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It's that time of year again - no not the leaves changing, or first snows, or the anticipation of obligatory family time that comes with the holidays - those things are upon us as well. But what I'm most exciting about at this moment is the celebration of the sixth annual Variety Power of Women issue, which celebrated five incredible women at today's annual luncheon who have been using their clout to bring attention to worthy causes. Let's meet…

Emma Watson appeared before the United Nations Headquarters in New York a week ago to give one of the most impassioned and empowering speech I've ever heard. Back in July, she was appointed the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador. And since then, she has been taking her new role very seriously - visiting various nations, such as Zambia and Bangladesh, that struggle with this issue, taking poll of the current situation and imagining ways we can combat that and…

Let me tell you about Michelle Howard. Man is she one Tough Cookie! Last month, she became the US Navy's first ever woman to be promoted to four-star admiral, not to mention Vice Chief of Naval Operations, the second highest position in the Navy. But Michelle was already making waves and setting records before this latest promotion. In 1999, she became the first African American woman to command a Naval ship, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore.…

Wanna hear a pretty crazy awesome story? So there's this teenage girl named Malala Yousafzai. She lives in Pakistan. And she wants to go to school so she can learn. But in her country, that's not something girls are really allowed to do. In fact, the Taliban culture there operates on the belief that it's unnecessary, distracting, and even dangerous in some eyes to educate a woman. But Malala was special. She was determined. And she was raised…

The 67th Cannes Film Festival wrapped up at the end of last month with another round of slightly disappointing results from a gender equality perspective. This time, only two female-directed films competed against 16 male-directed films for the ultimate Palme d’Or prize, which did end up going to a man. That said, the second prize Grand Prix award did go to a woman, 33-year-old Italian writer/director Alice Rohrwacher, for her second film Le Meraviglie (The Wonders.) That's hopeful! What's more, the festival's grand jury…

Ladies, I cannot stress this enough. Men are not the enemy. Men are not the problem. Only a part of it. It is far far more complicated, and yet far simpler, than that. Being a true feminist is NOT about hating men, as so many have claimed. Because the test of true confidence is not in who you can blame, or who you can make smaller to make yourself seem bigger - it's about believing…

Last September, I wrote a post about Variety's Power of Women Honorees. And today, Variety is at it again, honoring six incredible ladies in the entertainment industry with the Inspiration Impact Honoree award for their admirable humanitarian efforts with their chosen causes. Susan Sarandon is being honored for her work with Hope North, which works to educate and heal the youth of Uganda’s civil war. They are honoring Sarah Jessica Parker for her work with the New…

Can you believe that women are still underrepresented in the film and TV industries? Well, I suppose I can believe it - but I wish I didn't have to. But unfortunately, we have solid proof of this sad truth, thanks to a recent report from the Women’s Media Center, which was founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem. The report summarized research conducted at USC and San Diego State, among others, and declared that “the…

In a tear-inducing speech at the Time to Thrive conference in Vegas today (which also conveniently happens to be Valentine's Day), the incredibly talented actress Ellen Page came out of the closet (nay, kicked down the door of that damn closet) and announced that she is gay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hlCEIUATzg She looked that packed audience of LGBT youth straight in the eyes (no pun intended) and said proudly: “I’m here today because I am gay” And the best part is, she…