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Raghad and her co-facilitators did a great job of this from moment one. She was welcoming, warm, and friendly. Great presence with the group. Clearly at home facilitating in group settings. Authentic and adaptable.
The slides were used in a very appropriate manner to help facilitate conversation and keep the session moving the way it was intended. The slides were used to enhance dialogue and conversation and help participants understand the concepts by putting words and pictures together for greater understanding.
Asking questions to start conversation was excellent. We want folks to come to their own conclusions about the material and asking questions of the participants helps to draw out their thoughts and impressions. Great flow in moving things along when moments of silence occurred organically (always great to have people share and still have to keep things moving without cutting anyone off; very well done) You are authentic and that shines through in your facilitation. This also helps others feel like they can be authentically themselves. Great use of stacking when Kristin-Luana and Otto both started speaking at the same time. Great linkages to comments made by other participants and to material from previous skills. Appropriate introduction of intersectionality and how that fits with impartiality, bias and common humanity.
Not much! Perhaps only emphasizing, during check-in, the importance of formal (as opposed to informal) practice in embodying the skills.


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Jim Wyatt is reporting on Twitter this morning that the Titans will use the franchise tag on Michael Griffin. This has been reported as an option, but it didn't necessarily seem like a good one considering they will have to pay him top 5 safety money when his play on the field has been nowhere near the top 5 safeties in the league about 90% of the time. Wyatt says it will cost the Titans about $6.2 million.
They probably came to this decision after seeing their other options at the safety position. I am not a Griffin fan, but I would much rather have him back there than Reggie Nelson, who Wyatt had said the Titans would pursue in free agency.
Now their attention will turn to bringing back Jordan Babineaux as soon as free agency opens. There is always the chance they could remove the franchise tag from Griffin before he signs it if they see a better option.
This move also makes it about all but certain, if it wasn't already, that Cortland Finnegan will be playing somewhere else in 2012.
Let us know your thoughts on Griffin being tagged.
(h/t to NYTITAN21 and Dynamic Dreadlocks for posting this earlier)

subset: commoncrawl


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Sivasspor have completed the signing of Nigeria international Elderson Echiejile, who joins the Super Lig side on a one-year loan deal from AS Monaco.
The left-back spent last season on loan at Standard Liege and Sporting Gijon, but struggled to make an impact at either club and has again been deemed surplus to requirements at Monaco.
Despite the transfer speculation surrounding the futures of the Ligue 1 champions' full-backs Benjamin Mendy and Djibril Sidibe, coach Leonardo Jardim has opted to offload Echiejile, with the Turkish side confirming the move on their official Twitter handle.
#Sivasspor´umuz, profesyonel futbolcu Uwa Elderson Echiejile ile 1 yıllık sözleşme imzaladı.https://t.co/xpf2ie2BRu pic.twitter.com/YNL6fdLVSQ
- Sivasspor (@SivassporKulubu) July 7, 2017
The defender also expressed his delight at the move on social media.
New Beginnings!
Happy to be part of the team @SivassporKulubu ⚽#EU3 #100smiles pic.twitter.com/VCIGZG8JID- Elderson Echiejile (@EldersonEch) July 7, 2017
"New beginnings," he wrote on his @eldersonech handle. "Happy to be part of the team."
The 29-year-old began his senior career with Bendel Insurance in his home town before moving to Stade Rennais in 2007.
He subsequently moved onto Portuguese side SC Braga, where he won the Taca da Liga in 2013, and was signed by Monaco in 2014.
The wideman was part of the Nigeria side that won the African Cup of Nations in 2013, but missed out on the World Cup a year later after suffering an injury in a pre-tournament friendly against Greece.


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Ferrari Pens
You can find all Ferrari pens at Medawar, where we have been selecting the finest items for the Peninsula for over twenty years. We stock much of their offering in our store. If there is something you see on their website that you like and we don't have it in stock, we can easily and quickly get it for you.
Please review the Ferrari Web Site to see the kinds of items they have. Then, come to Medawar and let us help you pick out exactly the right item for the special someone in your life, or call us at if you like to see if we have what you want in stock right now.


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Privacy & Cookies
Last Updated: October 19th, 2021
The protection of Personal Information is of a particularly high priority for the management of What a Life Tours, LLC ("What a Life Tours," "we," "us," or "our"). Our website visitors can browse some of the website pages without having to submit any Personal Information; however, if such a website visitor intends to use some of the features and services we provide (such as booking a tour), then it may be necessary to collect certain Personal Information from the visitor.
This Privacy Policy applies to all users of the website and its Services. It describes the types of information we collect and how we use such information, among other privacy disclosures. This Privacy Policy complies with relevant US privacy laws and applicable EU and EEA GDPR laws.
You should review this Privacy Policy along with our Terms & Conditions before booking a tour through the website. If you continue to access and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following Privacy Policy, which, together with our Terms & Conditions, govern What a Life Tour's relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of this Privacy Policy, we are sorry, but the only option for you is to stop accessing the website.
The following words shall have the meanings ascribed to them under this Privacy Policy:
- Personal Information is any information that can identify a natural individual. This may include, without limitation, a name, picture, email address, phone number, location, and IP Address of a particular user. For users in the GDPR Areas, Personal Information is the same thing as "Personal Data."
- Processing is any operation performed on Personal Information, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure, or destruction.
- Services refer to the features provided through the website (in essence, the booking and receiving of tours).
- Anonymized Information refers to the removal of Personal Information from any information in such a manner that it can no longer be attributed to a specific person without the use of additional information. This may also be referred to as non-personal information as it can no longer identify a particular individual.
- Consent refers to any freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous indication you give, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, which signifies your agreement to the processing of Personal Information.
- You or your refers to you reading this Privacy Policy and/or using or intending to use our Services.
When you access and use the website, we will obtain Personal Information and Anonymized Information in different ways:
Information you submit to us
We will collect the Personal Information you submit to us through your inputs on the website. This may include, without limitation, when you:
- submit booking information;
- submit your payment method information for your tour booking;
- subscribe to our newsletter in the newsletter form provided on the website;
- submit comments on any of our blogs;
- contact us for inquiries, queries, or questions; and
- submit information on any other form available on the website.
Information we collect automatically
When you access the website or interact with our content, newsletter, and social media pages, we obtain certain Personal Information and Anonymized Information using cookies, pixels, tags, and other tracking technologies, as well as Google Analytics, automatically. The information we collect automatically is mostly Anonymized Information. The information we obtain automatically include:
- Analytics and usage information. This includes information about how you use the website, including the features you use, your duration of use, the website or source of your visit to the website, etc.
- Device information. This includes the device you access the website with, including the browser name, operating system, IP address, and other identifiers.
- Transaction information. This includes your bookings and payments for tours through the website.
We generally collect Personal Information to allow you to book a tour, process your payments, and fulfil our obligations. Other reasons for collecting your Personal Information include:
- To respond to your queries, questions, and inquiries, as well as send your newsletters and administrative notices;
- To enable you to navigate the website and access the content and pages smoothly;
- To gather information about how you use the website and provide improvements where necessary;
- To comply with our legal obligations and enforce our Terms and Conditions;
- To identify you from other users;
- To prevent fraudulent behaviors and secure our Services; and
- To perform other purposes described at the time of collection.
We do not share or disclose Personal Information to third parties except for those described below:
Third-party service providers
Third-parties service providers who we hire may access certain Personal Information about you. What a Life Tours uses third parties to perform tasks such as payment processing, tour fulfillment, analytics gathering, website security, email sending, and advertising. Some of these third parties include Fareharbor for payment processing and Google Inc., Facebook, and Instagram for analytics, usage, and other tracking information gathering. We also use third parties to provide guided walks/tours in the respective tour locations. In order to perform their services, these service providers require access to your Personal Information. For example, our third-party walk/tour providers require your Personal Information to identify and validate you when you show up to receive your tour.
Other users of the website
If you post content, such as reviews and comments on our review pages and the website, your content will become publicly available, and any Personal Information attached to it may be visible to other users and visitors. However, where relevant, we provide a pseudonym to protect your Personal Information (for example, you can comment on our blogs under a fake name or pseudonym).
Law enforcement
We may disclose Personal Information about you to law enforcement in response to a subpoena, court order, or other legal summonses subject to an ongoing investigation or the prevention of our intellectual property rights or those of other users or third parties. If we are required by the government to disclose Personal Information, we will comply with the law.
Other businesses
We may share Personal Information with another business if we engage in any business transfer action. This may include in situations where such a business acquires any of our assets; where we partner with such a business; where we merge with such a business; or where we consolidate with such a business or businesses.
Third parties at your request
We may disclose personal information to third parties if you explicitly request that we do so.
What a Life Tour uses cookies on the website. Cookies are text files that are stored in a computer system via a browser. Many websites and servers you visit use cookies. Many cookies contain a so-called cookie ID (a unique identifier of the cookie). A cookie ID consists of a character string through which websites and servers can be assigned to the specific browser in which the cookie was stored. This allows visited websites and servers to differentiate the browsers of individual users. A specific Internet browser can be recognized and identified using the unique cookie ID.
Through cookies, What a Life Tours can provide its website users with more user-friendly services that would not be possible without the cookie setting. By means of a cookie, the information and offers on our website can be optimized with the user in mind. Cookies allow us, as previously mentioned, to recognize our website users. The purpose of this recognition is to make it easier for users to utilize our website. We also use cookies to process user bookings and monitor the tours booked.
The cookies on the website and our content are set by us; however, some of our third-party service providers also set their own cookies to perform their services. For example, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. embed cookies in Google Analytics and widgets to track user interactions on their content.
Cookies have two categories of duration: The session cookies, which last for a browsing session (i.e., they expire when you close your browser after a browsing session). Persistent cookies, on the other hand, have defined expiry dates, which may extend for months.
Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies through our website by means of a corresponding setting of the browser used and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via the browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular browsers via the settings, tools, or help sections. However, if you deactivate cookies, not all functions of our website may be entirely usable.
You may subscribe to receive newsletters from us by submitting your email address on the form provided on the website or by ticking a box of consent on applicable places on the website. When you subscribe to our newsletter, we will occasionally inform you about news, promotions, bonuses, and offers relating to tours.
During your subscription to our newsletters, we also store your device's IP address, as well as the date and time of subscription. We collect this information to understand the (possible) misuse of your email address at a later date, and it, therefore, serves the aim of our legal protection.
The Personal Information collected as part of your subscription will only be used to send our newsletter. In addition, we will inform subscribers email, as long as this is necessary for the operation of the newsletter service or a registration in question, as this could be the case in the event of modifications to the newsletter offer, or in the event of a change in technical circumstances. There will be no transfer of Personal Information collected by the newsletter service to third parties.
You have the right to opt out of receiving newsletters at any time. You may use the link for unsubscribing at the bottom of any email we send to your email address. It is also possible to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time directly on the website via the "Contact" section.
What a Life Tours shall only process and store your Personal Information for the period necessary to achieve the purpose of collection and storage, or as far as applicable laws permit.
If the storage purpose is not applicable, or if a storage period prescribed by the applicable law expires, the Personal Information is routinely blocked or erased in accordance with legal requirements. For example, if you unsubscribe from our newsletter, we will remove your email address from our mailing list.
However, for any Personal Information shared through your content and those that exist with our service providers, we do not have any controls over them.
What a Life Tours have implemented numerous technical and organizational measures to ensure the most complete protection of Personal Information processed through this website. However, Internet-based data transmissions may, in principle, have security gaps; so, absolute protection may not be guaranteed. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will have access to the Personal Information you share or transmit through the website.
In relation to the Personal Information we process when you use our Services, you have the following rights.
- Right of confirmation: You have the right to confirm from us if we are processing your Personal Information or not.
- Right of access and rectification: You have the right to request access to and rectify your Personal Information at any time. For example, if you believe that the payment or booking information you submit is false, you may reach out to us to correct it. You may also reach out to find out about the types and categories of Personal Information we are processing and the third parties we shared them with.
- Right to erasure: You may request that we delete Personal Information at any time, provided your request does not override the law or our legitimate interest. We may be able to delete your booking information, email address, and any information submitted via forms.
- Right to object to the processing of Personal Information: If you believe we are unlawfully processing your Personal Information or you want it unprocessed due to certain reasons, you may request that we stop processing it.
- Right to reporting: If you believe we are unlawfully processing your Personal Information in accordance with applicable law, you may report us to any supervisory authority in your jurisdiction.
- Right to withdraw your consent: Where we are processing your Personal Information based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights above, please reach out to What a Life Tours via the "Contact."
If you are submitting Personal Data to us from any location within the EU, EEA, or any country under the GDPR law, this section applies to you. With respect to your Personal Data, What a Life Tours is your Data Controller – we determine how your Personal Data is processed and used in relation to the Services.
Under the GDPR law, we are allowed to process Personal Data on the basis of one or more of the following legal bases:
- Consent: Where applicable, we will only process Personal Data if you give verifiable consent (for example, where you tick a consent box or willingly submit the Personal Data).
- Legitimate interest: We process some Personal Data and Anonymized Data – such as analytics and usage information – to provide the website, detect fraud and violations, gather analytics, measure user engagements, develop new products, and improve our website features and Services.
- Contract: We mostly collect Personal Data in order to perform and fulfill the tours you request and other obligations required of us.
- Legal compliance: We gather some Personal Data to comply with the law (for example, where we are required to collect details of transactions).
California users
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) requires that businesses that collect Personal Information from people in California should grant their request if they wish to opt-out of the sale of Personal Information to third parties for profit. Fortunately, What a Life Tours is not engaged in the sale or transfer of Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing activities.
Nevada users
Similar to the CCPA notice above, we are required to grant Nevada users their request if they wish to opt-out of the sale of their Personal Information for money consideration (as defined under Nevada law). This also applies to any future sale of such information from a third party to another third party.
Fortunately, What a Life Tours is not engaged in such activity. However, if you are using the website and Services from Nevada, you may reach out to us via the "Contact" section to request that we exclude your Personal Information from any potential future sale. Please, note that we may attempt to verify your identity before granting your request.
Do Not Track signal
The Do Not Track ("DNT") signal is a browser setting that, when activated, prevents website operators from being able to track your online behaviors. DNT signal is not a stable mechanism; therefore, like other website operators, What a Life Tours does not currently respond to DNT signals. To learn more about DNT signals, please visit www.allaboutdnt.com.
What a Life Tours is a US company. When you submit Personal Data to us, be aware that you are sharing it with us in the US, and we will use it in accordance with this Privacy Policy and other applicable laws. Likewise, we use third-party service providers from other locations and may transfer Personal Information to them in their locations. However, we will ensure Personal Information is protected as described in this Privacy Policy.
For users who transfer Personal Data to us from locations under the GDPR law, we will only share or transfer Personal Data about you with third parties in locations outside your jurisdiction by relying on the European Union's approved data transfer mechanisms.
In accordance with the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other minor laws, we do not make this website and our services available to persons under 13 years of age (or the equivalent in your location). We direct and target the website and our Service at persons of at least 13 years of age. If you are under 13 years of age, you may not submit Personal Information to us except it is done by at least a parent or legal guardian.
The What a Life Tours website may contain links to third-party apps and websites. This Privacy Policy does not govern such links, and we do not represent that we endorse their privacy practices to be adequate. If you access any third-party app or website through our website, you do so at your sole risk. We recommend that you review the privacy practices – through privacy policies – of these third parties before you submit Personal Information to them.
We reserve the right to review and update this Privacy Policy for any reason, including for changes to applicable laws or our website or Service features. Updates will take effect upon posting it on this page, and we may notify you via your email address or any portion of the website. We, therefore, advise that you review this Privacy Policy frequently to be apprised of any updates. Your continued use of the website or booking our tours after any updates shall constitute your consent to be bound by such updates.
If you have any questions on our Privacy Policy, our Services, & general Terms & Conditions, please Contact Us!
- All rights reserved ©2022
- What a Life Tours LLC


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Planning a wedding, whether for yourself or for a friend, can be an overwhelming process. Fortunately, the handpicked tips and tricks in this article will help you to sort through all of your options for this memorable day.
Practice walking down the aisle as much as you can right before the wedding. Do it at your actual wedding site to test out its floor with your chosen shoes. Your walk will flow more smoothly when your special day arrives.
Alcohol can be a big expense at a wedding, so consider limiting the types of drinks and opt for cost efficient choices. For example, an open bar can cost you an arm and a leg, especially if it's open throughout your reception. If holding the wedding at an outside venue, they may have alcohol serving options available that can control costs.
Wedding Dress
A wedding dress is a big expense. There are often prom dress or bridesmaids dresses available that can turn out to be a beautiful choice for a wedding dress. Consider a bridesmaid dress, which costs less than a wedding dress but can still fit your needs. Even if you want the dress altered to change some of the styling, it could turn out to be cheaper than a wedding dress.
Incorporate small decorative items throughout all your decor. You can use a nice little ribbon in many places, such as on your gown, in your hair, or even intertwined with bouquets of flowers. An eye for detail will convey the effort you put into making your wedding day a magnificent day.
When choosing a cosmetic artist for the big day, look at samples of his or her prior work. It would certainly ruin your day to have you and your bridesmaids looking harsh in makeup that does not suit the colors or the styles you have chosen. Make sure you love it. It would be terrible to have the artist do your makeup only to realize you are unhappy with it.
Put some time and efforts into your vows to make sure your wife or husband will remember this day. Your vows are a reflection of the strength of your commitment to your partner. Concentrate on the sacrifices you are happy to make for the sake of the marriage when writing your vows. Don't just make a list of promises, however. Your vows are also your opportunity to express your deep love for your partner.
If you're a bride that has sensitive skin, then you want to pay close attention to your skin care regimen when your big day is approaching. Consider natural ingredients and treatments that will brighten your complexion.
Place a full length mirror at that head of the aisle and practice walking toward it. This will help insure a trip-free wedding day. If turning your ankles scares you, choose flats. Reducing the risk of falling is better than going with the best-looking footwear.
If could be another family member or friend, they just have to be able to carry your gear around with you. They may be able to help you as you gather the family for a group shot.
A thoughtful gift for destination wedding guests to receive is a basket of vacation goodies delivered to them in their room. Some examples of items that you should put in the basket include: disposable cameras, sun hats, sun glasses and tourist maps and guides. A local restaurant guide is also a great thing to include in the basket because it can help them to find great places to eat.
Rent a venue, with lights that are capable of being dimmed, for your wedding reception. This might seem a tad bit trivial, but the option should be there if you prefer to have low lighting for your first dance, as opposed to brighter lighting for the other activities. Verify this with the venue, before signing your contract.
During your wedding planning, arrange for even numbers of guests at each table. Grouping your tables according to age is one way to seat people with others that they will have things in common with.
You should probably keep your wedding dress at the store until the last minute. If you keep it in a closet, you run the risk of wrinkles or stains. If you keep it at the shop until the big day, it will ensure it is in pristine condition when you wear it.
Now that you've come to the end of this article, you've learned some principles you can take to heart and use to produce the perfect wedding. These tips can help reduce your stress for planning a memorable wedding for the groom and bride.


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Raised Bed On A Slope: How To Do It Right
Building a raised bed on a slope can be done. We discuss retaining walls, premade garden beds, and DIY builds for your sloped garden!
Yards aren't created equal. Some are beautifully flat and easy to work with, but others may be set on a sloped surface going either up or down. Without doing major terraforming, you're stuck working with the landscape you've got. Thankfully, building a raised bed on a slope is an option, and there are multiple ways to do it!
Depending on how steep the grade is where you'd like to place your raised beds, different variations may be necessary. You'll have to do some digging and leveling no matter what you do, but the rewards will be worth it.
So let's cover all the essentials you'll need to know to build your raised garden beds on a sloping surface. Gardening is possible no matter what your landscape looks like to start, and you'll love being able to plant your garden every spring!
Do Raised Beds Need To Be Level?
Technically speaking, a raised bed does not absolutely need to be level. Plants grow on slopes naturally, after all! But a level raised bed can help with many different things.
In a level garden bed, watering will be easier. Applying water on a slope means the top is more likely to dry out before the bottom of the slope does. You want your bed to have an even distribution of soil moisture, so a level bed is best for that.
Similarly, nutrients dissolved in the water will flow to the lowest point. Having level beds ensures the even distribution of fertilizers and other amendments you add to your soil.
As rain hits a non-level raised bed, another thing can be unevenly distributed: your growing medium itself. You can end up with some rather severe erosion issues if you don't level off your beds.
Finally, it's a lot easier to work on a level surface. Gardening on a slope can be a bit of a challenge in the best of times, so when you have the option of leveling things out, you should take it! Your raised garden bed will perform better overall.
Reinforcing A Steep Hillside
If your hill near where you'd like your beds to be is a steep slope, it can seem daunting to get everything set into motion. Since water flows downhill and carries dirt and debris with it, erosion could be a major factor with a heavily-sloped surface. Reinforcing your steeper hillsides will help you to protect your beds from damage as well as protecting the rest of your yard from flooding.
The easiest method of reinforcement is by building retaining walls or reinforcing fencing to hold back the hillside. This should be done during a time when rain is not likely to interrupt your work, as that way you don't run the risk of erosion while halfway through your project!
You'll need to carve out the side of the hill to make a level, stepped location for your raised beds. Leave enough room for both the raised bed and your intended reinforcement wall, plus additional room if you want to access the side of the bed closest to the reinforcement. You'll likely need to remove quite a bit of soil to make a level surface.
Once the soil is out of the way, you may need to remove a little more soil to add leveling sand and tamp it down for a good base for your wall. This is especially true if you'll be building a concrete wall, as you don't want it to sink into the soil underneath it! Take time to make sure it'll be on even, secure footing now, or you'll be rebuilding it again later.
After the soil is stable, it's time to build your wall. Both concrete block and wood are options depending on the steepness of your grade. A very steep grade should use concrete block, while a shallower one may be able to be held back with wood.
A good concrete retaining wall can easily be 24" to 28" thick to ensure it can handle the weight of the hillside behind it. Typically, these walls will be constructed of two layers: one which leans inward towards the slope, and a secondary wall that acts as the front surface you'll see. Between the inner wall and the hillside, you'll need to add some gravel to allow excess water to drain and to help stabilize the soil.
Wooden retaining walls are often much thinner, but usually have a moisture barrier directly against the soil, then a heavily reinforced fence panel against that. Often the fence panel will have runners that extend out into the upper slope as well to ensure that the fence stays stationary. Rebar or heavy lumber posts will add even more stability.
Take time planning out your retaining wall in advance and make sure you allow for plenty of room between that and your future gardening space. Building a retaining wall can open up quite a lot of room for your future garden!
Terraced Gardens
A terraced garden style can be done with or without raised beds. But for the best results, the addition of some raised structures can really enhance your environment.
In technicality, these multi-level plots are another variation on raised gardens. After all, you're just leveling and stair-stepping your garden for maximum working area. Something like this can be incredibly effective and essential when dealing with heavily sloped surfaces!
With a terraced garden, you'll definitely want to build sturdy retaining walls to prevent erosion. Something on the weaker side may allow a lot of soil to spill out around the edges. This gradually will reduce the amount of good soil you have in your upper levels and can overflow the lower ones, so it's important to start out right.
Building individual raised beds to hold the majority of your soil in will prevent the erosion issues that come with terraced gardens. You can even use the raised beds in conjunction with your terracing for a great, sleek-looking space.
Gardening On A Shallow Grade
A shallow sloped surface is much easier to work with and requires a lot less soil to be moved. For a vegetable garden in a location like this, you'll need to level the sloped surface just a little bit before you begin construction.
Make sure that the surface for your future beds is level, tamped down if you want it to be a bit more compacted, and that everything is out of the way. Then it's time to construct your beds!
Steel Raised Beds
A galvanized steel garden bed of the sort that is sold through the Epic Gardening store is a great choice to build. Construction of this style of bed is incredibly easy, as it's ready to go right out of the box. Build the configuration you want if you're going with one of the 8-in-1 beds or 6-in-1 beds by using the included screws to secure it together in the shape you desire. The fixed-size bed pieces are also easily assembled with screws.
Once your bed is assembled, you'll need to make sure that the bottom of the frame is flush with the ground and that the top is level. If you've done your preparation in advance, this is easy. Otherwise, remove small amounts of soil to level out the sides of your bed.
If you've got problems with moles or gophers, place some hardware cloth underneath your bed to prevent them from digging up your plots. Check the level once more so you make sure your bed isn't tilting downhill, then fill with your potting mix of choice and you're ready to grow!
One last aspect with this style of bed: while the planting medium should prevent your bed from moving, if you're dealing with a heavily sloped surface you may want to confirm there's no chance of the bed sliding forward due to the pressure of the hill. Sturdy stakes made of rebar or wood can help. Pound the stakes into place along the inside of the bed to secure it in place. Lumber will deteriorate over time when covered with damp potting mix, so using rebar or other metal stakes is generally a better option for use over many years.
Wooden Raised Beds
Wooden beds on a slope work out well, too. This style of garden is more of a custom build than an out-of-the-box project, but it's easy to source wood and screws to assemble them.
As with galvanized garden beds, you'll want to make sure your bed isn't sloping or sitting on an angle. Level the ground in advance where your bed will be.
Most wooden beds are simply a box made from boards that have been cut to size. Cedar is one of the favored lumber types for this style of build due to its longevity, but you can opt for Douglas fir or other woods as well. Avoid pine, as this will break down quickly when exposed to moisture. Gardens are always moist!
I prefer 2 x 6 lumber for the sides of my garden bed, but depending on your design you might opt for other sizes. The perk of a 2 x 6 board size is that two of them stacked atop each other is one foot in height, so it's easy to plan for your desired height and buy lumber. Most people prefer raised beds with sides at least 12" deep, and these pieces will work well for that!
4 x 4 posts make good reinforcing corners. If you'd like to anchor your bed securely in place, you can make the corner posts about 12" longer than necessary for the height of your side panels, and bury the extra 12" at each of the corners under the ground. This ensures that the frame won't move or shift from its position.
Once the construction of your box is done, set it in place and check the level. Adjust the placement of the bed's sides to eliminate sloping. As with metal beds, you can anchor your bed with stakes if necessary. Fill with your garden mix of choice, plant it out, and you'll have a beautiful garden in no time!


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AcuDetox is an ear detoxification protocol. Sterile, very thin, one time use needles are placed in certain points on the ear helping the body to detoxify. It also helps with addictions.
Training & Qualifications
East Asian Medicine Practitioner licensed by Wa State Department of Health
AcuDetox Specialist licensed by NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association)
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CFR Master Class Series With Rachel Vogelstein
Rachel Vogelstein discusses gender equality in U.S. foreign policy, including a look at the relationship between women's workplace participation and economic growth.
The CFR Master Class Series is a weekly 45-minute session hosted by Vice President and Deputy Director for Studies Shannon O'Neil in which a CFR fellow will take a step back from the news and discuss the fundamentals essential to understanding a given country, region of the world, or issue pertaining to U.S. foreign policy or international relations.
O'NEIL: OK. Thank you, Teagan, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to another of our Master Class Series. This is where we go beyond the headlines and look at a particular foreign policy issue in much greater detail with one of our senior fellows here at CFR.
So today's topic is going to be gender and gender equality in foreign policy. And we have—with us to discuss this we have Rachel Vogelstein. Many of you know her. She is the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow here at the Council on Foreign Relations. She's also the director of our Women and Foreign Policy Program. Now, what some of you may not know is that she has been thinking about these issues and working on these issues for many years from many different directions. So she is a lawyer by training. She specialized in gender-equality issues and she now teaches, actually, at Georgetown Law School, these sorts of things. She has done a stint in government. She's worked in the State Department for the advancement of women in foreign policy. She has also been in the nonprofit sector. She worked at the Clinton Foundation and other cases advancing these issues. And she is on several boards, where she is—shares her expertise, just as she's going to share her expertise with us today.
So—(laughs)—I'm going to turn it over to Rachel to talk for about eight or ten minutes to set the stage, to lay out some big issues for us, and then we will begin the broader discussion and invite all of you in. So, Rachel, I hand it over to you.
VOGELSTEIN: Shannon, thank you so much for that kind introduction. It's wonderful to be with all of you for this CFR Master Class on women's workplace participation and economic growth, a topic that has become all the more urgent as nations confront not only our current global health crisis but our current global economic crisis.
So today I propose to answer three fundamental questions on this topic of women's economic participation. First, what is the status of women in the economy in the modern era? Second, what is the relationship between women's work and economic growth? And third, what can the U.S. foreign policy apparatus actually do to advance women's economic participation around the world?
So let's begin by exploring the status of women in the economy. And a data-driven review of the past twenty-five years shows that the overall status of women and girls has improved considerably, but despite the gains that we've seen women's participation in the workplace has remained largely stagnant. So I'll date this review back twenty-five years purposefully to capture the progress following the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, where, famously, women declared with one voice that women's rights are human rights; but also, importantly, where 189 nations adopted an ambitious platform for action calling for the full and equal participation of women in political, civil, social, and—importantly—economic life.
And since that time we've seen tremendous headway made in advancing the status of women in a few areas. I would point to legal frameworks and institutions. We've seen a record number of countries, for example, put laws prohibiting violence against women on the books, going from kind of three in 1995 to over a hundred today. Multilateral institutions have elevated the rights and participation of women. Think in particular of the U.N. Security Council, which has passed several resolutions relating to the participation of women in peace processes—recognizing that when women participate, peace agreements are more likely to be forged and more likely to last at least fifteen years.
And we've also seen concrete progress in a few sectors, and I would point to health and education in particular. In the area of women's health, the rate of maternal mortality, which previously stood at half a million women every year, over this time period of two-and-a-half decades essentially has been cut in half. And with respect to education, in just twenty years' time we saw the gender gap in primary schooling virtually closed on a global level. So that means that today there's an entire generation of girls around the world who have an opportunity to go to primary schools that their mothers and grandmothers may not have enjoyed.
So while there's certainly more work to do in all of the areas I just referenced, these gains show us that we have and we can make significant progress on issues that are too often seen as intractable. But these gains have not translated into progress for women in the workplace. So two-and-a-half decades after the Beijing conference, we see that the highest echelon of the economic sphere remain largely male. And despite the gains that we've seen in girls' education, women's labor-force participation has actually stagnated over this time period, over these three decades, dropping from 57 percent to 55 percent globally despite the strong evidence we have that women's economic participation benefits not only families and communities, but entire economies. And in that same period, the gap between men's and women's labor-force participation has remained virtually unchanged. And of course, we know that there's a gender wage gap in every country in the world for which we have reported data, including here in the United States for those of you who are calling in from there.
So what explains this stagnation? There are three kinds of barriers at play that I'd like to highlight.
The first: legal barriers to women's economic participation. The legal playing field remains rigged against women in the workplace virtually everywhere. So at CFR we've actually created an interactive report called the Women's Workplace Equality Index, which uses data from the World Bank to rank countries based on how level the legal playing field is for women in 189 countries. And we find that most countries still have laws on the books that make it harder for women to work than men. In fact, there are 104 countries that actually restrict the kinds of jobs that women can hold. That's in both developing and developed nations alike.
So in Russia, for example, women can't seek employment in 456 specific occupations, from woodworking to driving a subway. Argentina prohibits women from entering so-called dangerous careers such as mining, manufacturing flammable materials, even distilling alcohol. French law actually prevents women from holding jobs that require carrying twenty-five kilograms or more.
And there are other legal limits that restrict women's ability to participate and compete in the economy. So there are seventy-five countries that restrict women's property rights. Fifty-nine countries have no legal protection whatsoever against sexual harassment in the workplace. And eighteen countries still require women to have their husband's permission to work outside the home. So there's a constellation of legal barriers that contribute to the stagnation in women's workplace participation.
There are also structural barriers to women's economic participation, and I'll highlight a few.
Gaps in secondary education. So while I talked about the improvement in schooling at the primary level, where we've reached parity on a global level, there are only a quarter of nations that have actually reached gender parity in upper secondary education. So those educational gaps that remain undermine women's economic potential and also reduce broader economic growth. There's one estimate that suggests that the cost of this gap is nearly one hundred billion per year in global GDP.
We also see that women's overrepresentation in the informal sector and in low-wage work contributes to this stagnation. So women's participation in the informal economy is particularly high in developing nations, with 86 percent of employed women located in the informal sector. And of course, informal-sector workers enjoy few of the benefits or protections that are offered in the formal economy, and have lower wages as well.
And then women's burden of unpaid labor, the disproportionate burden that they experience—which includes domestic work; care for children, the sick, and the elderly—there are estimates that suggest that women perform 75 percent of the world's unpaid work. And that not only effectively subsidizes the global economy, but it also reduces women's ability to earn in the formal marketplace.
So there are legal barriers to women's workplace participation, there are structural barriers, and then of course there are cultural barriers to women's full participation in the workplace. And I'll just name a few.
Gender gaps in opportunity actually affect time use from a very early age. So we see girls between the ages of five and nine spend an estimated forty million more hours a day on household chores than boys. Girls between ages ten and fourteen spend 120 million more hours per day. So this really shortens considerably the time that girls have available for schooling and professional training, and that ultimately affects their ability to compete economically.
Marital norms like child marriage, which affects one in three girls under the age of eighteen and one in nine under the age of fifteen, that can curtail education for girls, but also impede their future employment potential.
And views about acceptability of women's work outside the home also constrains their workplace opportunities. So the ILO and Gallup have done a recent study that shows that 34 percent of men and 30 percent of women worldwide still believe it is unacceptable for women to hold jobs outside the home, and this is true even in many middle- and upper-income countries: China, Turkey, South Korea. Upwards of 60 percent of people still believe that men are more entitled to jobs than women when jobs are scarce.
So why do these barriers to women's workplace economic participation matter? Now that we've talked about the status of women in the economy, I'm going to answer our next question, which is why advancing women's economic participation is related to U.S. interests in economic growth.
And today there's a really strong pool of evidence that demonstrates the relationship between women's workplace participation and growth; that it's not just a rights issue, but there's actually an economic imperative at play. There are leading financial/economic institutions like the World Economic Forum that find that countries in which the gender gap is closest to being closed are those that are more economically prosperous and secure.
And we've seen similar results from studies in the private sector. For example, in 2015 McKinsey Global Institute released a study assessing the potential gain of gender equality in workforce participation at between $12 (trillion) and $28 trillion globally. So to put that another way, that's about 26 percent of annual global GDP if we closed the gap between men and women in the workplace. So think about that. At a moment when nations around the world have been roiled by economic challenges, we're leaving trillions of dollars of economic potential on the table.
And there's also research that supports the notion that women's economic participation matters not only at the macro level, but also at the micro level; that women are more likely to use resources to benefit their families and communities, investing in things like health care, education, sanitation, which can have a multiplier effect at the local level.
So there's been a wave of activism not only in the U.S., but around the world over the last few years highlighting many of these barriers—in particular, the issue of violence and harassment in the workplace. But even before this wave began, political leaders had started to recognize the economic imperative of women's workforce participation, and I'll just give a few examples.
In the 1990s, Canadian lawmakers eliminated the so-called marriage penalty, a product of the tax code that had depressed incomes of secondary earners by requiring couples to pay higher rates in comparison to single taxpayers. In Japan we saw Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Womenomics agenda, which put female workers at the center of the country's growth strategy by increasing childcare benefits and incentivizing workplace reforms that were family friendly. And in Bangladesh we saw Cabinet ministers seeking to advance economic development by increasing the share of women in the workplace through infrastructure initiatives such as bringing electricity to rural areas to reduce the burden of unpaid labor on women.
And countries that have pursued these strategies have also, importantly, seen results. So in India, after two states changed their succession laws in the 1990s to grant women the same right to inherit family property as men, women became more likely to open bank accounts, their families enjoyed more financial stability, you know, according to studies by the World Bank. Similarly, we saw in Ethiopia the government eliminate a requirement for women to obtain their husband's consent to work outside the home, and five years later women in the three regions where this policy first went into effect were more likely to work outside the home and were more likely to hold paying jobs, as compared to women elsewhere in the country. So the evidence is overwhelming. A really critical path for twenty-first century nations to get ahead is to ensure that they're not leaving half of their population behind.
And that brings me to our last question, which is: Given that advancing women's economic participation promotes prosperity and stability, what is it that the U.S. government can actually do to advance this strategic imperative? We actually have, as a government, in recent years invested in a number of different approaches to elevate this priority. Certainly, the appointment of the first-ever U.S. ambassador at large for global women's issues in 2009, which has been emulated now by ten other countries around the world, helped elevate these issues on the foreign policy agenda.
In 2011, we saw the United States first-ever APEC ministerial summit on women in the economy, taking an issue that is often relegated to the sidelines and putting it squarely on the head of state agenda. We saw in 2014 the U.S. work with G-20 leaders to set an ambitious target to increase female labor force participation by 25 percent of the next decade across G-20 nations, a goal that if achieved would add an estimated one hundred million women to the global workforce.
And in the current administration, which has been, I would argue rightfully, criticized for undermining women's rights in the areas of health, and education, et cetera. This administration has also acknowledged the importance of women's economic participation globally, working with G-20 leaders to launch the Women Entrepreneur's Finance Initiative, a partnership to increase financing, to improve women's access to capital around the world, a program that really expanded the Women's Entrepreneur's Opportunity facility that existed prior to that, unveiling a governmentwide initiative to advance women's economic participation globally, which followed the passage of legislation in 2018 on this issue called the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act.
So there's been a number of great initiatives over the last several years and several administrations to elevate this priority. But I would argue that to truly generate returns on the investments that we're making in women's entrepreneurship around the world, we need a more comprehensive approach. Greater access to capital is important, but it will only go so far if women remain legally prohibited from entering in business relationships or holding positions that are available to me, and if structural barriers impede women's ability to have and gain the skills they need to participate or, importantly, if cultural barriers continue to block their path once they enter the workforce.
So at the Council, we've released a report called Building Inclusive Economies to outline several recommendations for what the U.S. government can be doing through its foreign policy apparatus to address some of the remaining legal, structural, and cultural barriers that I referenced. And I'll just give a few quick examples before we turn to our discussion. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, an aid agency of our government, evaluates the legal position of women in a given country when making decisions about whether to provide assistance in the first instance, assessing factors like women's ability to register a business, or sign a contract, serve as a head of household.
That policy, which went into place over the last several years, has created a so-called MCC effect, where countries have actually enacted legal reforms in order to attract U.S. aid. So in 2006 we saw during negotiation with the parliament of Lesotho, we saw the end of the practice of giving women the equivalent of the legal status of minors. In 2007, in order to secure MCC investment we saw the Mongolian government enact a series of property rights reforms that increased the percentage of female landowners. So this type of incentive model could be expanded to see greater change at the country level.
I also believe the U.S. should encourage similar reforms within multilateral economic institutions. For example, using our leverage at the IMF to make equal treatment for women in an economy a precondition of a positive assessment of fiscal health. We have seen that the IMF has already started running a pilot program to that effect, and it could be expanded to become a global norm.
And finally, if we're really serious about advancing women's economic participation globally, we have to tackle the laws and the policies that are still on the books that essentially rig the game against women, and thereby impeded broader economic growth. So one way to do that, the U.S. Treasury Department and the State Department together could release an annual report, similar to the State Department's Trafficking in Persons report, to really put on the pressure and, through that report, increase our diplomatic efforts to eliminate those laws and create a level, legal playing field for women.
So the research really confirms three facts about women's economic participation. First, women remain underrepresented in the formal economy. Second, this underrepresentation stifles economic growth. And third, the U.S. government could be doing more to boost global economic growth by elevating the status of women overall. So, Shannon, why don't I pause there, and I look forward to your questions and to getting into our discussion.
O'NEIL: Great. Thank you, Rachel. That was great. And that was a great overview. And let me—let me start us off asking, just as I think about the U.S. government going out and trying to change the way other people do things, and make them more equal, and more amenable to all this, can we just—sometimes it's good—let's reflect back on ourselves. How do we do in the United States? Where are the places that we are doing well on gender equality issues, and where are the places that we aren't? And why?
VOGELSTEIN: That's a great question, Shannon. And I remember from my days of working at the State Department how important it is to proceed with humility on these issues, because there's no country in the world in which we've achieved gender equality. And the U.S. could do a lot to lead by example, in addition for pressing for a level playing field for women in other countries around the world.
The United States did not come in the top ten on the Women's Workplace Equality Index that we created at CFR last year. And there are a few reasons for that. And I would highlight in particular the lack of paid family leave. We're one of just a handful of nations in the world without any form of paid family leave, which has a disproportionate effect on women in our workforce. And the lack of a childcare system, an issue that I think many of us are experiencing keenly at the issue and that will continue to be an issue, even when we're in a position to reopen many of the schools and childcare centers that have been closed in recent months.
You know, that lack of infrastructure has a dramatic effect on women's ability to participate in the economy, and really makes the U.S. stand apart from other nations that have very different policies when it comes to paid family leave and childcare. We also know from reading the papers over the last, you know, year plus that workplace harassment and violence against women continues to be a major factor in women's ability to participate economically on the same level playing field that—as compared to men. And I would also point to investment in women-led businesses. You know, the percentage of venture capital that goes to women-owned businesses hovers around 3 percent. It's dramatically low as compared to venture capital going to businesses run by men.
So those are just three areas I could rattle off of the top of my head, but there are so many others, I think, that we really share with other nations when it comes to a gender wage gap, when it comes to a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work on women. There are a lot of reasons where we stand to do a lot in our own government to reform in order to really have a strong voice of leadership on these issues around the world.
O'NEIL: Great. Thanks.
Why don't we go to the first question? Teagan, why don't you remind people how to line up for a question if they have one as well.
STAFF: Certainly.
(Gives queuing instructions.)
We will take our first question from Maryum Saifee.
Q: Hi. Thank you so much. This was excellent.
My question is sort of focused on the U.S. and kind of leading by example. Women, and specifically women of color, have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, especially in terms of employment. So how can we promote a more intersectional policy approach? That means striving for both gender parity and racial equity in reskilling, bridging the digital divide, and sort of closing this workforce participation gap that you talked about?
VOGELSTEIN: Maryum, thank you for that terrific question. And you have so much expertise to share on this issue yourself. Now, I would first recognize the important point that you just made about the intersectional overlapping forms of discrimination that many women experience. We see that barriers exist not only on the basis of gender but also on the basis of race, ethnicity, a whole host of factors. And we know that this affects women's renumeration. So we see that the gender wage gap is bigger for African American women in the United States, Latino women in the United States, as compared to certainly white men, but also white women. So there's a lot of work to be done.
I think the very first step is making sure that we are collecting, and disaggregating, and analyzing data on these different variables. There are too many places where we lack that information and ought to be at least collecting and analyzing it to create a baseline from which to create policies to address those gaps. There's an institution that is called Data2X, which is focused on closing gender data gaps that relate to gender equality, racial equality. And those are often initiatives that are perhaps less exciting than initiatives that tend to get headlines. That in fact creating that baseline of data is a really important starting point.
You know, around the world we don't have data, speaking of other nations in addition to the United States, about household assets. We can't say which assets are held by women versus men, to say nothing of the other variables and the characteristics that you mentioned. So without that information, it's very hard to talk about what exactly the gaps look like. So I think that's a first step, but there are also a host of other policies, including thinking about leadership and participation in decision-making rooms, because there are plenty of studies that also show that not only are decisions in the economic sphere better when you have a diverse group making that, but that we also see that representation matters when it comes to addressing many of the gaps that you talked about. So those are the two starting points that I would point to. And it's a really great point.
O'NEIL: Great. Let's take the next question.
STAFF: Our next question will come from Ellen Chelsler. Ellen, please accept the unmute now button.
We will take our next question from Hani Findakly.
Q: Thank you very much. Can you hear me?
VOGELSTEIN: Yes.
Q: Very good. This is an excellent discussion. And I thank you for that.
My question really is for a response to the issue of where the U.S. stands, and the fact that this is exactly one hundred years since women were allowed to vote in this country, in 1920. And as an economist, I just think of it in terms of very simple terms, half the world's population ought to be producing half the world GDP and ought to be paid as much. But given the disparity of income that's related to skills and what have you, to what extent has the U.S. done in empowering women by incorporating into our free trade agreements and multilateral trade relationship, like the new NAFTA and others, the incorporation of giving women—not just simply having more positions and pay them more, but to give them access to gain skills and opportunity so they can compete, and what is their worth?
VOGELSTEIN: Thank you for that terrific question. We are indeed marking the centennial of suffrage here in the United States, although we also recognize that not all women were able to vote, even after 1920. And then it took the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s to extend the franchise to even more women. And I've been giving a lot of thought to this question, now that we are a hundred years on. And I think that trade is a really interesting area that has really expanded on the agenda of those fighting for gender equality and those thinking about economic growth.
There's a new piece of legislation that was just introduced by Senator Casey to think about how the U.S. could, through its own trade negotiations, put this issue of gender equality on the agenda. And it gets back to this same question that I raise before about how we assess kind of economic competitiveness and fiscal health. That having a level playing field certainly seems like a reasonable place to start as a floor. And just as we've been thinking through trade conditions that would best promote economic growth in other areas, you know, this is, again, half the world's population, half the population of a given nation.
So encouraging the leveling of the playing field through trade conditions or other provisions in trade agreements is an area that is very ripe right now. And there are a number of other countries that have been putting these types of positions forward. The Canadian government, the Mexican government, officials in Sweden and in France. There are very robust conversations happening at the policy level in foreign ministries, in trade ministries. And I think there is a lot more that the U.S. could be doing on this front as well.
O'NEIL: Great. Let's go to the next question.
STAFF: We will take our next question from Steve Wallace.
Q: Thank you very much, Shannon and Rachel. Outstanding conversation.
I wonder if you could address sort of the limits of the legal and structural remedies that you've outlined. I think in addition there's probably cultural or educational carrots or sticks. And maybe it's—when you mentioned that we're not in the top ten countries, are there things that the top ten countries do in raising their children that give them a result that's far more favorable than we have in the United States, as regard to gender issues, that are non-legal and non-political.
VOGELSTEIN: That's a great point. The legal changes that I've advocated for certainly are one step. But a precondition to progress, but not the sole solution. There are plenty of places where we've seen legal restrictions lifted, and there are still cultural and social norms that affect not only the way in which women are treated versus men in the economy, but also the choices that women and men make. And so one phenomenon that I would point to that exists everywhere in the world is occupational segregation. We see that around the world that women, when they are concentrated in a given sector, that that sector is paid less than when men are disproportionately represented in that sector.
And what's really interesting in looking at that from a cross-national or cross-cultural perspective, is that it turns out it's not the work itself that generates the high wages, but the disproportionate concentration of men. So one clear example is medicine. Here in this country, historically men dominated the medical field. And it was, and continues to be, a lucrative field. In Russia, women dominated the medical field, and it was far less lucrative in that country than it was here. And yet, you're getting the same antibiotic prescription or surgery in both countries, in many respects. So it wasn't the skillset. It was the concentration of women versus men.
That occupational segregation is a phenomenon we see everywhere in the world. In our country, we see in particular very high-wage sectors, like technology, science, engineering, those tend to be male dominated. And we see a drop off, even at the middle and high-school level. We see girls who start out learning STEM skills dropping off, so that by the time you see selections of college majors or graduate school choices, that we already have an economic effect as compared to the disproportionate concentration of men in those sectors than women, even at the level of tertiary education.
So there is a lot more that can be done to promote equality for girls and boys at the primary and secondary school level, even by requiring STEM education as a baseline. Computer science mainstreaming throughout public and private education, for example, where it becomes not something that you opt into but something that is standard. That could have an effect that then affects, you know, the choices that are made in—at the tertiary level. So that's just one example. And I think you're absolutely right that more needs to be done to consider those cultural and social norms, and what incentives we can create or policy tweaks we can make, like mainstreaming curriculum across the board, that could produce different results.
O'NEIL: You know, Rachel, let me jump in and ask: I mean, one thing is to, you know, deal with the segregation by occupation or the like, and another is to change the way the ladder is climbed, and especially when you get to the highest levels. So one is to get above 55 percent, or whatever it is, in the overall participation. But how do you get in the C-suite or the boardroom? And could you talk a little bit about, well, have any of those numbers improved at all, when you're looking at that? I know there's been legislation in various places, or there's been particular funds who say they won't invest if the board doesn't have a bit more diversity. But talk a little bit about market mechanisms and/or legislative policy initiatives. Have these mattered? I mean, where are we going in that sense? How do you get more women into those rarefied rooms, let's say?
VOGELSTEIN: That's a great question, Shannon. And you know, I think that we have enough evidence now from countries that have put quotas or targets into place that those types of efforts really do make a difference. Whether that's with respect to women on boards or thinking a leadership structure overall. You know, it really does make a difference to have women and really a diverse group of people—a diverse group of women, a diverse group of men and women in those rooms. And setting targets can really help overcome some of the unconscious biases that we know from plenty of social science evidence still continue to undermine women's ability to climb to the highest levels.
I think that's as true in the private sector as it is in the public sector. We still have a mental image in our minds—social science research bears this out—of what leaders look like. And as we continue to try and shift that image, having policies like targets or quotas in place have been proven to really be quite effective. There are also kind of systematic reviews that the private sector can put into place, even in the absence of a piece of legislation or a policy requirement that have also proven to be quite useful. So there's that program called EDGE, which grew out of the World Economic Forum, which is essentially as LEED certification in buildings, it's the same in the private sector for gender equality. To be certified by EDGE you need to take a number of steps to show how you are, as a company, changing leadership structures, analyzing data, and closing many of these gaps. And that type of private sector initiative could make a difference, even in a country or in a company where there isn't actually a target or a quota that's legislated by the government.
O'NEIL: Great. I think we have time for one last question. So let me turn to our members for the last one.
STAFF: We will take our next question from Ellen Chesler.
Q: Now can you hear me?
O'NEIL: Yes. Great.
VOGELSTEIN: Hi, Ellen.
Q: I'm sorry that I'm a Luddite with Zoom. Somehow I hadn't pressed the right button earlier.
Needless to say, this has been just an incredibly rich, and well-organized, and concise conversation. But in your policy toolkit, particularly through the U.S., Rachel, I'm sure not by design but by simple omission, you left out support for family planning. So I do want to point out to this assembled group that we—there are two hundred million women in the world who still report unmet meet for family planning, that U.S. resources have diminished dramatically, obviously, under the Trump administration. And there's probably nothing we could do better if we are able to take back our government to advance women's equality in the workforce than to build back USAID and other funding for family planning and for, needless to say, UNFPA. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that, and other ideas you might have in that arena?
VOGELSTEIN: Ellen, it's such an important point. And I'm really glad you raised it because it certainly warrants discussion at the sort of top of the toolkit that we were referencing earlier. There's a demographic dividend, which you well know and have talked about and have written about, that economists have seen when family planning is widely accessible and available, and when cost is not a significant barrier. And that demographic dividend results in economic growth. And there are many countries in which, as we saw, the rates of access to family planning increase we also saw the—that women's ability to participate in the economy grew, and of course we saw growth as a result.
This is an incredibly important issue. And certainly, we could be doing more through U.S. policy to close the considerable gap in access to modern methods of contraception, which we see in so many countries around the world. And it continues to be an issue here in the United States as well, where certainly when we think back to Maryum's first question about disparities not only on the basis of gender but on the basis of race and other factors, that there are still many gaps to close here in this country. So I think it's a really important point and one that warrants more attention, and importantly, resources.
O'NEIL: Great. Well, we're reaching the end of our time. You know, Rachel in her remarks mentioned a couple of these interactive tools that she and her team have built that are on CFR.org. And if you haven't checked them out, you should go because you can look up your favorite country, or your least favorite country, and see how they're doing on all of these measures. And there's other things you can play around with there. So they're really fascinating tools. I highly recommend you check them out.
Remember next week we're going to have another one of these. Bruce Hoffman is coming. He's going to talk about domestic terrorism in the United States and its history. But for now, everyone please virtually join me in thanking Rachel for her time. We really appreciate it. Thanks all.
VOGELSTEIN: Thanks for having me. Take care.


text:
Maccabees Temple, Port Huron, Michigan
View of the Maccabees Temple in Port Huron, Michigan. Printed on front: "Maccabee [sic] Temple, Pt. Huron. Pesha, photo." Handwritten on back: "Dear Friend, have forgotten whether or not I returned your card. Took my exam yesterday. Found some of it quite hard. Children's Day exercises I understand are to be week from Sunday. E.C.D." Card is postmarked June 19, 1909.
- Creator:
- Pesha, Louis James
- Resource ID:
- bh023732
- Subject:
- Knights of the Maccabees--Buildings
- Streets--Michigan--Port Huron
- Photographers--Michigan
- Photographic prints
- Postcards
- Date:
- c.1909
- Format:
- 1 postcard ; 5.5 x 3.5 in.
- Department:
- Burton Historical Collection
- Collection:
- Clarence Faber Collection
- Location:
- M/Localities-Port Huron
- Copyright:
- Physical rights are retained by DPL. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.


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Earlier this week, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), providing the necessary majority for the ERA to move forward in becoming part of the U.S. Constitution.
Knowing you have rights is universally transformative: Social empowerment trainers across all of our country programs begin sharing the importance of rights from the moment women start the program, and especially when trainers begin to see changes in the women themselves. Our curriculum dives deeper with a section on gender equality, rights, and decision-making.
Because when women know they have rights, they know they matter and can demand that their rights are honored.
So in celebration of this 38th ratification, we wanted to share with you some of what women in our program learn about their rights.
Universal Human Rights
Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms "inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family."
Classes stress that human rights are those rights which all human beings are born with, no matter what their race, age, sex, religion, nationality, marital status, or personal beliefs. Human rights allow us to live in dignity and be respected.
All human beings have natural rights they are born with and that cannot be taken away by anyone.
When a person's rights are violated, this is an act of injustice. When people demand their rights, they are fighting for justice and for what they deserve. Promoting women's rights is fighting for justice, not asking for a favor.
A government can protect natural rights of human beings by creating laws, but governments do not grant people human rights: We do.
National Laws
The governments of many countries where we work have laws that guarantee some women's rights.
So why do we say that we work in some of the hardest places in the world to be a woman? Often, there exists a gap between what happens on paper and what happens in practice, which comes from traditional, customary laws, social norms, and women not knowing they have rights. While customary laws and social norms aren't always bad, they don't always protect women and girls, sometimes working against them.
Here are a few examples of national laws where we work and what happens when women know and demand their rights:
In Nigeria, there are many cases where women can inherit land – which is crucial to having economic opportunities – but many people don't know and violate that right. When a husband dies, often the wealth is divided amongst his own brothers or family members, rather than his widow or children. Many men do not realize the importance of writing a will, which could help alleviate some of these challenges if implemented properly.
When Faith's husband died, his family took all of the land, leaving her and her children in poverty. Through Women for Women International's program, she learned a skill to support her family and learned about women's inheritance rights. She's taught the people around her about inheritance, including her own father, who has included Faith and her sister in his inheritance alongside their brothers.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Having a marriage certificate is crucial for many women to protect their own rights to inheritance, property, and child custody – as well as the rights of their children, including access to healthcare or education. In countries where polygamy is not allowed, it can also prevent a man from having multiple wives.
Alice, a graduate of our program in Mumosho, advanced to our Change Agents advocacy program and now advocates for women's rights in her community. She and other Change Agents have begun raising discussions with other leaders in their community about the strong connection between the marriage certificate and protections for women and children. They have encouraged more women to gain marriage certificates and by advocating local government officials, made it easier for couples to register their marriages – helping more women claim their rights and secure the future of their families.
Afghanistan promises many rights to women, including the right to employment and even to run for office. Yet we know that the reality for women is precarious: Often, women are not allowed to leave their homes, seek an education, and continue to live in fear of domestic violence due to societal norms and gender inequality.
Some graduates of Women for Women International's program have gone on to run for local office. Women in our Change Agents program learn advocacy skills and secure meetings with government officials – including a personal meeting with Rula Ghani, Afghanistan's First Lady – to discuss advancing women's rights and opportunities. In Nangarhar province, Change Agents secured a commitment from the Department of Martyrs and Disabled people to provide aid to 10 disabled people in the province and the establishment of a Madrasa for 35 women.
The Madrasa is a local school that will educate women about their basic rights – including a right to education – using Islamic studies.
Protecting and Advancing Justice
Just as the ERA may face more barriers before cementing women's equal rights as law of the land, legal protections for women all over the world have a long journey – on paper and in practice.
Since societal expectations play a big part in restricting gender equality, Men's Engagement programs are critical. Engaging men is crucial for long-lasting, impactful change. Through the program, men learn about societal norms that are harmful to both the women in their communities and themselves through upholding negative expectations for men. By addressing these social norms, the program hopes to transform communities so both men and women have equal rights and opportunities to fulfill their potential.
Along with teaching women about their rights, Women for Women International's program teaches women to advocate for themselves. Through practical exercises and role play, the women in our program learn to actualize these rights to improve their communities. For instance, the Change Agents in our Nigeria program are now seen as leaders in their communities. They often intervene and assist in cases of domestic violence and even serve as mediators during community conflict. Recently, Change Agents hosted negotiations between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers to address the violence between the two groups – and begin building peace.
The women in our programs are a testament to what happens when women know they have power and come together to use it: They make the world better.


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makes it personal.
Our virtual assistant empowers patients to self-navigate, connecting to them wherever they prefer to engage, whether on desktop, mobile, or via your patient portal. By creating a single entry point for all digital patient journeys across all platforms, they can get the right care at the right time, decreasing overhead and helping caregivers practice at the top of their licenses.
Expand Patient Access
Our virtual assistant empowers patients through a single entry point via a conversational AI interface.
Reduce Costs
GYANT decreases call center volume, support staff overhead, and physician burnout by helping patients virtually engage with your health system anytime and anywhere.
Digitize the Patient Journey
GYANT's empathic interface empowers patients to interact on their terms at their convenience.
Streamline Triage
We take the guesswork out of the process and navigate patients to the right care at the right time.
Increase Productivity
GYANT reduces administrative burden and allows you to redeploy resources to where they are truly needed, helping your physicians practice at the top of their licenses.
Navigate COVID-19
GYANT manages the patient journey from initial inquiry through each patient's second vaccine dose; empowering and keeping patients safe.


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Expand your mind, interests and spiritual awareness this year. Personal growth will encourage you to envision life from a different perspective. Create what you want to happen in your life. It's up to you to soothe your soul and live life your way. Set goals, and pick up the knowledge and the skills you need to reach your destination.
(Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.)
ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- It's up to you to finish what you start. Put your energy to good use, and take care of business before moving on to the things you'd prefer to pursue. Avoid excess at all costs.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Take care of yourself. Fitness, exercise, diet and rest are encouraged. A healthy attitude will promote a better and brighter lifestyle. Personal gain is within reach.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Sit tight, take care of personal and domestic matters, make adjustments to the way you live and do your best to avoid disruptive influences. Concentrate on making positive changes at home.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Reach out to someone you enjoy working with. Before you make a decision, confront issues that may become a problem. Personal improvement and growth are favored.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Pick up the pace, and focus on whatever will help you accomplish what you set out to do. Put your heart into whatever you feel passionate about, and you'll be content.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Be creative when dealing with changes you are facing or want to pursue. Taking a different approach will alter your perspective regarding how you feel about someone close to you.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Take the initiative, and do something that will help your community or family. Getting angry will not solve problems, but making reasonable suggestions will. Don't take a risk when it comes to your health.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Do what you can, and stop wasting time trying to achieve the impossible. Look for an alternative way to use your talents that will also improve your lifestyle. Work on certain important relationships.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Concentrate on what's important to you. There is money to be made if you tailor your skills, knowledge and experience to fit the current economic trends. A contract looks promising.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Thrive on change, but don't go overboard. Know what you want and focus on what's important. Make your home environment welcoming to friends and family.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Don't be a follower or fold under pressure. Consider what's best for you and the people you love. Be reasonable in the face of opposition, and proceed with your plans intelligently.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Look for innovative ways to help those in need without yielding to unsafe situations. A positive change in your personal life will make things easier. Make romance a priority.


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From the publisher:
In Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning when chaos reigned. Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport and probes why the English, in particular, have 'proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract'.
This tenth-anniversary edition of a footballing modern classic has been fully updated to include the development of gegenpressing as pioneered by German coaches such as Ralf Rangnick and Jurgen Klopp, and its subsequent influence on the world game. It also analyses the tactical evolution of Pep Guardiola, the increasing alternatives to possession-based football and the changing role of the goalkeeper, as well as investigating the trend of full-backs developing into midfielders and the consequent return of three at the back.
The author:
Jonathan Wilson's Inverting the Pyramid won the National Sporting Club Book of the Year award, and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. His other books include Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football; Sunderland: A Club Transformed; The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches; Nobody Ever Says Thank You, a critically acclaimed biography of Brian Clough; The Outsider: A History of the Goalkeeper; The Anatomy of Liverpool; Angels with Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina; and The Anatomy of Manchester United. He writes for the Guardian, Sports Illustrated and World Soccer, and he is the editor of The Blizzard.


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In case there were ever any doubt that Midtown means business, consider how near the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is to the luxury condos of 40 West 12th. The famously broad-shouldered business economy of Atlanta has its ancestral home here in Midtown. And with the desires of today's knowledge-based workforce to enjoy the live-work-play lifestyle of mixed-use districts and neighborhoods, the condos of Midtown have plenty of businesslike neighbors and plenty to offer that popular way of life. In fact, 96% of respondents to a 2019 community survey described Midtown as a great place to live and work.
A Prosperous Year
During just the past year, the Midtown Alliance, a team that includes some of Atlanta's most influential public- and private-sector executives, reported nine major development projects completed, adding 720,000 square feet of office space, 770 residential units, 288 hotel rooms, and 128,000 square feet of retail capacity. Signature projects completed in Midtown during 2019 included the AC/Moxy Hotel, Forty by SCAD, Alexan on 8th, and 208 12th Street.
And an estimated 1.2 million visitors flocked to more than 11 major Midtown community events during 2019, including the Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and the Piedmont Park Arts Festival.
A High-Quality Life
Thanks in part to the Midtown Alliance master plan known as the Blueprint, now in progress for more than 20 years, recreational spaces are blended with commerce, below the high-energy skyline. Transit stations become ever more efficient and admirable. Street-level lighting and public art, together with places to take a break, make walking a more and more viable and enjoyable choice throughout Midtown, thanks to these initiatives. Designs are in progress for a proposed linear park that would transform the connections among street corridors and the three MARTA stations that link Midtown with other neighborhoods.
The condos of Midtown are embraced by an enjoyable neighborhood where pedestrians, bicyclists, walkers and joggers relish the results of tens-of-millions in streetscape, transportation, and clean-and-green initiatives. For more information on the good life of Atlanta Midtown, and especially how to own at 40 West 12th, visit 40West12th.com or contact us at 404.347.3838.


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Multi-System Compatible Full HD (1920 x 1080) Resolution Sony Smart TV Interface Built-In Wi-Fi and Ethernet Connectivity Content Mirroring Technology Sony X-Reality PRO Video Processing 4 x HDMI / 2 x USB / 1 x Component Video MHL Connectivity via HDMI Sony ClearAudio+ Sound Technology Dual Built-In 10W Speakers
Product Code: KDL-40W700C Product ID: 25128
Product sold by: samstores.com
Availability: In Stock New
Enjoy Internet connectivity and detailed 1080p images with the Sony KDL-40W700C 40"-Class Full HD Smart Multi-System LED TV. This multi-system TV supports NTSC, PAL, and SECAM systems and incorporates Sony MotionFlow XR 200 Hz technology for fluid video motion. This model features a 40" display and has a 1920 x 1080 resolution for viewing high-definition content. As a Smart TV, this model has built-in Wi-Fi for accessing Sony's entertainment network. Ethernet connectivity is also built-in for wired high-speed Internet connections. This model even has built-in screen mirroring and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity, which allow you to wirelessly share content with compatible devices.
With two USB and four HDMI ports, you have a variety of options for connecting high-resolution audio and video sources. On-board MHL support over HDMI allows you to connect and charge compatible mobile devices and share multimedia content on your TV's larger display. A shared component video and composite video input is also onboard for connecting additional video sources. This model has stereo speakers, which deliver 20W of total power. Additionally, this multi-system TV includes a plug adapter for US use.
Please Note: This is a multi-system television and it does not include a digital/ATSC tuner to receive over-the-air broadcast channels in the US. In order to receive US broadcast channels, a separate converter or cable/satellite box is required. Please refer to the owner's manual for setup and operational assistance.
X-Reality PRO
Sony X-Reality PRO is designed to upscale and sharpen images. It also removes different types of noise from analogue and digital TV formats, DVD, Blu-ray discs, and even digital photos.
Sony Entertainment Network
Sony's Entertainment Network allows you access a large library of content such as video, games, apps, and more. Content availability may vary by region. You can press "Discover" on your remote to quickly and intuitively explore new content.
ClearAudio+ Technology
Sony ClearAudio+ is designed to analyze and fine-tune your audio tracks for optimized clarity and separation.
Screen Mirroring
When paired with compatible, Miracast-enabled devices, screen mirroring lets you share videos, photos, and other content from your smartphone or tablet on your BRAVIA TV via a wireless connection.
Additional Features
Opera apps and Internet browser
Twitter access
Frame dimming backlight
Live color, deep color, MPEG noise reduction, CineMotion, film mode, and Cinema Drive
Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE)
24p True Cinema technology
Sony S-Master digital amplifier and S-Force front surround
Clock, sleep timer, and on/off timer
Network: One-flick entertainment (not compatible with One Flick Remote), Social Viewing (Tweet only), photo share, Live Football mode, screen mirroring, search, TV Sideview, Wi-Fi Direct
Eco: Dynamic backlight control, backlight off mode, light sensor, power saving modes
Screen Size 40.0" / 101.6 cm
Resolution 1920 x 1080
Viewing Angle Up/Down/Right/Left: 178°
Video Signals 1080/24p (HDMI only), 1080/60i, 1080/60p (HDMI / Component), 1080/50i, 1080/50p (HDMI / Component), 480/60i, 480/60p, 576/50i, 576/50p, 720/60p, 576/50p, 1080/30p (HDMI only), 720/30p (HDMI only), 720/24p (HDMI only)
Picture Modes Vivid, Standard, Custom, Photo-Vivid, Photo-Standard, Photo-Original, Photo-Custom, Cinema 1, Cinema 2, Game-Standard, Game-Original, Graphics, Sports, Animation
Scene Modes Photo, Music, Cinema, Game, Graphics, Sports, Animation
Screen Format TV: Auto Wide, Full, Normal, Wide Zoom, Zoom, Caption, 14:09, 4:3 Default
PC: Full 1, Full 2, Normal
Supported Formats USB: MPEG 1, MPEG2 PS, MPEG2 TS, AVCHD, MP4Part10, MP4Part2, AVI (XVID), AVI (MotionJpeg), MOV, WMV, MKV, WEBM, 3GPP, MP3, WMA, WAV, JPEG, MPO, RAW (ARW)
Network: MPEG 1, MPEG2 PS, MPEG2 TS, AVCHD, MP4Part10, MP4Part2, AVI (XVID), AVI (MotionJpeg), MOV, WMV, MKV, WEBM, 3GPP, MP3, WMA, LPCM, JPEG, MPO
3D Comb Filter Yes
Color System PAL, SECAM, NTSC 3.58, NTSC 4.43
Wi-Fi Yes
Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) Version 2.1
HDCP Version 1.4
HDMI CEC Yes
Inputs 1 x HDMI (side) 3 x HDMI (bottom) 1 x Analog audio for HDMI (rear) 2 x USB (side) 2 x Composite video (rear) 1 x Component video (rear) 1 x RF (bottom) 2 x Analog audio (rear)
Outputs 1 x Digital optical
1 x Headphone/Audio (side)
Other Connectors 1 x Ethernet (rear)
Sound Modes Standard, Cinema, Sports, Music, Game, Compressed Audio
Dolby Support Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Pulse
Audio Power 10 W x 2
System Stereo, NICAM/A2
Speaker Configuration 2-channel, full-range (1.2 x 3.1") x 2
Remote Control Yes
Sleep Timer Yes
Picture-in-Picture Yes
Parental Control Yes
Closed Caption Yes
Supported Languages Afrikaans, Arabic, Persian, English, French, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Zulu, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu
Power Requirements 19.5 VDC
Power Consumption 68 W
Standby Power Consumption 0.5 W
Dimensions (WxHxD) With Stand: 36.4 x 22.8 x 7.0" / 924.0 x 579.0 x 179.0 mm
Without Stand: 36.4 x 21.3 x 2.2" / 924.0 x 540.0 x 57.0 mm
Weight With Stand: 20.1 lb / 9.1 kg
Without Stand: 19.4 lb / 8.8 kg
Packaging Info
Package Weight 25.2 lb
Box Dimensions (LxWxH) 39.5 x 24.0 x 6.0"
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