Many activist organizations are relying upon their own listserves and member networks and occasional meetings and conferences to disseminate information. This is certainly effective to some extent, but in the face of the US news nearly complete omission of international womens and gender parity news, is not sufficient.
In fact the gap in getting information and dialogue with the US people, is at a noticeable lowpoint; and given its importance to global society and good government, a crisis.
Therefore, it is now imperative to use strategic, broad-reaching and more intense telecommunications techniques:
1. In addition to widely available address-book software, you can also purchase automatic desktop server software that can mail out 50.000 emails in an hour. There are several brands available; such as Desktop Server 2000, offered on many sites on the Internet for usually sold with an automatic email gathering software, called Atomic Harvester Software that can quickly gather thousands of emails by keyword (i.e. use women's issues, feminist, or women's rights, gender, women in government, fairness, discrimination, equality, children's rights, education, government, political science, election(s), politics, etc). Using such software, you can also pinpoint outreach to varied important groups of women, and men, who are not receiving any information from US media, about gender balance: for examples, nurses, doctors, social workers, women in business, law students, historians, parent-teacher associations, unions, even beauty salons, women's apparel stores, so on. (If you want to keep a low profile, you need not disclose your purpose or organizational identity in buying the software, and you can often purchase from vendors outside your own gender imbalanced nation and in a gender balanced nation.)
You can, of course, gather name and email information from megasites and popular listserves, and use a few macros to compile them into emailing lists, even without purchasing the Desktop Server and Atomic Harvester software or other commercial software; even then, it still should only take dedicated volunteers a few days to reach important audiences with a global gender update and alert, including the rank, and percentage of gender in government of their nation compared to others. If you do not want to buy new software, you have access to a computer programmer on your staff, he or she can probably program similar software themselves. But you may wish to use the Desktop Server or similar programs, because they sends the email out directly from your desktop, without needing to go through any additional Internet Service Provider for the routing of the email.
2. Use broadcast faxes to several recipients simultaneously, as well. Faxing communication led to major changes in the government of the former USSR, and is routinely used by certain dedicated activists and politicos in the US. Since Gender Balance in government has been so censored on television, radio and newspaper media, most recipients of your faxes will be very glad to get the information that is truly being withheld from them under the Political Gender Iron Curtain of the US, or other nation's Media.
3. Use audio software on your site to compile statements, translated if need be, from gender balance leaders in your or other nations. Currently, there is no site with the voice of a Finnish government leader, or Lionel Jospin and Sylvianne Agacinski, or Sonia Gandhi, and many others, all brought together on a tape that speaks to the people of the world about the importance of gender balance in representation. This could be gathered quickly, and made linkable from websites and emails.
4. Once again, use 3-way international conference calling to bring voices from several nations along with your own to the ears of your government, media and even fellow citizens. Let a French woman tell your neighbor that her town offices are now 50-50 female and male; let a women in South Africa and Australia ask your American organization friend what steps have been taken in the US to bring beyond token level numbers of women into government at all levels, and to explain progress in these and other nations. Share email contacts of friends and neighbors, or even listings in WhoWhere? in the US or France or Sweden, with your foreign friends, so you can combine outreach or do outreach in tandem, that can break down barriers and make women's empowerment for the good of men and all people truly global
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