Before my monthly greeting to you all – I want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of our dear BPW sister Linda Wilson of California. She was a staunch advocate, a contrarian ally and someone whose absence will be deeply felt for long to come. I appreciated Linda for her humor and laughter and her passion. She personified the nobler womanhood relayed in the BPW Emblem Benediction:

“This Emblem binds us all, in one great sisterhood. It bids us hear our conscience call, for nobler womanhood…”

God Bless You and keep you, Linda – forever in our hearts.

~~~~

Dear NFBPWC Diplomat:

As we step into June, I’m reminded how the work we do as members of NFBPWC reflects not only who we are – but how we show up in the world.

On June 24th, the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, we recognize not only women appointed to diplomatic roles around the world, but also the countless women who practice diplomacy through international engagement, advocacy and leadership.

As members of BPW International and proudly representing the United States within this

global sisterhood, you are International Women of Diplomacy.

Whether participating through the many aspects of the United Nations, contributing to the Organization of American States, or collaborating across borders, we are part of a collective voice shaping global conversations. Our diplomacy is expressed through respectful dialogue, cultural understanding, and shared purpose – uniting nations in pursuit of a better world for women and girls everywhere.

From the United Nations website:  https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-in-diplomacy-day

This month also brings Flag Day on June 14^th, a reminder of the ideals we strive to uphold in our nation – liberty, equality, and justice.  As members of a global organization, we recognized the strength found in honoring our individual flags while working toward common global goals. 

And on June 15th, Father’s Day, we acknowledge the men -fathers, father figures, and allies – who support and encourage women’s leadership.  Their roles in shaping a more inclusive future are deeply valued. 

Returning from the BPW European Regional Conference in Malta, I was inspired by the passion and unity of our international sisters.  I look forward to sharing more about that experience in our next issue – but for now, I’ll simply say:  we are stronger because we are connected.  And when we bring that connection into every corner of our work – locally, nationally, and globally – we create lasting change. 

Thank you for being women of diplomacy and purpose.

In unity and sisterhood,

Barbara Bozeman

President, NFBPWC
2024-2026

Mother’s Day Activism

Mother’s Day and Feminism: Honoring Strength, Choice andLove

Every second Sunday in May, we pause to celebrate mothers — the ones who raised us, nurtured us, and shaped us. But behind the flowers and the brunch reservations, there’s a deeper story to tell — one that ties Mother’s Day to the heart of feminism.

Take a moment to watch this short video on the origins of Mother’s Day(i):

https://youtu.be/TG73A1SkU1c?si=u2ut3inNKRTp7Zyn

Motherhood has often been boxed into narrow expectations. For centuries, women were told that their highest calling — perhaps their only calling — was to become a mother. Feminism shattered that mold, arguing that motherhood should be a choice, not a mandate. That mothers are full human beings, not just caregivers. That honoring motherhood also means honoring the rights, needs, and dreams of women.

Former Labor MP Kate Ellis writes inSex, Lies andQuestion Time: “The gains women have made have only ever been achieved as a result of protest and agitation, pressure and persuasion.” Why perpetuate the myth of ideal mothers endlessly stifling themselves for a pay off of flannelette pjs and breakfast in bed every May? There should be more.(ii)

Feminism reminds us that motherhood is not one-size-fits- all. Some mothers work outside the home; some stay home; some do both at different points in life. Some become mothers through adoption, surrogacy, or fostering. Some decide not to become mothers at all  —  and  their choice is just as worthy of respect and celebration.

When we celebrate Mother’s Day through a feminist lens, we recognize a few important truths:

This Mother's Day, let’s celebrate the women who mother — with all the messy, beautiful, exhausting, and life-giving energy that entails — and also honor the freedom to choose if, how, and when to mother at all.

Because feminism doesn't diminish motherhood. It lifts it up, in all its beautiful, complicated humanity.

Happy Mother's Day — to every mother, and every woman charting her own path.

Please continue to reach out to me personally or professionally as we continue our work to make NFBPWC  a  better  organization, because together we are stronger.

Best Personal Wishes,

Megan Shellman-Rickard
Immediate Past National President
immpastpresident@nfbpwc.org

Sources for reference:

i.  https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mothers-day-for-peace/#:~:text=Ann%20Jarvis%20of%20Appalachia%20founded,protest%20the%20carnage%20of%20war.

ii. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/mothers-days-origins-are-in-activism-todays-saccharine- version-is-suffocating

May is Military Recognition Month!

As the spouse of a Navy veteran, sister-in-law of 3 retired male Colonels (2 Army, 1 Air Force), sister- inlaw of a male National Guard Medic, and Female Army Sergeant, daughter-in-law of an Army veteran, and niece of a Vietnam veteran, I have a LOT of respect for their service and the Freedom I enjoy on a daily basis. I also have a LOT of respect for my sisters-in- law, mother-in-law, and nieces and nephews who spent their lives praying and hoping their husband/father would come home safe and sound.

I also have some friends who are currently serving and some who have retired from the Military and I am thankful for their service and pray for their safety.

I encourage every NFBPWC member to reflect on their Freedom and Recognize the sacrifices that are made by our military to KEEP that freedom available for us! I also challenge every member to find a way to recognize our military in their own way, not just in May, but everyday! Some things I have done are Thanking a veteran, sent care packages, bought Girl Scout cookies that were donated to the troops in the Middle East, paid for a Cup of Joe, and written letters/cards to soldiers who were away from home during the holidays! I encourage EVERYONE to do their part to Recognize our Military in your own way!

DR. JO NAYLOR
NFBPWC TREASURER
2024-2026

During our last NFBPWC Board meeting, I made a request in the Chat for each federation and/or club to send me the following information on its Executive Committee members, and on its Committee leaders in general. Some of you have done so, but are missing the email addresses, so I created the form (link here) to make it simpler to complete.

You should have received a link to the form on Sunday, April 20th. If you did not, I would be grateful if you let me know.

Please complete the requested information (either in the google document (link here), or as an email attachment (the information in italics is for information) to secretary@nfbpwc.org.

Thank you so much for completing this as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. I would like the current names and titles as of May 1, 2025.

When you have your elections, or should names change, please ensure I have the updated information.

Remember to include any committees you have celebrating women who are serving in the military or have done so in the past.

My email – secretary@nfbpwc.org is always open! Thank you!

Nermin K. Ahmad
NFBPWC Secretary
2024-2026

Dear Members,

As we turn the calendar to May, we are greeted by both remembrance and renewal.

It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of Sylvia Perry, Past International President of BPW International.  Sylvia was not only a remarkable leader, but a truly cherished friend to many of us.  Her wisdom, warmth, and enduring commitment to our mission touched lives across the globe.  We will carry her legacy forward with the same strength and grace she exemplified.  Our colleague from California, Monique Lee put together a tribute for her that you will find in this issue. 

May also marks Military Appreciation Month—a time deeply personal to me as a retired United States Air Force Master Sergeant.  I take great pride in continuing a family tradition of service, with my granddaughter now following in those same Air Force footsteps.  To all our members, families, and loved ones who have served or are serving, thank you for your dedication, sacrifice, and courage.

We also celebrate Mother's Day this month—a heartfelt salute to the mothers, grandmothers, and maternal figures in our lives whose strength and love shape generations.  Whether you are celebrating, remembering, or being remembered, I honor each of you. Here’s a picture of me and my mom a few years back.  I do miss her so very much. 

Mid-May brings another moment I am truly looking forward to: the BPW Europe Regional Conference in Malta.  Events like this deepen our connections, open doors to new collaborations, and invigorate our shared purpose.  With a conference theme of “Breaking Barriers!  Drive Your Own Success” it’s sure to be a don’t miss event.  If you’ll be attending, I can’t wait to see you there!

As we look ahead, I invite you to grow your leadership and impact—join a committee.  We have openings for passionate members ready to take the next step.  Your voice matters, and your involvement shapes our future.

I'm especially excited about the new directions we're exploring with our Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Committee, and we welcome Nicole Mpouli as the new chair of the L3 program.  These initiatives are paving the way for deeper engagement, learning, and global influence.

Together, we continue to Connect, Unite, and Ignite—building on our legacy while creating bold, new paths forward.

With gratitude and determination,

Barbara J. Bozeman
NFBPWC President, 2024-2026

Celebrating Our National Parks on Earth Day

On Tuesday, April 22nd – Earth Day – I will be celebrating our National Parks and the immeasurable treasures that they bring us: wild, expansive, and historical.

The National Park Service is responsible for many of our nation's most  treasured places. Efforts to restore ecosystems, recover imperiled species, enhance visitor infrastructure, and protect night skies are all important to preserving our parks for the benefit of present and future generations.(https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/in dex.htm)

From a feminist perspective, the history of women in the National Park  Service is marked by exclusion and inequity. However, women have had increasingly vital roles in the preservation, study, and operation of parks. I urge you to read the referenced article, Breeches and Blouses, which focuses more on uniforms, but recognizes the inequities that women had to endure regarding clothing while performing the same duties as their male counterparts. It is also important to note that our beloved National Parks include a darker and more distressful history:

Part of the history of the National Park Service also includes men, women, and children dispossessed of their homes and property (including Native Americans and Japanese Americans), as well as those excluded from park areas and programs because they were Black. (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/historic-women-of-the-nps.htm)

For so many of us, the National Parks system represents a wealth of beauty in nature and history that cannot be measured by Wallstreet and stock indices. As our family discovered on our tour of National Parks in the Southwest for spring break, beauty is found in the natural world that has been preserved at each park. The expanse of the Grand Canyon does not translate to words or viewed in pictures (although I did include some). The Joshua Tree, many with branches that have seen more years than me, are more spectacular in person. The park boasts rock formations placed as if they were part of an art exhibit. Despite my efforts to include a panoramic (360) view of Zion National Park, it is impossible to portray the magnificence of the canyons that appear in every direction. Mesa Verde holds the history of people who were here long before the colonists and conquistadors. These are nature’s art exhibits!

The worth of these National Parks cannot be calculated in terms of our current monetary system, their value is so much higher than what can be calculated in those terms. As I stand with our National Parks and the people who serve them, I want to share my experience of awe and concern as we see these environments threatened. Earth Day is meant to celebrate things like these incredible wild resources, and I, for one, intend to defend them.

Please continue to reach out to me personally or professionally as we continue our work to make NFBPWC a better organization, because together we are stronger.

Megan Shellman-Rickard
Immediate Past National President
immpastpresident@nfbpwc.org

SPRING CLEANING!!!

April is an AMAZING Month! Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. People are traveling more and spending more time outside. It is also a month for reviewing and analyzing your finances and submitting your tax returns.

This is also a good time to review what you have done so far this year and what you plan to do for the next 9 months and make a budget if you haven’t already done one or revise what you had already set up for this year.

My family does “Spring Cleaning.” We go through all of the winter clothes we have to determine which clothes we want to keep and which clothes we will be donating. We also go through all of our Spring/Summer clothes to decide what we want to keep for this year and what to donate. I encourage you all to do your own version of Spring Cleaning and decide what you need to keep in your life and what you would like to let go.

Dr. Jo Naylor
NFBPWC Treasurer
2024-2026

My email – secretary@nfbpwc.org is always open!

March is always exciting in NYC because of the Commission on the Status of Women – an event hosted at the United Nations, in its 69th year. This year, with our new Vice President for the UN, Neelima Basnet, our IF BPW sisters arrived in large numbers, well prepared and ready for action. There were countless side events, organized by organizations in collaboration with country hosts, usually in the UN Headquarters but often in venues across the city. Parallel events – there were more than 750 of these (with about half on zoom) – were in a few off-site locations, open to anyone who was interested.

The NGO CSW sign-in page is open to all interested people, and sign-up for a WHOVA account enables registrants to see all the events, and sign up for those of interest, or those on zoom. Sign-ups are more important to give hosts an idea of attendees and were less used as a form of attendance control.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many remarkable women collaborating or laboring individually on improving lives of women around the world. Violence against Women, equal access, rights and pay for women, investing in women entrepreneurs, empowering women and girls, highlighting human trafficking and the big business it represents were some of the continuing subjects I followed; however – All as a way to close the gender gap (or widen it), climate change education, including boys and supportive men in the dialogues, giving a voice to young women and girls, recovering from the deleterious impact of COVID on female rights were some of the newly emphasized subjects.

After a long day of meetings, it was a joy to meet up with IFBPW members from across the globe, and get to know them better, see what they were engaged with, and how IFBPW is seen as a force for good, with extensive projects directly assisting women in various types of need.

A consensus was that especially young women yearned for better financial literacy, that many women did not even know the questions they needed to ask to be able to succeed, and that mentoring made a world of difference to all women.

It is impossible to know how many women from abroad will be able to get visas for CSW70. If it is as well attended as CSW69, there may be a need to consider new venues – rooms were over-filled, and there were nearly no accommodations made for people who were blind, had hearing issues, mobility issues or required other forms of assistance. There are a significant number of women in their 80’s and 90’s who are vigorously present, but cannot stand for an entire session, and who did, as there was no seating. A blind colleague could only get personal assistance by asking for and paying for it outside the UN. I saw no one providing signing for the deaf. I fear that we inadvertently exclude too many people but hope that through online and hybrid events we will increasingly be able to find ways to be inclusive.

It was a privilege to be there.

I personally feel more engaged with IF BPW, as well as NFBPWC, and it was encouraging to speak to so many women interested in joining our organization. We have excellent new trifolds, in English, French, Spanish and Italian that we were able to distribute – in meetings, in corridors, on the street. There are many people who seem to be looking for membership in an organization that provides support and sisterhood.

Nermin K. Ahmad
NFBPWC Secretary
2024-2026

Hi friends! I don’t know about you, but March couldn’t have been busier for me. It was chock full of advocacy and BPW work. We kicked off strong at the Leader’s Summit where BPW members from around the world got together to learn more about our organization and the work being done across our vast network. Learning about other BPW chapters is always inspiring - and I’m excited to cultivate those relationships to grow our Federation.

After two packed days at the Leader’s Summit we dove right into the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women which provided an overview to the Beijing Declaration on its 30th anniversary. However, in the words of one of my favorite quotes of the two weeklong session “an anniversary is not an accomplishment.” In other words, just because we’ve reached the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration does not mean we’ve made any real strides towards gender equality. It was a powerful reminder that in the global fight for women’s rights, we still have a long way to go. What’s more, in another session one of the panelists noted that the goals set in the Beijing Declaration have not evolved over time. While AI and tech advances pose more issues for women’s rights, our demands for equality have not adapted with the time. We’re constantly fighting roll backs on rights and new forms of discrimination. Ladies - we’ve got our work cut out for us.

The good news is we aren’t backing down. We continue marching forward in our mission, and as a great mentor of mine reminded me, we do what we can every day. For me, I take any chance I can to make noise and educate others. Most of the time that comes in the form of social media posts, but every once in a while, my schedule allows me to take to the streets and protest. I was proud to head out and represent my union on March 15th to protest rising fascism and oligarchy we’ve witnessed in the last two months.

As we move into April, we observe National Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). This month we raise awareness about sexual assault and support survivors. Sexual assault is still a widespread issue affecting millions. 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most often by an intimate partner. In the United States alone, someone is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds. Sexual Assault Awareness Month ends on Denim Day which was inspired over outrage in a 1999 Italian Supreme Court verdict that overturned a rape ruling because the victim was wearing tight denim jeans. The court argued that because the victim wore very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex. Wear your jeans with pride and protest on April 30th.

Other noteworthy advocacy dates in April are World Health Day on April 7th and International Girls in ICT Day on April 24th. In observance of World Health Day, the World Health Organization will be hosting a virtual event titled “Healthy beginnings, hopeful future: global action for women and newborns.” International Girls in ICT Day, which is observed annually on the fourth Thursday in April, encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in information and communication technology. Keep an eye out for some exciting developments from the advocacy committee. Our team has been working hard to get the Advocacy Hub ready for you and we’re excited to share it soon!

Emily VanVleck
2nd Vice President of ADVOCACY
NFBPWC 2024-2026

I was honored to be invited to be a speaker at the International Conference 2025 at Rama Devi Women’s University, organized by Maa Rama Devi Chair, in Bhubaneswar, Orissa India.

The title of the conference was: Women’s Journeys of Resilience and Empowerment, Stories and Strategies: Spiritual Strength” on Feb 28th and March 1st, 2025.

I spoke on my life journey and the role of forgiveness on March 1, 2025.

MARIA CECILIA DESOUSA
1ST VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP NFBPWC
2024-2026