We all know what fairy tales can do for comfort. How about what they can do for women?
I met last week with Laura Albornoz, the Chilean Minister for Women’s Affairs.
Her National Service for Women (SERNAM) is doing a great job training girls from a young age to consider professions traditionally regarded as “unsuitable” for women. SERMAN has published a series of booklets of “alternative” fairy tales.
In “My friend from the blue planet”, a star tells the story of Cuca, a girl who wants to be an astronomer and goes on to become the first person on Earth to see a brown dwarf star. It is based on the life of Maria Teresa Ruiz, the first person to graduate as an astronomer from the University of Chile and the first woman to receive a PhD in astrophysics from Princeton University.
Chile, which elected its first female president in 2006, is doing great work to fight stereotypes against women.
It was wonderful to have the opportunity to discuss with Laura and with my fellow TIAW member Ingrid Antonijevic, Former Minister of the Economy of Chile, the role played by international women’s networks in telling the stories of successful members and converting these experiences into concrete advice and encouragement for other women.
Never before have I felt so pround to be a writer and a story teller…
Photo: thanks to Patricia Andrade (from left to right: Silvia, Laura and Ingrid)
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