The Business and Professional Women of Pago Pago recently inducted their new officers and board of directors for the 2014-2015 administration. Just as the Business and Professional Women’s International federation does each year, the local group held a candle-lighting ceremony to honor the many aspects of the organization, which was founded more than 80 years ago in the United States by Dr. Lena Madesin Phillips.

Members of the earliest BPW group made goodwill tours to Europe to share their interests and beliefs with the women of Europe, and through their efforts and influence, BPW groups were organized in several countries.  In 1930, women from 16 countries met in Geneva, Switzerland to form an International Federation.

The Candle-Lighting ceremony symbolizes the ambitions and endeavors of dedicated women in every country around the world, with the first candle symbolizing the birthplace of BPW, the U.S.A, the tallest candle representing the International Federation, and the final candle lit for the future.

Business and Professional Women come together from all over the world in order to:

*            work for high standards of service in business and the professions;

*            encourage women and girls to acquire education, occupational training, advanced education, and to use their occupational capacities and intelligence for the advantage of others as well as themselves;

*            stimulate and encourage in women awareness and acceptance of their responsibilities to the community, nation and world;

*            work for equal opportunities and status for women in the economic, civil and political life of all countries, and to work for the removal of discrimination;

*            promote world-wide friendship, cooperation and understanding between business and professional women.

BPW International is a dynamic and powerful organization of world importance. Public opinion and legislation in many countries has been influenced by its work, as it broadens women’s horizons and skills, increased their rights and opportunities, and expanded their services to one another and to the communities in which they live.

It has Consultative Status with: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the board of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); International Labour Office; United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Health Organization.

BPW International also works closely with: the Humans Rights Council, the Commission on Status of Women, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Council of Europe. 

The fact is, like it or not, we still live in a world where gender matters…. where gender controls not just the entire course of your life, but the lives of women all over the world. Every second, a child will be born female in a country where she will be persecuted for this random biological occurrence for the rest of her life.

It is the hope of BPW members around the world that women “will take their place in economic, social and political fields, so that we can help bring into being a world of social justice for all, and the peace to which all humanity aspires.”