By Kathy Groob, Publisher ElectWomen Magazine – The third annual Women in the World Summit was held in New York March 8-10, 2012.  Hosted and sponsored by Daily Beast and Newsweek Magazine CEO Tina Brown and Diane von Furstenberg, the conference featured a power-packed list of women leaders and highlighted women’s social and political stories of struggle from around the globe.

Among the heavy and serious topics that were discussed, debated and exposed during the conference, the highlight was the finale, which featured actress Meryl Streep introducing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who gave the keynote finale address.  On women’s health and personal decisions Hillary Clinton said, “We have to stand up for women’s rights and reject efforts to marginalize any of us because  America needs to set an example for the entire world.”

“Every one of us needs to be part of the solution,” said Clinton.  “We need to be as committed as the dissidents and activists you have heard from.  Women and men alike must finally have the opportunity to live up to their own God-given potential, so let’s go forth and make it happen.”

(Take the time to watch the introduction by Meryl Street on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECNQDqMoAjw&feature=youtu.be

and the keynote address by Hillary Clinton – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24TQWybpU9g&feature=youtu.be 

More about the conference

By Sylvia Ann Hewlett for Forbes Magazine – The 3rd Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center March 8th-10th, sponsored by Newsweek and the Daily Beast, and presided over by Tina Brown, was spectacular. “Gob-smacking” as the Brits would say.

I’ve attended Women’s summits for thirty years—and this was easily the best. I’ll never forget the finale—Meryl Streep and Hillary Clinton pirouetting for the audience, inviting commentary on their glam jackets. One of the many moments of intimacy and humor in two days of serious stuff.

What I found out-of-ordinary was the one-two punch of Women in the World. Stories and soul grabbed your heartstrings, while substance and strategy spoke to your brain. And both were amped up by the energy and electricity of the audience—three thousand women who crammed themselves into the David H. Koch Theater for 20+ hours.

How did Tina Brown do it? How did Women in the World pack this kind of punch?

First off, the conference highlighted the continued urgency of female solidarity. High profile speakers described the roll-back of women’s rights in post-Mubarak Egypt and post-Ghaddafi Libya, and the on-going failure of women to crack that last glass ceiling. As Sheryl Sandberg pointed out in a session she led, in corporate America there are fewer women at the top of the house than five years ago. Female leaders as disparate as Leymar Gbowee and Angelina Jolie repeatedly made the point, the world needs a strong women’s movement going forward. It became a drumbeat of the conference.

Secondly, Women in the World did an amazing job identifying common ground. Women share a remarkable number of triumphs and tragedies. Whether it’s the emergence of white hot career aspiration in India and China, or the escalation of violence against women in Guatemala and Afghanistan, women “get” the fact that their destinies are linked. Across generation and geography they’re grappling with new power and new potential. Muhtar Kent—the CEO of Coca Cola—drove home the economic clout of women by pointing out that women (as workers and consumers) now comprise the biggest emerging market in the world—twice the size of India and China combined.