The International Alliance for Women

There are women throughout the world whose actions, efforts and inspiration truly do make a World of Difference" in supporting the advancement of women. Whether it is a small village project in a developing country that has ripple effects throughout the community, or an event or initiative n a global scale, the TIAW World of Difference Award recognizes the power within every individual to change the world we live in for the betterment of women. TIAW is honored to recognize Barbara as the 2009 TIAW World of Difference Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.

“One of the things that I find, both men and women in senior positions have a blind spot, they assume that men and women are similar in the workplace. But we are not the same. When a problem occurs in the workplace, the way women tackle it is very different than men. And if we don´t know that, we end up blaming each other for our differences.”

For the past 20 years, Barbara Annis has been advocating with passion on a critically important point in the advancement of women, and sharing her insights with organizations of every size, to the smallest non-profits to the highest echelons of government and the world’s most established blue chip companies. Barbara believes it is vitally important to understand, acknowledge and accept the differences in the way women and men think, that those differences must be leveraged to improve productivity and remove barriers to women’s career advancement. In addition to a gruelling schedule of speaking engagements, Barbara has written two best-selling books: Same Words, Different Language, which offers groundbreaking insights to create win-win relationships between the genders and break through gender barriers. Her latest book, Leadership and the Sexes, co-authored with Michael Gurian in 2009, reveals the latest brain-based research on gender differences in leadership, and shows how to maximize the innate talents of both genders in the workplace and in the world.

Her company, Barbara Annis & Associates, has facilitated over 3,000 corporate workshops, keynotes, and executive coaching sessions on Gender Intelligent Leadership to Fortune 500 Corporations, including Deloitte & Touche, IBM, Smith Barney Citigroup, UBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Intel.

Barbara is the Chair-elect of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Her extensive studies have included work with exceptional thinkers such as linguist Dr. Fernando Flores at University of California at Berkeley, neuroscientist Ruben Gur at the University of Pennsylvania, psychologist Virginia Satir, Dr. W. E. Deming, and Dr. Willis Harman, Founder of the Noetic Sciences Foundation and The World Business Academy.

Barbara has been involved in a wide range of organizations including: Member of the Gender Leadership Team, Deloitte & Touche; Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the Task Force of an Inclusive Public Service, Treasury Board; Co-Chair, World Business

Academy; Subject Matter Expert and Member of the Advisory Board, Social Context & Gender Equality Initiative, Department of Justice; Member of the Advisory Board, Gender Integration Project, Department of National Defense; President, Canadian Women Entrepreneurs.

There are women throughout the world whose actions, efforts and inspiration truly do make a "World of Difference" in supporting the advancement of women. These are women who look to the world stage to make change, who show courage and determination in making a positive impact on the economic empowerment of women.

TIAW World of Difference Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes each year the extraordinary achievements of one powerful woman and affirms the power within every individual to make all the difference in the world in the betterment of women.

This year's winner is a truly exceptional woman - a high-impact change agent who has made a significant international impact through a range of activities, all with her signature traits of determination, intelligence and grace.

A graduate of American University of Beirut and Oxford University, Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani is an economist by training and is fluent in five languages. In 2001, she created The Arab International Women's Forum, a unique non-profit organization based in London to link Arab business and professional women in the 22 Arab countries with each other and with their counterparts in the international community. AIWF is the business voice of Arab women, breaking stereotypical images and creating greater public awareness of their success and prospects internationally.

It is this crucial element of connecting at a high, strategic level many different spheres of influence that has particularly distinguished the work of Mrs. Al Kaylani and her organization.

In addition to founding and acting as chairman of the AIWF, Mrs. Al Kaylani is Vice President of the Women's Leadership Board of Harvard University. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement, the Khalil Gibran Chair at the University of Maryland, the Middle East Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and the Tanaka Business School at the Imperial College, London. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Edutrust Foundation.

In 2006, Mrs. Al Kaylani was named by Women's eNews of New York, one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century and in February 2007, she was named one of the Muslim Power 100 Leaders in the United Kingdom, receiving the Education Excellence Award.

2007 Recipient
Riane Eisler

Riane Eisler, Ph.D., J.D.

Dr. Riane Eisler is an eminent social scientist, macrohistorian, attorney, and activist for human rights, peace and the environment. Author of the international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade, now in 22 languages, Dr. Eisler is recognized worldwide as a leading expert on the link between economic and business policies and the quality of our daily lives. She has, for many years, lent a strong voice to the global issues that impact women, stressing that the greatest problems of our time-poverty, inequality, war, terrorism, and environmental degradation, among them-can be traced to flawed economic systems that fail to value and support the most essential human work: caring for people and the planet. In her new book, The Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, she provides the world with a blueprint for a more humane and effective economic system. Dr. Riane Eisler is truly a woman who through her actions, efforts and inspiration makes a "World of Difference" for the advancement of women.

2006 Recipient
Laura Liswood

Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders has made a difference locally, nationally and a major difference to women around the world.

From 1992-1996 as director of the Women’s Leadership Project at Harvard, Laura identified global leadership contributions by women heads of state. She traveled the world and interviewed 15 current and former women presidents and prime ministers, which is chronicled in her book and video documentary, Women World Leaders. Her quest was to find out what it would take for a woman to become President of the United States.

In August, 1996 Laura Liswood co-founded the Council of Women World Leaders with President Vigdis Finnbogadóttir of Iceland, with the secretariat at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and more recently at The Aspen Institute in Washington DC

Laura remains Secretary General of the Council, which is composed of women presidents, prime ministers, and heads of government. The work of the Council expands the understanding of leadership, establishes a network of resources for high-level women leaders, and provides a forum for the group to contribute input and shape the international issues important to all people.

Laura has worked for many years to change the cultural message in the United States about women as leaders. In 1997 Laura co-founded The White House Project, dedicated to electing a woman President in the United States. Obviously we still have a way to go with this one.

Over the years Laura has served in many important roles including CEO/President of the American Society for Training and Development. In 2001 Laura was named Managing Director, Global Leadership and Diversity for Goldmann Sachs.

“On behalf of The International Alliance for Women it gives me great pleasure to present this, the 2006 TIAW World of Difference Lifetime Achievement Award”.

2005 Recipient
Sally Armstrong

Sally Armstrong is a Human Rights Activist, an Amnesty International award winner, a member of the Order of Canada, documentary filmmaker, teacher, author, and a contributing editor at Maclean’s magazine.

Regularly receiving standing ovations, Sally Armstrong is a powerful and engaging speaker whose far-ranging career has given her a foundation for her message, which is inspirational for people in every walk of life.

Armstrong has covered stories in zones of conflict all over the world. From Bosnia and Somalia to Rwanda and Afghanistan, her eyewitness reports have earned her awards, including the Gold Award from the National Magazine Awards foundation and the Author's Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters. She received the Amnesty International Media Award in 2000 and again in 2002. Her most recent documentary works include They Fell From the Sky, and The Daughters of Afghanistan. Her book Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan was published by Penguin Books.