Caitlyn Hendrickson

Last week, I attended “What IS the Status of Women and Girls Around the World?,” a gender roundtable here in Washington D.C. During the Q&A, panelists from organizations like Women Thrive Worldwide, the World Bank and Save the Children answered questions on the status of women and girls globally. Are we are making progress on

Photo credit: CNN On a continent battling extreme gender disparity and inequality toward women in many countries, the world watches intently as remarkable women continue to take the stage in African politics. Over the weekend, CNN program “African Voices” showcased profiles of African women shaping government in their respective countries on their website. Let’s take

This week, ONE and the Akilah Institute trained 46 women from the US State Department’s African Women’s Entrepreneurship (AWEP) program on social media for business. After the event, I had the opportunity to interview one of the AWEP participants, Barbara Rwodzi. She is the co-founder of the House of BarRue Knitwear, an organic and green

I am delighted to introduce Glender Favour Nkezi Fombo, a 20-year-old student from Cameroon. Glender has been chosen as the delegate by the African Union for the 2012 G(irls) 20 Summit. It is a huge honor to be part of the Summit –- the committee only chooses 22 young women from around the world each

Did you know there are 3.5 billion ways to change the world? For the past three years, the G(irls) 20 Summit (taking place this year from May 28 to 29) has hoped to show governments and the world the importance of empowering women and girls. The summit works in partnership with individuals, foundations, nonprofits, governments

Malawi’s new president, Joyce Banda, was recently sworn into office following the death last week of President Bingu wa Mutharika. The former vice president is taking office as Malawi’s first female president and only the second female African head of state next to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. President Banda has her work cut out

I’m sure you remember that taunting chant from elementary school, “Girls _____and boys _____;” I’ll let you fill in the blanks with “rule”, “drool” and any other concoctions your primary schoolmates may have imagined. In a very simple but impactful way, your peers were grading girls against boys and vice versa, whether it was smarts,

On the eve of International Women’s Day, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” hosted by our friends at CARE. This bold film is the first in “Women, War and Peace,” a special five-part series on PBS that challenges the conventional wisdom that war and

In a very unprecedented move, USAID announced a new gender policy a few weeks ago. The primary goals of the policy are to shrink the wide disparities between women and men, reduce violence against women and girls, and increase their capacity to make their own life decisions and fulfill their potential. But what does this

At ONE, you will often hear the jargon “siloed,” “cross-cutting” and “lens” when referring to our issues affecting global poverty. In reality, all the issues are cross-cutting and work hand-in-hand toward worldwide development. One lens that is important to ONE and gaining the attention of the international community is gender and its role in development

In the 110-year history of the Nobel Peace Prize, most honorees have been men. The first African woman to win was Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, who was recognized in 2004 for her persistence in democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. But last week, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was honored to three campaigning women: Yemen’s

This past weekend, the National Geographic Entertainment film, The First Grader hit theaters. This powerful movie is based on the true story of a Kenyan man who believed that “power is in the pen.” Since just returning from Kenya a few weeks ago, this film certainly struck a note for me. There, I had the