite excited to be included, and to be representing the Philippines, in a roster of 29 other global leaders across all industries and fields,” said Balares, who was also recently recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, and is listed among the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in America.

Womensphere has conducted 20 conferences and forums convening over 3,500 leaders, in both US and Europe, since Balares launched Womensphere in February 2008.

“We just completed a highly successful Womensphere Emerging Leaders Global Summit, convening over 300 next generation women leaders at Columbia University last month.  This year, Womensphere’s Summits and Forums will reach and connect over 1,500 leaders in the US and in Europe,” Balares added.

“The work of the Council is far from finished when we look at the numbers of women in poverty (17 million), the intractable glass ceiling, and the on-going inequalities of income and opportunity in the United States. We and our network experts will continue to uncover disparities and propose solutions to ensure that women, their families, and communities are able to lead more economically secure and sustainable lives,” Dr. Basch said.

For Balares, 2012 is an important growth year and inflection point year for her organization.

“I’m excited about new initiatives that we’ve launched to cultivate more women leaders, like the Womensphere CEO Academy to train emerging and aspiring women CEOs, and the Womensphere Venture Investors Program, to train the next generation of women investors in the venture capital, private equity, angel investment, and alternative investment industries.  This is the year we are working on scaling Womensphere’s reach to consistently reach over one million women and beyond,” she said.