Marcia G. Yerman's Page

Sakena Yacoobi is on a mission. Her goal is to bring education to Afghanistan, a country that has a 70 percent illiteracy rate. Her main focus is girls and women. She believes education can ameliorate the ravages of 35 years—and counting—of war. She speaks with an urgency that emanates from that core conviction. To “build a better future for Afghanistan,” she founded the Afghan Institute of Learning in 1995. “Empowerment” is… Continue

Human trafficking...the statistics are overwhelming. Approximately 800,000 people are illegally trafficked through international borders annually. 1.39 million people are trafficked into sexual exploitation. There are 16,600 people trafficked into the United States yearly, with America being one of the top ten destinations. New York City serves as a major portal for this activity.

A new film documentary, Fatal Promises directed… Continue

With First Lady Michelle Obama leading the charge to put the struggle for work/life balance front and center, the issue is finally getting top-level attention. Although both men and women in American society are overstretched (working two weeks longer per year than their Japanese counterparts and several weeks more than Europeans), it is women who bear the greatest burden of trying to be all things to all people. Stress is prevalent as women strive to parcel out portions of time to the spouse, c… Continue

Women who have taken part in demonstrations are now being executed. However, according to the prevailing conservative version of Islamic law being enacted in Iran, a virgin can not be killed. Currently, the women who took part in the opposition protest who have been arrested are being "married" to prison guards...who then consummate the marriage through rape.

The women are then killed.

… Continue

On January 11th, executive coach Peggy Klaus wrote an article for the New York Times called
“A Sisterhood of Workplace Infighting.” In it, she examined how women treat one another at work, and stressed the importance of “learning to value one another so we can all get ahead.” She referred to this issue as the “pink elephant lurking in the room.”

The room she was specifying was the office, but I couldn’t hel… Continue