@Susan D - thank you for your insighful comments! very beneficial!

Perhaps not even FAKE IT but BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

@Rick - love that! Yes, push in! and try and then try again.

Leaving you with my favorite quote: "Where is your mountain and are you climbing it?" I feel so very lucky to have found my mountain, and while it may take me a lifetime to reach the summit, I'm on a mission that I love! If I can help any of you at any time, never hesitate to aks me.

@Susan Davis-Ali Thanks for being here and good luck with your mountain. I'm not thinking about my own, thanks to you!

Okay, so now I'm here officially (as opposed to earlier when I was just dropping in and out). Thanks to everyone who has gone before - quite a lot to think about.

Some felt they had failed because they had a very successful career but no children, some felt they had failed because they chose to limit their career so they could be a presence in their children's lives, and some felt they had failed because they just couldn't do everything. But they all had regrets which I thought immensely sad.

@Katherine - Earlier, you discussed the bounce back ability of men. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson did some great research on resiliency. She found that people with more connections, a stronger network, had exponentially more resilience. I believe women are great at building connections - the difference is that with the demands of family, they often don't have much opportunity to leverage outside relationships. Then add in the confidence piece you mentioned, and suddenly women don't come back to try again another day as they should.

But what was it about 70s feminism that set us up for feeling that we failed the promise/dream?

@Laura I think 70s feminism was about fighting oppression and sexism, whereas nowadays women CHOOSE to fit into a structure that makes it impossible to have everything at one time. Maybe we've accepted unrealistic goals.

@Laura @Terrine Maybe part of the problem is trying to the terrible curse of comparison. All the other women around us seem to have it all - why don't we?

I know I've made some choices in my life that others might not have made. I decided what was important to me and rearranged everything else around that. But it has been sometimes a bit of a hard road sometimes.

@Karen That was actually one of the things that came out of my reunion discussion. Most of the women had wonderful lives; why weren't they satisfied?

@Karen I don't want it to sound like my road has been any harder than anyone else's. I was just lucky that I could really see what I cared about most.

@Laura @Karen Rather, I think it's choosing to settle. And yes, part of the problem is comparison. If we keep up a facade of "having it all," why would anyone think we don't? It's perfectly okay to choose to be a homemaker or choose to head a multibillion-dollar corporation, if one so chooses, as long as one's happy.

@Terrine Hear! Hear! In addition to figuring out MY priorities, rather than someone else's, has been the fine skill of saying, "No." Ironic that the improv woman (my company nickname is Yes! Girl, since all improv is built on the tenet of agreement) has found boundaries so useful!

@Melissa What are the Feds doing about it?

@Melissa @Laura Recently the SBA published its Final Rule which identifies 83 industries in which women contractors are seriously underrepresented. This is 11 years after the passage of the Women's Procurement Program, and women business owners have long awaited the full implementation of the law which enables women-owned businesses to receive 5% of federal procurement dollars.

@Karen Are women underrepresented in these industries because of training or because the business opportunities aren't there for them?

From Kathy Taylor, Gender Specialist, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, UNFPA

Women, Peace and Security

Women are at the forefront of peace efforts. Despite the inherent risks and difficulties they face and endure, women - individually, in groups and in formal organizations - demonstrate extraordinary resilience and commitment to sustaining peace and normalcy in crisis settings. They are active leaders and often the first group of stakeholders to publicly demand a space in peace negotiations and reconciliation efforts. With limited resources, they seek to work with both state and non-state actors to build awareness and understanding of human rights, protection of civilians and participate in peace processes. However, time and again, women’s daily contributions to peace – both politically and in the humanitarian sphere, their stories of survival and protection of more vulnerable people (the young, the elderly and the sick) – are ignored.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is rooted in the premise that women’s participation in and contributions to the peace-building processes will improve the chances of attaining viable and sustainable peace. It is also rooted in the knowledge that gender equality itself is a source of sustainable peace. This resolution acknowledges that VAW is a gross violation and threat to peace and security.

UNFPA adopts multi-sectoral, holistic approaches to address women, peace and security issues, to combat various forms of violence and in establishment of systems for coordination of response efforts. Furthermore, UNFPA addresses the impact of war and conflict on women and recognizes the need to develop leadership capabilities of women to contribute to conflict prevention as well as conflict resolution and sustainable peace efforts. UNFPA’s programme activities under Security Council Resolution 1325, 1820 and the other 3 related Resolutions take place in both humanitarian, post-conflict and development settings under the themes of Prevention, Protection, Participation, Data Collection and Analysis and Development of Institutional Capacities. UNFPA will continue to expand its partnership with country’s governments and civil society to realize the goals as stated under SCR 1325 and the related Resolutions. Our contributions in this area are a major part of our leading role within the UN System in line with our commitment on achieving the MDGs, the ICPD and Beijing Conference goals, and various international human rights instruments.

Related Publications: unfpa.org

Related Video: video.unfpa.org

Picking up from Kathy Taylor's statement: we had the Afghan ambassador at Thomson Reuters in New York last year and he spoke at length about his belief that helping women create and sustain businesses would lead to a more stable Afghanistan.

@melissa - Excellent question - the numbers are improving, with some banks, like Key Bank and AmEx creating programs with real dollars to specifically provide capital to women. That's going to be critical once the government does create set-asides - the businesses have to be able to handle and succeed at the contracts!