“Women’s leadership leans towards relationship-building, consensus, and values of equality, fairness, ethics,” says Peggy Clark, co-chair of the Aspen Forum on Women and Girls. This is the approach we needed over the last year and the one we’ll need going forward. While some women leaders have made headlines recently—most notably poets, prime ministers, and vice presidents—a host of bold and determined women are better preparing us for the future using what Clark calls “a deeply practical morality."

Along with a focus on the past, Women’s History Month is also a time for celebrating those who are still making history. Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Michèle Flournoy—three female firsts in the diplomacy and security realms—are also members of the Aspen Strategy Group, where their drive and expertise continue to shape the world we live in.

The American Rescue Plan is groundbreaking for its support of families and children, with the potential to cut child poverty in half. It builds upon generations of leadership and activism for financial security policies that offer support and dignity to everyone, especially Black women. The Financial Security Program pays tribute to some of the organizations that laid the groundwork for this historic legislation.

To have an economy that works for everyone, we need to make sure that everyone can have a part in it. Four experts looked at the economic disruption caused by COVID and zeroed in on some opportunities for the economy—technological, legislative, and attitudinal. They spoke as part of the recent event Aspen Ideas RE$ET.

Formal diplomacy is the tried-and-true approach to international relations. But cultural diplomacy, which includes artists and creators who interact across borders and boundaries, is a more courageous and often more effective diplomatic tool, says Andrei Tarnea, a Romanian diplomat who writes for the Aspen Ministers Forum.

In the News: Revitalizing Science in America

Can the United States lead the way in science again? Dr. Aaron Mertz of the Science and Society Program thinks so. His coauthored piece in Science magazine envisions an American Science Corps, a groundbreaking new government program that would reignite public enthusiasm for science. On LA Weekly’s podcast, Dr. Mertz describes the Science Corps as a “government-funded program that would employ thousands of early-career scientists in underserved urban and rural communities.” Hailed by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria as “an answer” to public distrust of science in the US, the Science Corps would restore science to a central place in the cultural landscape of America.

The Aspen Institute is excited to announce the launch of our online store!

Sales from the store support the Institute’s essential, unrestricted resources that advance our mission. Share your passion and pride for the Aspen Institute’s mission with some new, sustainable gear from Patagonia, S’well, and others.

A City at Hope: SEL & Education in New York City

Mar. 26 at 2:00 pm EST

In celebration of social emotional learning (SEL), the Education & Society Program will facilitate a conversation with A City at Hope—a working group of leaders from New York City’s youth and education organizations—to share promising practices to advance SEL in NYC.

The Power of Putting Science Center-Stage

Mar. 30 at 8:00 pm EST

In the second half of this two-part public series, the Science and Society Program gathers storytellers to explore the intersections of science and storytelling, illuminating how expert scientists fell in love with the quest for discovery and how writers convey the power and purpose of the scientific endeavor through story.

Is National Unity Possible? A Conversation on Unity and American Democracy

Apr. 1 at 2:00 pm EST

While disagreement is the oxygen of democracy, not since the Civil War have so many Americans held such radically different views on both politics and reality itself. The Socrates Program hosts Gov. Bill Haslam, Jon Meacham, and Samar Ali of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy for a discussion on 21st century polarization and inequity in the United States.

Aspen Ideas Health

Apr. 27 - 29

As hope spreads with each COVID-19 vaccine, the world is beginning to reimagine a “new normal.” This moment calls on us, individually and collectively, to elevate and accelerate bold approaches to better health for all. This free, live-streamed event, presented with media partner NBCUniversal News Group, will host today's leading experts and innovators for powerful, inspired, and imaginative conversations and performances across a range of health topics.

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