LAWAC Lunch for International Day of Women
Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity of attending a panel and celebration of International Women's Day hosted by the Los Angeles World Affairs Council downtown. There, I listened to an esteemed panel of female diplomats and ambassadors from Egypt, Greece and Ecuador as they spoke about their experiences as women in the business of international affairs and how they have achieved so much.
The ambassador from Egypt spoke about her early career when she first emerged into politics and how a 300+ mile daily commute from Alexandria to Cairo and back again was for a long time, the hardest part of her working experience. As a single woman to be living alone in a big city, she and her mother were concerned about safety, so she lived at home and commuted to work. She also spoke about her struggle to embrace her identity as a woman and as a minority, an idea that many of the women and people in the audience could relate to.
The diplomat from Greece spoke about her recent projects working with the LGBTQ+ community as well as her experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace. She talked about how even though we live in a modern pair of countries and a modern world, there is still underlying sexism in both Greece and the US that she has personally faced in her life. That said, she is still extremely proud of her country's work to better those conditions and others, like regarding refugee influx and other current events.
The representative from Ecuador spoke on her transition from a career in journalism in Quito to her current work bringing the Spanish language back to the Ecuadorian-American population in Los Angeles. She spoke about the unique Ecuadorian identity and how many mistake it, along with other Latin American countries, with Mexico. Her insight on the topic of celebrating individual Latin American countries as well as the broader continent was interesting, as was her input throughout the event.
All in all, I would say that I took away a greater understanding of the plight of being a woman and proving yourself in yet another male-dominated field. These women do that and more!
The ambassador from Egypt spoke about her early career when she first emerged into politics and how a 300+ mile daily commute from Alexandria to Cairo and back again was for a long time, the hardest part of her working experience. As a single woman to be living alone in a big city, she and her mother were concerned about safety, so she lived at home and commuted to work. She also spoke about her struggle to embrace her identity as a woman and as a minority, an idea that many of the women and people in the audience could relate to.
The diplomat from Greece spoke about her recent projects working with the LGBTQ+ community as well as her experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace. She talked about how even though we live in a modern pair of countries and a modern world, there is still underlying sexism in both Greece and the US that she has personally faced in her life. That said, she is still extremely proud of her country's work to better those conditions and others, like regarding refugee influx and other current events.
The representative from Ecuador spoke on her transition from a career in journalism in Quito to her current work bringing the Spanish language back to the Ecuadorian-American population in Los Angeles. She spoke about the unique Ecuadorian identity and how many mistake it, along with other Latin American countries, with Mexico. Her insight on the topic of celebrating individual Latin American countries as well as the broader continent was interesting, as was her input throughout the event.
All in all, I would say that I took away a greater understanding of the plight of being a woman and proving yourself in yet another male-dominated field. These women do that and more!
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