From Women to the World

Letters for a New Century

Elizabeth Filippouli, Elizabeth Filippouli

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780755626861
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Corruption politique et inconduite

An Independent Book of the Month
Featured in Vogue Arabia
Featured by Vanity Fair Acclaimed writer Elif Shafak writes a letter to Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand after the Christchurch attack. Actress Yasmine AlMassri pens a poem about war for her mother. Activist and TV presenter June Sarpong addresses designer Diane Von Furstenberg. These are a few of the moving and insightful letters that make up From Women to the World, a book by journalist, author and executive Elizabeth Filippouli, which brings together letters from a global group of accomplished women - politicians, royalty, actors, writers, activists and more – every one addressed to a woman who means something to each of them. The results are extraordinary, heartfelt letters to historical figures, mentors, family members or inspiring ordinary people. Each is based on these women's personal histories and experiences, drawing attention to social issues such as homelessness, war, LGBT activism, mental health care or the plight of international refugees. From Women to the World is more than a simple collection of letters - it is a book that shows a new model of leadership based on emotional intelligence and demonstrates how we have the wisdom to inspire, motivate and reinvent our world.

List of Letters

TO THE WOMAN THAT CHANGED ME, DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

June Sarpong OBE (UK)

TO MY AUNT, RAMONA FIANI

Roula Azar Douglas (Lebanon/Canada)

TO ZOHRA MOOSA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MAMA CASH

Hellen Lunkuse T. Waiswa (Uganda)

TO MY SISTER IN HUMANITY, ANGELINA JOLIE

Basma Alawee (Iraq/USA)

TO MY DAUGHTER, LARA KARMEL

Annabel Karmel MBE (UK)

TO MARGARET GARNER, THE WOMAN WHO MURDERED HER DAUGHTER

Muna AbuSulayman (Saudi Arabia)

TO MY MOTHER, AS A METAPHOR FOR ALL WOMEN IN MY FAMILY

Yasmine Al Massri (France/Lebanon)

TO ATHENA, AS THE YOUNGER ANOUSHEH

Anousheh Ansari (Iran/USA)

TO MY DAUGHTER, ASHTAR MUALLEM

Iman Aoun (Palestine)

TO MY MOTHER, AUDREY SMITH

Emma Bache (UK)

TO ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST CELLISTS JACQUELINE DU PRÉ

Silvia Chiesa (Italy)

TO MY DAUGHTER, SOPHIA BABAI

Shelmina Abji (USA/Tanzania)

TO MY YOUNGER SELF, HOPE

HH Sayyida Basma Al Said (Oman)

TO ALL WOMEN ATHLETES OF THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Mary Davis (USA/Ireland)

TO SENATOR HAIFA HAJJAR NAJJAR

Deema Bibi (Jordan)

TO MY DAUGHTER, SOFIA DIANA BELTRAME

Paola Diana (Italy)

TO MY GRANDMOTHERS HER MAJESTY QUEEN ZEIN AL-SHARAF TALAL OF JORDAN AND BEGUM SHAISTA SUHRAWARDY IKRAMULLAH

HRH Sumaya bint El Hassan (Jordan)

TO THE HOMELESS WOMAN

Grazia Giuliani (Italy/UK)

TO MURDERED POLITICIAN, ANNA LINDH

Miriam González Durántez (Spain/UK)

TO JACINDA ARDERN, PM OF NEW ZEALAND

Elif Shafak (Turkey/UK)

TO MY SISTER, MANTALENA KAILI

Eva Kaili MEP (Greece)

TO A FOREST OF WOMEN, AMONG THEM ANNIE LENNOX AND CAROLE CADWALLADR

Livia Firth (UK/Italy)

TO MY UNBORN GRANDDAUGHTER

Attiya Mahmood (Pakistan)

TO SHYAMA PERERA

Dame Martina Milburn DCVO, CBE (UK)

TO ALL YOUNG WOMEN

Christina Nielsen (Denmark)

TO MY SISTERS AROUND THE WORLD

Femi Oke (UK/Nigeria)

TO MY MOTHER, RHODA SPIELMAN TZEMACH

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (USA)

TO THE ANONYMOUS WOMAN

Mariane Pearl (France)

TO MY WIFE, HANAN KATTAN

Shamim Sarif UK/Canada

TO GERALDINE (INSPIRED BY MOLLY YARD AND GLORIA STEINEM)

Geraldine Sharpe-Newton (UK/USA)

TO MY NIECES

Dr Rebecca S. Hage Thomley (USA)

TO MY MOTHER, REZZAN TUNÇER

Nurdeniz Tunçer (Turkey)

TO ADA LOVELACE

Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley (UK)

TO ALL WOMEN, DAUGHTERS OF THE WORLD

Elizabeth Filippouli (UK/Greece)

To the woman that changed me, Diane von Furstenberg

From June Sarpong OBE (UK)

“Hardened by her unspeakable experiences at Auschwitz, your mother imbued you with courage and strength.”

June Sarpong OBE is an established TV presenter, author and BBC’s Director of Diversity. June has enjoyed a 20-year career, in which she has become one of the most recognizable faces of British television. June began her career at Kiss 100 and later became a presenter for MTV UK & Ireland. It was when she started on Channel 4’s T4 that she became a household name. She has worked extensively with HRH Prince Charles as an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, whilst campaigning for The One and Produce (RED). June was awarded an OBE in 2007 for her services to broadcasting and charity, making her one of the youngest ever people to receive an OBE. June is the co-founder of the WIE Network (Women: Inspiration & Enterprise).

Having launched her eponymous label in 1970, Diane von Furstenberg cemented her status with her iconic wrap dress in 1974. Having achieved sales of over one million units less than two years after its inception, the dress became the defining power symbol for an influential generation of women. Von Furstenberg has been awarded several industry accolades such as the American Accessories Council’s Excellence Award and a Gold Medal at the annual Queen Sofia Spanish Institute Gold Medal Gala.

Dear Diane,

You spoke with such dignity and effortless grace; I couldn’t take my eyes off your tanned and beautiful, lightly lined face. As you tossed back your dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair, you declared in your signature Belgian-American fused drawl: “I have never met a woman who isn’t strong, even if she doesn’t know it.”

The audience of over 400 women Millennials, was transfixed. I myself was one of them (or their slightly older sister), having just turned 32 at the time I watched you, this fabulous woman in her sixties. I couldn’t help but wonder what it must feel like to have such self-acceptance and such unwavering self-belief – self-esteem in its truest form. It was clear there wasn’t a cell in your body, or thought in your mind working against you, preventing you from being your ultimate self – the woman you were born to be. I wasn’t the only member of that audience thinking this, we all were. If we could discover the secret of your confidence, or if some of your essence could rub off on us, then maybe, just maybe, we could also overcome all of our self-doubt and become the women we were born to be, just as you – Diane von Furstenberg – had done. From that day, I became fascinated with DvF the woman and not just the wrap dress.

From reading your memoir The Woman I Wanted To Be, I unearthed some of the ingredients that made you become the woman you wanted to be. Your parents had been engaged before your mother was captured by the Nazis. For two years your father, a wealthy young businessman kept the dream that his fiancée would return to him alive. She did – albeit severely emotionally and physically wounded. Your mother had survived the Holocaust but was told by doctors she would never have children. You were their miracle child. Hardened by her unspeakable experiences at Auschwitz, your mother imbued you with courage and strength. Your father, on the other hand, showered you with love and affection. This combination of tough love gave you the right balance you would need to succeed.

When you were eight years old, you met the mother of one of your school friends. This woman was a wife, a mother and a successful businesswoman. In that moment, you decided this was the kind of woman you wanted to be. You wrote “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew the woman I wanted to become. I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life – and I became that woman.”

As I accompanied you in the elevator at that women’s conference, I asked you what the one piece of advice would be you would give any young woman starting out. You answered: “CLARITY COMES FIRST. I’ve never met a woman who at her core isn’t strong, when we get together and bring out that side of ourselves, we really can change the world.”

This encounter happened in 2012 and has stayed with me ever since, forcing me to examine the woman I want to be and how to overcome the impediments that prevent me from becoming like you. Your courage and confidence exemplify why all women must decide who it is they want to be and then figure out how to become that. We must encourage and empower each other’s dreams and ambitions. We must listen to each other’s fears and insecurities – but we mustn’t allow ourselves to be paralysed by them. And we must challenge societal structures and institutions that hold women’s emancipation back. I 100 per cent accept this is easier said than done, but for the sake of humanity we must try – the world is in crisis and needs women to help solve these serious issues that threaten the very survival of our species. I myself am still working on becoming the woman I want to be and have a long way to go, but because of you, I now have a vision of who that woman is, and I look forward to one day meeting her, when I become her.

Yours,

June

To my Aunt, Ramona Fiani

From Roula Azar Douglas (Lebanon/Canada)

“Beirut’s apocalyptical and vertiginous fall happened to the frightening sounds of buildings collapsing, windows shattering, walls twisting, flesh ripping, blood splattering, bones snapping.”

Roula Azar Douglas is a Lebanese-Canadian journalist and author who writes to prompt reflections, question the world, and to change mentalities and attitudes for a more just, human, and gender-equal society. She is also a university instructor and a researcher working on the influence of media on views of gender. She is committed to empowering other women, to combatting gender discriminations and injustices wherever she sees them, and to contributing to the development of new approaches for achieving gender equality.

Ramona Fiani was born in Beirut 12 years after the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon. She was the eldest of five children. When her mother died, she was forced to take on great responsibilities at a very young age, working as a preschool educator while taking care of her siblings. An ambitious woman, she did not hesitate to embrace new challenges in order to better her life. Later on, she completely changed her career and entered the banking sector. When she was killed, at the beginning of the Civil War, she was barely 40 years old.

My dear aunt Ramona,

More than four decades have passed since that dark autumn day, when a blind and murderous bombshell brutally ended your life and shattered ours. Oh how today’s Beirut looks like that of yesterday. On 4 August, 2020 as our clocks struck 6:07 PM, Beirut exploded in an instant. Its apocalyptical and vertiginous fall happened to the frightening sounds of buildings collapsing, windows shattering, walls twisting, flesh ripping, blood splattering, bones snapping and dozens of lives ending way too soon, with the utmost violence and injustice … This double explosion wrecked the entire Beirut port, destroyed neighboring areas and led more than 200 people to their death. More than 6000 injured will forever keep, in mind and flesh, the scars of this crime. Alexandra, Elias, Isaac, Ali, Ahmad, Sahar, Diana, Samir, Joe, Charbel, Krystel … I would have liked to name them one by one, tell you their stories, draw their faces, make you listen to the sound of their voices and imagine together what their lives could have been if it wasn’t for the corrupt warlords that control our country. Because this catastrophe which brought Lebanon to its knees could have been avoided. But that’s for another story. One on institutionalized crime, irresponsible leaders, lack of accountability, conflicts of interest, corruption, treason and the value of of human lives…

More than four decades have passed since your life was brutally ended. Even though I was a little girl at the time, I still remember the profound sorrow and intense feeling of guilt I felt for months on end following your cruel passing, blaming myself for not telling you how much I loved you and how precious you were to me.

Years have gone by. I fled the country, like millions of others who were aiming to settle in lands with bluer skies. Then the war ended. And I came back. No matter where I was, whatever I did, you stayed with me. At every stage of my life, at every turning point and with the start of every journey, I thought of you and I imagined the conversations we could have had if you had survived the war.

Today, as the coronavirus pandemic has completely changed our lives, altering the way we work, shop, communicate and share public places, affecting the way we relate to our health as well as our views on the world that surrounds us, I think of you. You went through hardships and important changes too. The family’s collective memory, unlike the amnesia that has taken over the country, has preserved all memories related to the civil war that swallowed a 15-year chunk of our lives whole without ever giving it back or really coming to an end. We have kept and cherish the memory of your unscathed coffee cup waiting for you on your bedside table while death found you in that shelter where you sought refuge. We have all engraved in our mind this picture of you trying to domesticate that first computer bought by the company where you worked despite your intrinsic fear of being replaced by this same machine, thus losing your only source of income.

But the crisis the p...