Awakened Women Igniting Global Transformation

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A new and growing sisterhood of women is waking up to their power to transform our world. An inner connection to their feminine essence is the source of their power, and it is propelling women to extend their inner gifts out to their families, communities and their planet; as if each gesture, word and action were a vote for a New Earth.

The impact of these awakening women is showing up globally in thousands of ways, large and small, from the women’s peace movement in Liberia that ended their country’s civil war, to weekly online conference calls in the U.S. with visionary women that are mobilizing thousands of women to activate their feminine power to co-create a new world. This article will highlight these and other amazing stories, of a spontaneous and historic arising of women world wide, who are discovering the link between personal transformation and planetary transformation.

It is my commitment to inspire women, especially my sisters in Pittsburgh, PA, to deepen their own awakening process and to become aware of and part of this feminine movement towards world transformation. Along with this article, my other commitments to this process are my involvement in two projects,  discussed more thoroughly at the end of this article, The Awakening Women Cafés in Pittsburgh (see www.WholePersonWholePlanet.com ), and the online global initiative, www.WomenWakingtheWorld.com .

This phenomena of the arising of global women’s voices is appearing as if in response to a subliminal wake up call sounding across the planet…and women are feeling an unstoppable “YES!...It is time.” This imbalanced world needs what women have…compassion, nurturing, intuition, wisdom, interconnection, collaboration, deep listening, heart-based action. And we need this now. We need a world that works for all.

Western Women Awakening

In her book with the timely title, What Happens When Women Wake Up?, author and psychotherapist Patricia Fero tells the stories of women reclaiming their lives. Instead of accommodating to other’s expectations, they are beginning to live in alignment with their inner essence (see book at www.PatriciaFero.com ).

As women learn to live true to this core essence Self-- tuning in to what really matters-- they wake up to their gifts, passions and authentic power. These awakening women bring an activated presence to their actions, to contribute to the healing of the planet, in whatever ways they can.

The context for this feminine awakening is that enough women -- especially in the West—now have the education, freedom, resources, power and will to move beyond mere survival issues. They are able harness their attention and shift their focus toward transformation of themselves and their world. And when an awakening woman has experienced injustice or trauma, rather than reacting with despair or retaliation, her response is to focus on making sure such a travesty does not happen to others. This is one way that personal transformation generates planetary transformation.

Western women born in the 1940’s and 1950’s (now in their sixties and fifties) are the first generation of women in this 5200-year chapter of male-prescribed patriarchal history that collectively established self-generated economic autonomy and power. They are the first generation of women who had sufficient economic and legal options such that their lives did not have to be dependent upon a man. For example, even though women made headway into previously limited avenues of employment, until 1964, a woman could still be legally fired when she got married.

Their new autonomy was supported by the ongoing breakthroughs born of the multiple stages of the Women’s Movement that opened pathways for women in all realms of education, politics and the workforce. The subsequent generation of forty- and thirty-something women has just been documented as outpacing men in their educational achievement and rate of income increases. In this age group, more women than men now have college degrees. (The Pew Center Study, January 2010).

It may be helpful to clarify here that Patriarchy is defined as a 5200-year old system of consciousness which has organized society, on the basis of left-brain attributes of logic, linear analytical thinking, and competition. These left-brain attributes support a separation-based consciousness: a separation of head and heart; a hierarchical structure for gender, race and class; a goal of domination; and a veneration of the male. Right-brain attributes of relatedness, intuition, creativity, and nurturing are less valued, and along with them, the feminine.

Patriarchy arose within the same historical timeframe as the development of written language; so our recorded history is the history of life within Patriarchy. This history is mostly defined by battles, conquests and wars--both territorial and religious. The contributions of Patriarchy include the rise of nations, institutions of religion, law and education, and technological development. Since this history was written exclusively by males until recently, women’s contributions have been minimized.

Dale Allen’s engaging one-woman performance, In our Right Minds: Celebrating Women, the Sacred Feminine and the Right Brain, is a helpful and entertaining education on this neglected topic (see www.inourrightminds.com ). Max Dashu has also created a masterful documentation of women’s lost history in her DVD, Women’s Power in Global Perspective (see www.suppressedhistories.net ).

The currently established breakthrough generation of economically independent  women is now post-menopausal. According to psychologist and author, Dr. Linda E. Savage, post-menopausal women now comprise the largest demographic group in America. And this cohort of women is finding its voice.

As Western menopausal women become freer from the structures of Patriarchy and the demands of mothering and caregiving within their families, many are turning their caregiving to the human family and to Mother Earth. Increasing numbers of women are choosing to invest in the greater good, propelled by their increased education and longer lifespan, their economic autonomy and influence…and by their intuition. Their recognition of the urgency of this moment in human history is compelling.

A Critical Time in Human History: “Evolve or Die”

As the world-renown human consciousness author and teacher Eckhart Tolle wrote in his bestselling book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, “humanity is now faced with a stark choice: evolve or die.” Anodea Judith, writer and teacher, describes this evolution and its shift of consciousness in her book, Waking the Global Heart, as “humanity’s rite of passage from the love of power to the power of love.”

As it turns out, many of the leaders making the most impact in the area of conscious human evolution and global transformation are elder women, many from the West. They are creating possibilities for humanity’s shift at this critical historic time.

WomenOnTheEdgeOfEvolution.com, an innovative online organization, connects visionary women leaders with women around the globe through weekly free teleconference calls. An astonishing following of over 20,000 women was created in short order. Some of the speakers they host are in the following list of transformational women, in their 80’s 70’ 60’ and 50’s, who are spearheading global transformation:

•  Barbara Marx Hubbard, 80, is a noted futurist, author, and social architect. Her work calls humanity into our evolutionary greatness, to become conscious co-creators of a spiritually motivated future. She is founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, and creator of the documentary series, “Humanity Ascending.”
•  Jean Houston, 73, is an internationally known visionary thinker, transformational trainer, prolific author of 26 books, and founder of the non-profit, The Possible Society, and the International Institute of Social Artistry that provides training to UN workers.
•  Jean Shinoda Bolen, 72, is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and author of several books including Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World, and The Millionth Circle which were both incorporated into the Gather the Women movement.
•  Marilyn Nyborg, 71, is co-founder of Gather the Women Global Matrix which cultivates the grassroots organization of local women’s circles to give voice to women; and co-founder of WomenWakinghteWorld.com , an online portal for the reclaiming of women’s wisdom, values and influence in service to life.
•  Wangari Maathai, 69, is a Kenyan activist for the environment, human rights, and democracy. She established the Green Belt Movement, for tree planting to restore the environment, and is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
•  Vandana Shiva, 58, is an Indian environmental activist for the global food and water crises.
•  Her Holiness Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi, 57, is an Indian spiritual master and visionary dedicated to global enlightenment, founder of HumaintyinUnity.org, created to help humanity awaken as Divine Love in action.
•  Marianne Williamson, 57, is a spiritual activist, author of nine books, minister in the Unity Church, who mobilizes American women on behalf of ending hunger and poverty.

These awakened and empowered women are predominately in the Western world. Meanwhile, most women in developing countries are not so fortunate. As Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn reported in their groundbreaking book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the brutality inflicted on scores of females globally has made this issue the “paramount moral challenge” of the 21^st century-- as compelling an issue as totalitarianism and slavery were in the two prior centuries. This abhorrent brutalizing of women includes acid attacks, mass rape, sexual slavery, “honor killings” and bride burning.

Even in the face of international lack of response to these abhorrent practices that create untold suffering for women, Kristof and WuDunn document that “the world is awakening to a powerful truth: women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”

New research: “The Girl Effect” and Women’s “Tend and Befriend” Response

Ironically, it turns out that educating and empowering females in these most rigidly patriarchal developing countries is becoming the economic key to these countries’ successful economic future-- and the most effective solution to global poverty and extremism.

When aid organizations and micro-lending banks direct their funds to females, research shows that an educated girl mentored in leadership returns 90% of her income back to her family, community, and even her country, while boys return only 35%. This phenomenon has been called “The Girl Effect.” Despite this, only 0.6% of development funds are directed to girls.

Another noteworthy phenomenon connected with women has surfaced as Haiti struggles to cope with the devastation from their January 2010 massive earthquake. Officials in Haiti found that the most effective intervention was to organize a women-only food distribution system. "Our experience around the world is that food is more likely to be equitably shared in the household if it is given to women," WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said. Officials noted that as the primary caregivers, women are naturally oriented to care and collaboration, and are less likely to be aggressive in aid lines.

This response from Haitian women under extreme stress fits with the UCLA research findings of Dr. Laura Cousin Klein on women and stress. In what the researchers call the “tend and befriend” response, they are finding that women have a more resilient response to stress than the “fight or flight” reaction typical to men.

The presence of the hormone oxytocin in women’s stress response “buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. Therefore women’s responses to stress are less violent. This calming response does not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because testosterone---which men produce in high levels when they're under stress---seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin.”

Women in civil-war ravaged Liberia in Western Africa leveraged their “tend and befriend” response and created a national women’s peace movement that included thousands of Christian and Muslim women. They stood up in the face of bullets, rape, lootings, starvation, and young boys being given guns and drugs to join the war.

Led by Leymah Gbowee, their non-violent protests resulted in an audience with the Liberian President Charles Taylor, followed by a peace talk attended by Taylor and the warring factions, scrutinized by the world.

These united women vowed that their men would not receive sex until they stopped fighting. When the peace talks were non-productive, 200 women bodily barricaded the men in the meeting room and told them they would physically block their exit, even for food and water, until agreements were reached.

Ultimately, Charles Taylor was charged with war crimes and left the country in exile. With UN assistance, democratic elections were held with the women’s peace movement involved in every step. Liberia elected its first ever woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. (see the documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell) Could it be that women are wired for peace as well as caretaking?

Creating a Global Voice for the Voiceless Women

Some women feel called to mobilize on behalf of their less fortunate global sisters. One of the younger global visionaries, Jensine Larsen, established World Pulse Magazine: Global Issues through the Eyes of Women, and the related online PulseWire communications media, as a way to empower women in these underdeveloped and rigidly patriarchal areas of the world. Larsen found a way at a global level, to give voice to voiceless women in Burma, Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, and even in rapidly developing China and India, using Internet cafés and cell phones, assisting women in identifying solutions to their local crises.

Through these media technologies, Larsen has established an effective, interactive, community newswire “where women’s voices can rise from the ground up, speaking for themselves to the world and connecting to solve global problems.” World Pulse Magazine has grown into an international network empowering women to create a new world. Their stories are told in Larsen’s magazine.

Larsen has validated that, “Including women’s voices benefits our world: it results in increased family and child wellbeing; more investment in education and health care; better economic growth and job creation; proper transparency and accountability. Including women’s voices accelerates social healing after trauma, as well as information sharing and problem-solving. Most importantly, it strengthens community networks, environmental stewardship, and the democratic process, as well as arts, culture, and creativity.”

The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers is another international female force arising to give voice to the voiceless, as well as to restore Indigenous wisdom for a transformed and sustainable future.These 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, from five continents and speaking seven different languages, first gathered and established their Council in 2004.

These Grandmothers, revered elders in their own Indigenous communities, gathered in response to their own visions and ancestral prophesies. Their story is told in the documentary movie, For the Next 7 Generations. Their prophecies told them that they would be called together at a critical time in history when their ancient knowledge would be needed for the survival of the next generations. Their work is “to awaken people to create a new way of life that will bring the planet back into balance before it is too late.”

World Religious Leaders Making Room for the Feminine

Every five years, the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) gathers leaders and followers of the world’s major religions, to create inter-religious cooperation addressing peace, diversity and sustainability. At their meeting in December 2009, the PWR respectfully dedicated a significant portion of their summit agenda to honoring the Divine Feminine and listening to the voices of women.

In a panel on the Divine Feminine, to a standing-room-only crowd, Sister Joan Chittister addressed the imperative need to bring gender balance into our view of God and to our world. She stressed that humanity is “seeing with one eye, hearing with one ear, thinking with one half of our brain... and it shows.”

The response was so positive that a Question and Answer session was spontaneously planned to continue her discussion. A surprising 500 people showed up, one third of whom were men. Her first question was from a Russian Orthodox Priest who stunned the crowd by asking, “Please help me understand: what can men do to help heal this gender imbalance, and bring an end to Patriarchy?”

The damaging consequences of Patriarchy to both genders and to the Earth are finally becoming clear. Following that gathering, when the panel addressing “Global Spiritual Leadership” convened with only males presenting, attendees were in such protest over the absence of women that that issue ended up monopolizing the entire presentation.

Matthew Fox, author and theologian, was ex-communicated as a Dominican Priest for his refusal to be silenced about the Sacred Feminine, the Motherhood of God, and the sacredness of Mother Earth. He now lectures widely on the need to reclaim a healthy masculinity that doesn’t suppress vulnerability or feelings of grief and joy, so that a fully enlivened sacred partnership can arise between the genders, of the sacred masculine and the sacred feminine.

Former President Jimmy Carter resigned his 60 year membership in Southern Baptist Church in July 2009, confronting their patriarchal religious sexism and inequity. In a public statement, he said, “The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable." He said that he could no longer be a part of this denomination, whose leadership refused opportunities to relinquish these damaging views.

Then, in September of 2009, the world was surprised by a potent statement made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “It is Western Woman Who Will Save the World

Why did the Dalai Lama say at the September 2009 Peace Conference in Vancouver, “It is Western Woman Who Will Save the World.”?

We can certainly speculate. Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, authors of The She Spot: Why women Are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them, offer readers this information about why it makes sense for us to pay attention to the power of women: “Women vote more, volunteer more and there is every indication that they will be giving more than men since they control over half of the total wealth in America. Women aren’t a niche–they’re the primary change-makers.”

Dee Dee Myers takes this thought further, in her bestselling book, Why Women Should Rule the Word.” Myers’ research reflects that “if women ruled the world, politics would be more collaborative, businesses more productive, and communities healthier.”  She concludes that women should lead, not because they are as good as men, or even the same as men, but precisely because of women’s different values and capacities towards care, collaboration,  interconnection and intuition—as well as the brain- based gender differences.

Such gender-based brain research has finally pulled women out of past assumptions that, because their brains are smaller, women must therefore be inferior, and that women’s brain and physiology is basically a small scale version of men’s.

As documented by brain research conducted for 20 years by Louann Brizendine, M.D. in the USA (author, The Female Brain), and Simon Baron-Cohen (author, The Essential Difference) in England, larger portions of women’s brains than men’s are hardwired for outstanding verbal ability; for deep interpersonal connection; for “nearly psychic capacity” to discern faces and tone of voice for emotions and states of mind; and for the “ability to diffuse conflict.” Larger portions of men’s brains than women’s are hardwired for sex, aggression, and the ability to analyze and build systems. Additionally, women’s brains are more integrated between the left and right brain hemispheres than men’s, with communication skills imbedded in more bi-lateral areas of their brains. 

Given our current global crises, it is good to ask which set of brain capacities (and their correlating values) is more geared to take us into a future that is sustainable, peaceful and compassionate; and into a just world that works for all?

None of this evidence needs to be interpreted to make males wrong, or to turn the tables on who is to be devalued next. That polarizing attitude is part of the old patriarchal paradigm, the very left brain based consciousness that creates separation and domination, which is no longer workable or sustainable. Thanks to Einstein, we understand that “no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

We have come to understand the need to operate with a more right-brain integrated, “whole-brain” functioning (see the article, “The 21^st Century Human Upgrade” at www.WholePersonWholePlanet.com ). And fortunately, males are increasingly integrating the right brain and its corresponding feminine qualities as they participate more actively in fatherhood, and live in cultures increasingly open to gender integration and diversity.

Male Leaders Confirming the Global Need for Women to Lead

There are more global male leaders than the Dalai Lama that are also

acknowledging the need for women to lead now. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said, “We men have had our turn and made a proper mess of things. We need women to save us. Time is running out.”  The late theologian, author and ecologist, Thomas Berry put it this way: “Women and the Earth are inseparable. The fate of one is the fate of the other.” Author and Sufi Master, Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee asserts: “Our planet, Mother Earth, is dying. It is women who are needed to activate the world soul….Nothing new can be born without full participation of the feminine.”

These men, using their influence as global leaders, are confirming and supporting something timely and vital. They recognize that there is a global need for women to lead, precisely because the world needs the ways that women are different. And they are not wasting time being apologetic or defensive.

In fact, at one of his lectures on his recent book, “The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul,” Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee took a question from a man in his audience, “What, then, is the role of men now?” Vaughn-Lee’s answer: “The role of men is to protect women and to protect this work…you honor the work that is being done by women [to repair the world] and you don’t allow it to be interfered with.” What Vaughn-Lee is modeling here is an embodiment of sacred partnership between men and women; a new archetype of right-relationship, based on deeply respectful and reciprocal nurturing between the genders.

This work that the women are doing to set the world right is being propelled by something innate within women, according to Anet Vaughn-Lee. She describes women’s unique contribution this way: “Woman has this knowledge-- this real language of life, and this language of oneness-- in her body.” (Italics mine). Her husband, Llewellyn amplifies her words by adding that this bodily source of women’s innate power “is organic, it cannot be manipulated, it cannot be controlled—it is life.”

Ancient Prophecies about the Transfer of Power from the Masculine to the Feminine

Amazingly, there is a cultural/prophetic context for the arising of this Feminine- based planetary transformation that is underway. The Mayan 2012 prophecies foretold of this shift of planetary stewardship into the hands of the Feminine. In a personal communication with this author, Nicaraguan Mayan Grandmother Flordemayo, of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, explained that the final glyph (pictogram) from the “Mayan Story of Creation” (the Dresden Codex) shows the Reawakening of the Feminine.

The “Mayan Story of Creation” tells about our current timeframe of history. The Mayan Calendar ends December 21, 2012, and a new Mayan Calendar count begins. The significance of this Calendar end-date is that a 26,000 year astronomic cycle ends and begins anew, and creates a grand opportunity for  transformation of humanity’s consciousness is to occur. This story is shown in pictorial glyphs; and the final glyph of this Dresden Codex depicts our current time. According to Grandmother Flordemayo, this final glyph shows the reawakening of the Spirit of the Feminine, and the transfer of the staff of power from the masculine to the feminine at this timeframe in history. Flordemayo explained that this reawakening and this transfer of the staff of power are occurring now, as we approach the 2012 end of the Mayan Calendar.

With this power transfer, “power” is being redefined—by women. Power is being redefined as responsibility to protect and serve all life; as Earth stewardship; and as “power with others,” instead of domination and “power-over others,” which has been the norm under patriarchy. (Go to www.WholePersonWholePlanet.com to see this glyph: select “Women’s Role in the Shift” on the Home Page; to read more about the Mayan Prophetic teachings select “Articles”).

Gathering the Collective Wisdom of Women Locally and Connecting Globally

What a wondrous privilege it is to witness, as it is happening, women awakening to their role in igniting global transformation.  Having women learn from one another how their awakened action is making a difference can support and inspire every woman in her own process of further awakening. And the synergy created from this process is already offering pathways of hope to humanity and our needy world.

What could happen if there were a coherent effort to bring the awareness of this worldwide effect of women’s awakening (which is mostly still “under the radar”) to local women in their own communities? How would the impact be accelerated?

This author is involved in two such efforts to create this connection. I have had the good fortune to be part of a core collaboration team with three other Regional Coordinators from the grassroots national organization, www.GathertheWomen.org : Marilyn Nyborg (also GTW’s co-founder), Julie Raymond, and Patricia Fero. Together we have created  www.WomenWakingtheWorld.com (nicknamed “the other WWW!”),  with a mission to “reclaim women’s wisdom, values and influence in service to all life.” WWW is a web-based initiative to fuel the role of the collective feminine in planetary transformation, and to track its progress. The web site has gathered a wealth of information for awakened action, a curriculum, a library of writings, video’s, and a blog.

Some of the national collaborators with www.WomenWakingtheWorld.com  are  the same visionary women referenced earlier in this article. The collaborative work of awakened men and their writings and videos is also included on the web site, supporting the ultimate vision of establishing a sacred partnership between the genders.

My other effort involves connecting the voices and visions of local women with global women through organizing and hosting “Awakening Women Cafés” in Pittsburgh PA. These Cafes are facilitated “conversations that matter,” applying the World Café process described in the book of that name by Juanita Brown. They are designed to generate the collective wisdom of the participants as they focus on a central theme of inquiry, which the Café is named to reflect.

In my local collaboration with Sheila Collins and LaVerne Baker-Hotep, we are field-testing this Café process as a model for activating local women’s awakening, so that Pittsburgh-area women can add their voices to those of women worldwide, in the service of co-creating a world that works for all.

In the inaugural Awakening Women Café, 40 participants explored questions related to the central focus of Patricia Fero’s book, “What Happens When Women Wake Up?”  The process generated themes of insight, further questions, and significant collective wisdom. 

The participants grappled with clarifying where they are in their own awakening process; how to identify and live from authentic feminine power; how to bring similar authentic conversations into their daily lives at home and work; and how to cultivate an inner transformation that supports them in “powerfully living and advocating for female values,” a phrase used by one of the participants.

One participant summarized, “The Awakening Women Café awakened me to be more aware of what was happening in my own life, and how as a woman I can make the world a better place.” Another reported her experience: “Hearing of another woman’s awakening helped me know this is also possible for me, and for learning my purpose on the planet.”

The plea of another Café participant, who emphasized how important it is to “spread our influence far and wide” through social networking, is something I am taking seriously. I am gathering the collective wisdom of Pittsburgh area women from these Awakening Women Cafes, and broadcasting this wisdom via periodic newsletters from my website, www.WholePersonWholePlanet.com , into cyber-space. (Readers interested in the detailed Awakening Women Café summaries can sign up for the newsletter there; for more information on hosting Awakening Women Cafés, email Vikki@vikkihanchin.com)

If Pittsburgh’s inaugural Awakening Women’s Café is any indicator, Pittsburgh-area women are ready, willing, and able to become part of this worldwide movement of awakening women. If this is true in Pittsburgh, it is surely true in countless communities across the nation and the world.

This conversation-based World Café structure may be just the mechanism needed for accelerating this historic grassroots movement of awakening women. Adding the voices of local women to the voices of global women can indeed provide a multitude of ways that personal transformation will link to planetary transformation.

It appears that a transformed world of peace, justice, and sustainable Earth-stewardship is just not going to happen without this vital participation of awakening women. And through these Cafés that facilitate conversations of awakening women who listen deeply to their feminine essence, then speak the “real language of life, and this language of oneness,” perhaps a whole new world can be birthed.

Vikki Hanchin, LCSW is a wholistic psychotherapist, writer, speaker, and workshop facilitator, who is a catalyst for personal and planetary transformation

(www.WholePersonWholePlanet.com and www.VikkiHanchin.com ).  Based in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Vikki is also co-creator of “Women Waking the World,” a web-based portal for restoring women’s wisdom, values, and influence in service to all life (www.womenwakingtheworld.com ). She can be reached at Vikki@vikkihanchin.com

© 2010 Copyright by Vikki Hanchin, LCSW