Change Your World: Women, the media, human rights, and social change

I'm in Washington to represent Yahoo! Shine at "Change Your World," a summit on women, technology, social and digital media sponsored by Yahoo!'s Business and Human Rights Program. I've met a lot of truly inspirational women who are working hard, on and off-line, to change the world, and the day isn't even halfway done yet.

You watch the live broadcast here (I'm hoping that there will be a recording available later, too), and follow along as the attendees Tweet about it at (the hashtag is #YahooCYW).

The panel that I was on was moderated by Lauren Bohn, a journalist and Fullbright Fellow based in Cairo, Egypt, where she is the founder and associate editor of "The Cairo Review," a foreign-policy journal. We were joined by Courtney Martin of Feministing and ValentiMartin Media, Georgia Popplewell of Global Voices, Holly Gordon of 10x10, Lindsay Guetschow of Participant Media, Lisa Belkin of the Huffington Post, and Mikaela Beardsley of Half the Sky. 

Photo courtesy of Helen Rosenthal (@HelenRosenthal)

We discussed the idea of "Media with a Mission" -- can (or should) journalists be advocates for change? Does online media amplify women's voices more than traditional media? Can a movie be entertaining and empowering at the same time?

During the discussion, I met women who are trying to change their communities from the inside, by running for office (and battling stereotypes and discrimination along the way). I met women who are struggling to change lives of girls in impoverished countries, to improve options for education, to bring technology to the far corners of the world. And they're all making a difference.

Stay tuned to Yahoo! Shine as I write more about these inspiring women and the things they're trying to do to make life better for people everywhere.