Some more thoughts on my previous post, and a couple of things to clear up. Two misconceptions arose from my post because I chose not to lay out a lot exposition on some of my own beliefs on how the world works. Let me rectify that now.

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UPDATE, 1/19: Follow-up post is here.

A post from Internet analyst/author/smart-person Clay Shirky titled "A Rant About Women" has got quite the discussion going around the Intertubes. Read (or at least skim) it before continuing; let me also take this introductory opportunity to do the obligatory feminist thing and thank the dude for taking time out of his busy schedule to wrestle with the giant questions of why don't women do as well as men at X. Here it comes… thank you. OK, so I'm being a wee bit sarcastic, but seriously: it really is nice to see these conversations happen outside of the usual suspected fora of listservs, blogs, etc, all for and by the ladies.

Much of the resulting discussion has been a bit heavy-handed on both sides– "OMG, he's totally right!" "OMG, he's totally wrong!" Some great points have already been well covered by others, especially Jezebel blogger Anna's point that women aren't allowed culturally to be the aggressive jerks that successful men are. This was also the place where I had the most visceral reaction — the conclusion that we need to teach women to be more like men: more assertive and aggressive, demanding of what they want and need. This approach to solving the "where are teh womenz" problem misses the mark in a way that 70s & 80s power feminism also missed the mark for me. The "we're just as good as men" statements and subsequent actions set the wrong frame. It assumes:

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I wanted to share with you an amazing worldwide conference that I'm participating in next week. It's called "Women Who Tech," and it brings together hundreds of women who leverage their technology savvy to inspire change and transform the world. And it takes place all online and on the phone!

Women Who Tech
When: May 12, 2009. Panels are 50 min long and run from 11AM EDT to 6PM EDT.
Where: Everywhere via phone and web
http://womenwhotech.com/
A mere $10 for a whole day of goodness

I participated last year, and at first I thought the distance thing was going to be strange– but it's absolutely incredible, and I highly recommend joining in the fun. What's great is that this is really not just for women who currently tech– if you're interested social media, launching a startup, learning about new tools… this is *the* place to be.

I'll be moderating this panel:

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As many of you know, I was accepted into the first 2009 class of the Progressive Women's Voices program. I've been through the first of three weekend trainings, and I cannot say enough good things about the program and the women who run it: it's part boot-camp, part summer camp and part group therapy. I thought I was pretty media savvy before I went into this, but I've been blown away with the amount of material I've learned so far, and how much it's already shaped the work I'm doing.

In short, every woman I know should apply for this program. The deadline for applications to get into the next round of classes is coming soon: March 10. Women from all disciplines, backgrounds and identities are strongly encouraged to apply! Don't let geography or other constraints prevent you from applying — the staff is more than willing to work with candidates that get accepted. This is one of the most brilliant programs for empowering women with real skills that I've ever seen– get your application in today.

I've been bouncing off the walls since I got the official word, and now I can finally broadcast it in every medium: I've been accepted into the first class of this year's Progressive Women's Voices program! Here's a brief description of this killer training that I'll be receiving:

We are "changing the conversation" by making sure that there are plenty of qualified, authoritative, progressive women experts available to editors, reporters, producers, and bookers. For the women chosen to participate in our 2009 Progressive Women's Voices program, we provide intense media training sessions in New York, with weekly follow-up briefings and continued training, as well as support and resources for media bookings.

Not only am I thrilled to be participating myself, but I'm especially excited to work with amazing classmates — Rinku Sen, Jehmu Greene, hello! — and almuni of the program (Carmen, Courtney, I'm lookin' at you…). Thanks to the Women's Media Center for giving us all this fabulous program.

I've had the privilege of working with author Betty Fussell and her publicist, Fern Berman, for the past several weeks on launching a website to display Betty's myriad of books (Raising Steaks is her latest), writing and other savory bits.  I often count my lucky stars that I get to work with fierce, passionate women who inspire me to do good work, and working with Betty and Fern was not just that, but a hoot to boot. (It's not often that you're told as a designer that dayglo is the direction the client is thinking of going…)

Check out BettyFussell.com.

Shameless self-promotion, because I'm honored to be included in an article with so many stellar women of the media world — check out Adele Stan's fantastic writeup on women making media: Thanks, We'll Make Our Own Media.

no no, thank YOU, Adele!