Dear Members of NFBPWC,
Thank you to those who attended my breakout session in King of Prussia. I appreciated your input and was very glad to hear your thoughts on this initiative. A major takeaway from the mind-mapping effort we initiated was that there is a fundamental misunderstanding regarding the Women on the Move Committee Program. So let me be very clear:
This is for all women who move, voluntarily or involuntarily, for a short time or permanently.
It could be your move to study out of state, or to be somewhere new with your partner, or for work. Fire, natural disasters, political unrest – events out of control could push you to move. Inter-human violence, abuse, trafficking could cause you to move. It is about your moves, as well as those that propel others to new places. Our focus, hope and aim are to ensure that women thrive, wherever they arrive. This is about connecting with arriving women, uniting in support of their integration and success locally, and igniting the sisterhood to be available to answer simple questions, show a path to success, and develop a program that encourages our global sisterhood to create a living network for one another.
My dream: is that through a networked sisterhood we create powerful partnerships with services organizations (banks, insurance agencies, rental companies, travel resources, service companies) locally, nationally and globally, so that women, as long as we are paid less than men, also pay less than men when they belong to NFBPWC. Let us negotiate preferential deals together, locally, nationally and yes, globally. Let us entice new Business and Professional Women members through our negotiation power. One day, I would like to see us regain the power we had on the Hill and elsewhere, but in the US I would like to see us as a force to be reckoned with – as AARP is today. Yep, as a woman, I think big.
None of this can happen without you. I cannot do this alone, and our rules are clear. I may not do this alone. So, I seek out inventive, fearless, knowledgeable women to join me. To network with other organizations, find out what we need to do to create special relationships, but also to ensure that our own members who provide services for pay are celebrated, advertised, brought to the fore. It will become part of our marketing – to be able to advertise your skills or business on our site, you must be a member. To be able to promote your product as a corporation, you must be a member. To network with our clubs in different locations, and be welcomed as you move, you must be a member. Or – maybe we agree on another, more staggered approach. I am ready to hear, to learn, take action to meet our collective needs. There are many right ways to serve one another.
The PowerPoint used in King of Prussia will be available to you on our national website. Our basis for the initial draft Mindmap is here (and I hope you will help me perfect it):
Women on the Move, while an NFBPWC initiative, has been gaining traction through work with the Civil Society Committee on Migration at the UN, and elsewhere. Its goals remain robust: to develop a means where women, who move for work, as migrants, through their own agency, involuntarily or under duress have access to a network of resources that allow them to become established in their new location.
Women who move need very different support networks than do traditional males on the move – it is often the woman who responsible for establishing herself, her family, her children in schools, and the routine in a new home, while the husband goes to work. Having to do all of this, as well as work, can be mitigated for business and professional women through a network of BPWs who understand the local area, and can help them rapidly become a functioning, working entity.
The Afghan guidebook helped a number of women asylees find their professional feet more rapidly and solidly than their peers, without access to NFBPWC. The Women on the Move concept takes this a step further – relying on our network in 115 countries, we can assist women who are traveling for work or moving nationally or overseas with a preexisting network.
In January 2024, I was asked as one of 5 civil society delegates invited to do so, to give a key speech at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva, where I launched a discussion on the meaning of migrants, on changing the narrative about working women migrants especially, and about understanding unconscious bias vis a vis migration.
In March 2024 during CSW67 I was asked to speak on Human Trafficking, the need to change the discourse, and the need to realize that trafficked humans were neither a commodity nor willing migrants.
I have interviewed numerous Women on the Move, both business and professional, at different levels of success, to understand what held them back the most when arriving in a new city. Responses ranged from access to lived information on schools, self-care services, decent mechanics and workers, good restaurants and food stores, as well as local hierarchies politically and economically. They felt it took longer than it should to decode the information that could help them succeed.
The language is changing for migrants who are increasingly considered as people on the move. It has also become clear that there is a false narrative on migrants – for example the largest number of illegal migrants in Mexico are Americans who retire there, do not register, and are unwilling to pay taxes (so they leave for a day every 3 months). This also holds true for Europeans, Americans and Asians in Africa, where many jobs thus are lost to qualified locals. It is important for a business and/or professional woman to establish herself rapidly as a functioning, trusted and successful entity, without being held back by the narrative of other people..
Members: Sher Singh, Emily VanVleck, Veronica Sexton, Cathleen Jeanty
Afghan Women Project:
If you are interested in welcoming these new Americans, and answering their questions of offering the hand of friendship please contact us at Afghanwomen@nfbpwc.org, visit our home page at https://www.nfbpwc.org/Afghan-Women-Project.
Nermin K Ahmad, NFBPWC Women on the Move Committee Chair Members: Sher Singh, Emily VanVleck, Veronica Sexton, Cathleen Jeanty By:Nermin K. Ahmad
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