We Build Bridges
To Empower Women
Zonta Club of Berkeley / North Bay and Beyond
Serving the San Francisco Bay Area Since 1936
Zonta Berkeley and Beyond
16 Days of Activism
November 25 - December 10
WOW!! Zonta International
1919 to 2023
Celebrates 104 Years!
November is the month we bring dedicated awareness to our advocacy and activism. Zonta International's special birthday November 8th.
We have added a new day to meet
on our calendar! November 25th!
Join us at the San Francisco City Hall early evening of November 25th to start off our 16 Days of Activism. Faye Mellos of our sister club Zonta e-Club of Silicon Valley has once again made it possible to get The City to join the international champaign to Orange the World. On November 25th the San Francisco City Hall will be illuminated orange to recognize the first day of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
The campaign "16 Days of Activism" is a civil society internationally led campaign that takes place each year. It begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day, indicating that violence against women is the most pervasive breach of human rights worldwide. It was the brainchild of activists in 1991 at the inaugural Women's Global Leadership Institute. It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
​During the 16 Days of Activism, 25 November–10 December, all Zonta clubs and districts are encouraged to take part in the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign and to take local, national and international actions to influence the making and implementation of laws, as well as changing gender-based attitudes and behaviors to end violence against women and girls.
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Our Zonta Berkeley and Beyond new 16 Days of Activism Banner.
Let's work to end discrimination in it's many forms.
Let's work to build fundamental rights worldwide.
Around the world and here in the San Francisco Bay Area live people who want to make his/her/their own choices of who to be with, who to love and who to marry.
We support that the choice to make these decisions is done without bias or discrimination from others.
We encourage all people to have the courage to be true to a best self.
When a person- however they feel comfortable and identify- is true to a best self, that person will be empowered.
That empowerment can then pay-it-forward to help improve the lives and status of others. The empowerment starting at home grows and moves out reaching women and girls around the globe.
At Zonta Berkeley/North Bay and Beyond
We take pride
that we believe in gender equality.
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ZONTA INTERNATIONAL
Article II Objects
The Objects of Zonta International shall be:
(a) To improve the legal, political, economic, educational, health and professional status of women at the global and local level through service and advocacy.
(b) To work for the advancement of understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of members.
(c) To promote justice and universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
At Zonta Berkeley/North Bay and Beyond
We take pride
that we know love is love.
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Join us as we reflect on the importance of expanding girls’ opportunities. Every girl around the world should be able to live her life reaching her full potential.
Let’s work to make transformational changes for gender equality.
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Happy Zonta Rose Day
It is our special delight to recognize you as someone who has made a difference in the lives of others.
Thank you for supporting, encouraging, mentoring, educating and loving women in your family and community. It all adds up to make the world a better place!
Cheers to all mother's, daughters, sisters and friends
who have made our lives more rewarding and fulfilled.
Think of someone you would like to honor on this special occasion.
One way to honor a special woman in your life is to make a donation in her name to an organization that is or was important to her.
Theme for 2023 International Women's Day
DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality
Growing inequalities around the world are becoming increasingly evident in the context of digital skills and access to technologies, with women being left behind as the result of a digital gender divide.
Recognize and celebrate women and girls who are championing women's equity. Give special recognition women and girls who are working for the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. They help us narrow the digital gender gap and to facilitate the end of online gender-base violence.
From the United Nations:
DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality
Our lives depend on strong technological integration: attending a course, calling loved ones, making a bank transaction, or booking a medical appointment. Everything currently goes through a digital process.
However, 37% of women do not use the internet. 259 million fewer women have access to the Internet than men, even though they account for nearly half the world's population.
If women are unable to access the Internet and do not feel safe online, they are unable to develop the necessary digital skills to engage in digital spaces, which diminishes their opportunities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields By 2050, 75% of jobs will be related to STEM areas. Yet today, women hold just 22% of positions in artificial intelligence, to name just one.
Bringing women into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality. Their lack of inclusion, by contrast, comes with massive costs.
The United Nations Observance of IWD, under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, recognizes and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. The observance will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities, and it will also spotlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence.
JMK Application deadline approaching soon!
AWARD DESCRIPTION from Zonta International:
Though about 40% of the world’s workforce is women, according to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, only 25.7% of all national parliamentarians were female as of 1 September 2021. Because Zonta International believes that young women are the key to women’s advancement in the field of public service, it offers the Young Women in Public Affairs (YWPA) Award, which recognizes young women, ages 16-19, for demonstrating leadership skills and commitment to public service and civic causes, and encourages them to continue their participation in public and political life.
Zonta Club of Berkeley/North Bay and Beyond offers a $1,000 local award each year to a young woman who has shown exceptional interest in commitment to civic causes and outstanding leadership.
AWARD DESCRIPTION from Zonta International:
Because Zonta International believes in gender equality, the Jane M. Klausman (JMK) Women in Business Scholarship program helps women pursue undergraduate and master's degrees in business management and overcome gender barriers from the classroom to the boardroom. The Zonta Foundation for Women awarded the first Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarships in 1998 to women pursuing degrees in business leading to a business management career. Jane M. Klausman was a member of the Zonta Club of Syracuse, New York, USA, and the 1990-1995 Zonta International Parliamentarian. During her career, Ms. Klausman was a professional secretary, parliamentarian and entrepreneur.
The program operates at the Zonta club, district/region and international levels. Zonta International offers 37 international scholarships of US$5,000. Each district/region may submit one applicant for consideration for an international scholarship. The five largest districts may submit a second applicant for a total of two applicants.
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Zonta International envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential. In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision-making positions on an equal basis with men. In such a world, no woman lives in fear of violence.