Thursday, 11-19-2009

YPIN Presents: Phil Borges on Women Empowered

According to UN statistics women produce half the world’s food but own just 1% of the farmland. UN statistics also show that if you give $100 to a woman in the developing world she invests $90 in her family and subsequently into her community while for the average man the same figure is $40.

Phil Borges has lived with and documented indigenous and tribal cultures around the world for 25 years. Through his work, he strives to create a heightened understanding of the issues faced by people in the developing world. In Madeline Albright’s forward for his book, Women Empowered, she says “These Pages introduce a small sampling of…pioneers and pathfinders. We learn their names and see their faces, and witness the work of their hands and minds. We are encouraged and inspired, and filled with hope.”

Through his exhibits and award-winning books, Phil attempts to create a relationship between the audience and his photographic subjects. “I want the viewer to see these people as individuals, to know their names and a bit of their history, not just to view them as an anonymous part of some remote ethnic or tribal group.”

In 2001 Phil founded Bridges to Understanding, a nonprofit organization that connects middle and high school students in Seattle classrooms with their peers in South Africa, Peru, Guatemala, India, Cambodia and other countries around the world. The mission of Bridges is to use digital technology and the art of storytelling to empower and unite youth worldwide, enhance cross-cultural understanding and build global citizenship.

In 2004 Phil partnered with the international humanitarian organization CARE to create an exhibit and book highlighting the importance of empowering women in the developing world. For 2 ½ years traveling to countries in Asia, Africa and South America Phil met women that were breaking through their cultural ‘glass ceilings’ to not only transform their lives but transform their communities as well.

Come join the World Affairs Council and the Young Professionals International Network as they present Phil Borges and bring us face to face with these remote and mostly unknown women who are on the vanguard of a slow but steady transformation, bringing social and economic justice to women and girls worldwide.