Womens Voices Worldwide

What We Do

Women's Voices Worldwide, Inc. educates women and girls to be powerful speakers in all areas of personal, academic, professional, and civic life.

We support women and girls in developing...

Critical Awareness: understanding the unjust systems that influence women's experiences as speakers, and the costs of women’s silence.

Conviction: recognizing that their own voices have value and cultivating a commitment to use their voices.

Courage: developing a willingness to use their voices in the face of inhibition or fear.

Creative Skills: developing purposeful strategies that honor who they are and that achieve their unique aims in public speaking, group discussion, and interpersonal communication.

How We Do It

Our Girls' Program provides girls ages 8+ with speaking-focused summer camps to develop positive experiences with speaking.

Our Women's Program provides adults with individual mentoring, discussion groups, workshops, and seminars on a wide variety of speaking topics.

Our Community Program provides public events so that all can learn to create spaces that are more inclusive of women's voices.

Who Is Effected

The women and girls who participate in our programs may experiences the greatest direct impact: their self-esteem improves, their courage grows, they assert themselves more, and they seek out greater leadership opportunities.

The whole world benefits, however, when women have a voice.

Successes

Founded in 2012, Women's Voices Worldwide, Inc. has already achieved so much!

We could tell you about how women as young as 6 and as senior as 95 (and every decade in between) have participated in our programs, and that the majority qualified for income-based fee waivers.

We could tell you about the 60+ women's discussion groups and workshops we hosted, in Northampton and Bhutan.

We could tell you about the 100+ performers and volunteers who participated in our first two annual Celebration of Speech events in honor of International Women's Day, or the hundreds of audience members who attended.

But our real success can be heard in the voices of the women themselves:

[I learned this week] that I am able to show leadership skills while still maintaining my individuality and ability to be kind, warm, and compassionate...[and] that the world would miss out on a lot of valuable insights without my voice. - Ana, Springfield (Women's Program Participant)

I was suprised that the [program] allowed me to re-invest in my career... in a way that felt meaningful and real to me. I came in hoping to learn the skills I needed to 'get by' in a man's field, doubting that it was really the path for me but believing I had no other choice. I left with a clearly defined picture of why I am here, and an aresenal of strategies for bringing my unique perspective and experiences to the table. - Angela, Northampton (Women's Program Participant)

This was a great week for my daughter, Chloe. She gained confidence by being able to share with her peers events and characteristics about herself that are very important to her... I would recommend this group to everyone!... Chloe cannot wait until the next session begins! - Lisa, South Hadley (Mother of 8-year-old Girls' Program participant)

My favorite thing about the week was making new friends! - Chloe, South Hadley (8-year-old Girls' Program participant)

[Today I] realized that leadership of women is important in this community. - Women's Program participant, Ura Village, Bhutan

[Today I] learned the importance of listening to other women. - Women's Program participant, Ura Village, Bhutan

This event changed my life. - Tearful "Celebration of Speech" audience member

What's Next

Our vision is a world transformed by the personal, social, and political liberation of every woman.

We are ready to grow our programming in order to reach more women throughout Western Massachusetts, the U.S., and abroad.

We are currently working to develop our succesful discussion group model to set up satellite groups, in partnership with other organizations that share our goals of educating and empowering women.

We are also developing a model for a establishing a global mentoring network that could connect every woman to the speaking resources she needs, no matter her financial means.

And we are busy planning for our 3rd Annual Celebration of Speech event in Northampton, MA in honor of International Women's Day!