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Linking Women of the World by Karen West Photo courtesy of Center for Women & Democracy

Changing the world one woman at a time is a lofty goal for any organization. But it’s exactly what the Center for Women & Democracy has been doing for the past decade.

The power of women in Washington state is growing stronger every day with dozens of nonprofit funding groups, mentoring programs, business support and leadership training groups. But the Center for Women & Democracy has gained a reputation over the years as “the mother” of empowerment groups by training future women leaders and connecting American and international businesswomen, academics and politicians with shared interests.

Since its inception in June 2000, the nonprofit center — which believes that women have a unique ability to make connections that transcend politics — has made its mark globally by promoting women’s leadership and participation in local, national and international affairs. It has led six international trade and educational delegations from Chile to Cuba to Morocco, and trained up-and-coming leaders from Seattle to Olympia to Washington, D.C.

As part of its 10-year anniversary celebration, the center will have its annual “Kicking Up Our Heels” event April 15 at the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia. The event, which began in 2002, honors women leaders — legislators, appointed officials, lobbyists and others — who have contributed to the state’s economic success and its leadership. This year’s event honors women in the trade industry — the Rosie the Riveters of Washington.

Previous “Kicking Up Our Heels” events have celebrated the strides that women in Washington state are making, most notably that Washington ranks among the top states in the country for having the highest number of women in the legislature. With more than 32 percent of its legislative seats currently filled by women, we rank sixth behind New Hampshire, Vermont, Colorado, Minnesota and Hawaii.

The center will also celebrate its anniversary by launching a new Women’s Global Leadership Institute at Seattle University in June. The educational program will connect local women with women from countries around the world to work on women’s global leadership.

Plans for the institute are still being worked out, but it will be geared toward undergraduate women, says Women & Democracy board member Gayatri Eassey, who graduated from the center’s original leadership institute at the University of Washington in 2002.

“(The program) taught me to recognize the value of mentoring others,’’ says Eassey, a former special assistant to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who now runs Seattle University’s outreach and employer relations programs.

Eassey says the new institute will focus on global affairs and offer mentoring, networking, leadership and educational opportunities for young women. She remembers sage advice she got years ago from former board member Rep. Phyllis Kenney, D-Seattle: “Always look behind you to make sure the door you’ve just come through is open to allow somebody else to walk through.”

SHOWCASING WOMEN

The center’s cofounders Cathy Allen, Laurie McDonald Jonsson, Nancy Hartsock and Christine Di Stefano, shared a vision of empowering younger women to become leaders. “We all had a commitment to passing the torch to young women,’’ says Allen, who serves on the center’s executive committee. “We decided long ago that we needed to promote women of the next generation.’’

Allen and Jonsson started hatching the idea shortly after participating in an all women’s trade mission led by Sen. Patty Murray in 1999 to the Central European countries of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. They recognized the enormous talent of the other delegates, which included college professors, politicians and business owners, and wanted to expand those connections globally. “We thought, how powerful is this!”

Jonsson’s early goal was to link women of the world, train more women leaders in Washington and encourage research related to women and politics. She and most of the 27 founding members contributed $10,000 to create the center, which is still supported by individual and corporate donations.

The center raises about $75,000 each year and spends about $50,000. It has grown to more than 250 members and supporters and has a 25-member board of directors that reads like a Who’s Who of the state’s most powerful women.

The center showcases cutting-edge research and issues on women and democracy through its “Food for Thought” program. Held the third Thursday of each month in Seattle, it is the center’s women’s night out program, highlighting the talents of women throughout the Puget Sound area: women starting nonprofits; bioethicists; filmmakers; winemakers and chocolatiers; would-be authors; women who have broken through the glass ceiling and run banks, corporations and construction companies.

Featured speakers have included many women “firsts” — first woman sheriff (Sue Rahr), first women to demand to ski jump in the Olympics (Deedee Corradini and Zoya Lynch) and first Alaska woman senator (Lisa Murkowski).

Luminaries from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to author/activist Gloria Steinem have also graced their podiums.

Allen says the Food for Thought program started in the center’s fourth year, when the board determined “there were many great women leaders in our own backyard — women whom few would ever have a chance to hear if we didn’t feature them.”

LEADING WHERE THEY LAND

The center began as part of the UW Women’s Center and as a Network Partner with the Center for American Women and Politics.

In June 2001, the center held the first NEW (National Education for Women) Leadership Puget Sound Institute on the UW campus as a six-day residential program designed to cultivate students’ leadership skills and connect them with women political and civic leaders. “We wanted to encourage women to think globally, to be visible locally and to lead where they land,’’ Allen says, emphasizing the center’s mission.

The program provides skills training in public speaking, negotiation and conflict resolution, diversity, fundraising and networking. By connecting high-profile women leaders with the students, the center encourages and inspires them to think about their options and opportunities. Women leaders from politics, business, the nonprofit sector and government serve as panelists, field trip hosts, trainers, leaders-in-residence and speakers to share their insights, experience and stories with the students.

Since its inception, more than 160 women have been through the program. Graduates of NEW Leadership receive information and assistance to help them continue to grow as leaders through involvement with the NEW Leadership Alumnae Association, known informally as “the New Girls Club.”

Seattle family law attorney Kristyna Larch, who is a 2002 NEW Leadership graduate, says the intensive program motivated her to go to law school and to become an advocate for women. “It opened up a terrific network for me,’’ she says. “I was empowered by the amazing women I met.”

Since 2005, the center has been operating independent of the UW, but still supports undergraduate women’s public leadership education through its training programs and events.

LINKING WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD

As part of its Global Women’s Missions, the center sends delegations to visit one foreign country each year in an effort to link women leaders of the world and build a worldwide network of support for them.

International delegations continue to be a focus of the center. In the past, the center has organized delegations to Cuba, Sweden and the Baltics, and South Africa, and participated in delegations to Ukraine. In April 2007, the center organized a successful delegation to Chile.
Last November, a delegation of 38 women traveled to Morocco, where they connected with women making a deep impact in politics, education, law and human rights.

Morocco has been a leader in the fight for women’s equality in Muslim countries. It is one of the first Arab countries to elect women to more than 10 percent of its Parliament, and its women leaders are now exerting major influence in changing the country’s “Family Law” which restricts women in matters of land ownership and child custody.

Led by Sen. Lisa Brown, the majority leader in the Washington State Senate, the center’s goal was to establish connections, exchange ideas and learn from one another’s cultures through forums, site visits, briefings and business, and enjoying the company of the Moroccan Parliamentary and other women leaders, entrepreneurs and community activists.

The international missions are integral to carrying out the center’s vision to create “a world where women have equal opportunity for leadership, voice and participation.”

Karen West is a Bainbridge Island-based freelance writer and a frequent contributor to Seattle Woman.

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