2019 was that kind of year — declaring myself a dangerous woman, publishing a memoir and traveling coast to coast inspiring others to become more dangerous too, to meet the challenges of dangerous times.
Reflecting on this extraordinary year, I’m filled with gratitude for friends and family who showed up in so many ways this year and I’m feeling even more deeply committed to doing my part to make 2020 the year we shift the power paradigm, embrace the risks necessary to accelerate full equality, to end violence against women and girls, and to address the climate emergency which is the biggest threat to sustainable life beyond this decade.
Such imminent danger demands dangerous responses and that is exactly how actor/activist Jane Fonda responded – putting her own life on hold, moving to DC to lead climate protests every Friday, and putting her body on the line by risking arrest through acts of civil disobedience. She calls the action Fire Drill Fridays and for multiple Fridays, Jane has been arrested, spending at least one night so far in jail, and many of her friends have joined her in this heroic effort, inspired, she has said, by Greta Thunberg’s climate strikes, to raise awareness of the climate emergency.
Getting arrested at #FireDrillFridays with my granddaughter on Dec. 20, 2019 inside the Hart Senate Office Building.
I joined her in Fire Drill Friday on December 20, with my granddaughter, Laura Elizabeth, my daughter-in-law Laura Turner Seydel, and my 13-year-old granddaughters, Stella and May, and their mother, Tess. Along with other activist role models, Eve Ensler, Laura Flanders and 143 others, we chose to put our bodies on the line for climate justice. It was worth every minute in handcuffs and detention — reminding us all that you can’t be dangerous from the sidelines.
Front and center earlier in the 12th month of 2019 was the convening of the ninth edition of TEDWomen, and as the editorial director and co-founder, I believe the most diverse and inspiring. This year, along with curating and coaching many of the 40 speakers from more than two dozen countries, I gave my own TEDTalk, and it’s being published on TED.com on January 2!
So many memories from the book tour that kicked off at Omega’s Women and Power conference, one of my favorites. Good friend and Omega founder, Elizabeth Lesser, and I had an onstage conversation about how women can do power differently, and the book sold out on site which was an affirming way to begin a cross-country series of events that began in Utah, then in Los Angeles, San Francisco, DC, Santa Fe, New York and in my hometown, Atlanta.
There were some media highlights, too, with a conversation with good friend and CNN’s Chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman (Part 1 | Part 2) and several podcasts, all of which I enjoyed as ways to extend the book’s messages and mission.
As anyone who knows me knows well, I am a confessed women’s conference addict, and it meant a lot to me to be able to share in the book some recent research pointing to additional values of women gathering together. When Melinda Gates asked me to write about it for her Evoke blog, I was honored and in case you missed it, here’s the link — and thank you, Melinda for the ONE Billion dollar bet on Equality! #EqualityCantWait
Also in the fall, at the annual Women’s Media Center awards dinner, I awarded the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award to good friend and independent journalist, Laura Flanders.
And of course, the year included a visit to the African continent, and this summer Roar Africa’s Deborah Calmeyer and I curated a Women’s Learning Journey Safari that included visits to the South African College of Tourism where girls from rural communities are trained for the hospitality business, and to a safari camp entirely staffed by women! Along with game drives, we enjoyed presentations from women leaders from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the US. In 2020, Deb and I will host another women’s safari with site visits to some of Kenya’s most respected leaders in conservation.
My summer also included participating in Aspen’s Spotlight Health Conference where I have the pleasure of working with good friend and women’s leader, Peggy Clark.
Connecting women leaders for the purpose of activating their individual networks for collective problem solving is work that I am deeply committed to, and in 2019, Ronda Carnegie, my partner in the Connected Women Leaders Initiative, and I convened 39 women leaders from many different backgrounds and countries at the Rockefeller Foundation’s conference center in Bellagio. Together, we shaped a Declaration on Climate Justice and participated in planning sessions for UN Women’s conferences that will convene in summer of 2020 — marking 25 years since the World Conference on Women held in Beijing. It’s an important marker to determine the gains and gaps in women’s equality and to shape strategies for meeting the goals of the Beijing agreement in the next 10 years.
One of my most challenging assignments of 2019 was writing and delivering the commencement address at the University of Miami. Shaping the right message for students from five different disciplines in 8-10 minutes was a daunting task, but arriving in Miami straight from the Bellagio forum with the words of Mary Robinson still ringing in my ears — “Climate justice must be the priority frame for everything else” — I made the speech about climate. I encouraged the students to be braver, bolder and more dangerous in their efforts to shape solutions to the many challenges to sustaining life on this planet.
For journalists, moral courage is more important than objectivity, says Christiane Amanpour. "Objectivity does not mean neutrality. Truth does not mean neutrality." #SkollWF @camanpour pic.twitter.com/cbHxDVrj3U
— Skoll Foundation (@SkollFoundation) April 12, 2019
Another annual event for Scott and myself is the Skoll World Forum in Oxford. As a trustee of the Skoll Fund, it is a highlight every April to reconnect with the social entrepreneurs in that community and participate in the sessions that this year, included a chance to turn the tables on Christiane Amanpour and interview her!
There were many other activities and events in a year that started as all our years have done for 25 years — with the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Those 10 days are a back-to-back schedule of films, panels and activities. We’re excited to be returning to our lovely little cottage in the mountains of Sundance resort to get ready for another festival and another year in a few weeks.
2020 will my 77th and Scott’s 80th year! — and we are prepared to be as engaged as we need to be to be a part of the changes we want to see in our country and in our world. It will mean continuing to be fully engaged, deeply committed to doing whatever is necessary to move us forward towards less dangerous times and a more just and equitable world.
Happy New Year!
— Pat
