Journalist on Hunger Strike, Michelle at 100 Days, Equal Pay Day, WMC Auction

April 29, 2009

Dear [[First_Name]],

With Mother's Day fast approaching, we recommend taking a look at the WMC's Online Spring Auction (closing May 8!) for an unusual gift: for example, Bella Abzug's historic gavel, a contribution from Gloria Steinem with a personal note; or treat yourself to some high level, expert advice from two of the WMC's Honorary Advisory Council members:

Jeannie Park (first right), the well connected and savvy journalist, former executive editor of People and InStyle magazines will take you to breakfast at Michael's, the "in" place for celebrities and haven for media deals.

Linda Kaplan Thaler(second right), advertising and marketing guru (and creator of the wildly successful Aflac duck!) will coach you over lunch. A bonus: her brand new book about succeeding in business, The Power of Small.

WMC Awards Event

Save the Date! June 17, for the WMC will hold its first ever awards event! We'll honor the women who've made great contributions -- and point out some in the media who fell short -- or worse.

The WMC Chosen for Honor

We are pleased to announce that on May 6, The Women's Media Center will be honored with the Lucretia Mott Award from Women's Way, the country's oldest and largest women's funding federation, based in Philadelphia. Singled out for the work we do for women in media, the award is named for the 19th century Philadelphia suffragette and antislavery advocate who wrote:

Let woman then go on -- not asking as favor, but claiming as right, the removal of all the hindrances to her elevation in the scale of being -- let her receive encouragement for the proper cultivation of all her powers, so that she may enter profitably into the active business of life… Discourse On Woman. December 17, 1849

Click here to learn more about this year's honorees.

Progressive Women's Voices

This past weekend we got to know the participants of the second class for 2009 training underway! And class member Jessica Valenti, co-founder of Feministing.com and author of The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women hit the ground running by appearing on The Today Show on NBC -- debating the issue of abstinence. You can watch her here.

The WIP/WMC Live Chat

Join me on a live chat next Tuesday, May 5! I am thrilled to be joining our Progressive Women's Voices member Patricia DeGennaro and Katharine Daniels, the founder and executive director of The Women's International Perspective (The WIP) for a live chat next Tuesday, May 5, at 3-4 p.m. EST. The chat is called "Women in Media: The Value of Women's Stories and Perspectives." Join in, read along, post a question for Patricia, Katharine or myself. It will be lively discussion of the need for women's stories both here at home and internationally. To participate in the chat, go to the WIP's site and sign up here. The chat will be on their front page at 3 p.m. EST next Tuesday, May 5. See you there!

Equal Pay Day

The WMC has joined The New York Women's Agenda's effort to gain equal pay for women in our city and state -- and everywhere. As a member of the Equal Pay Coalition, as well as marking the struggle for simple fairness in the workplace, we urge you to sign the Petition for Equal Pay.

Jailed American Journalist Reportedly on Hunger Strike -- Reporters Without Borders Joins Protest in Paris

The Women's Media Center has issued an alert, asking our supporters to demand American reporter Roxana Saberi's release from an Iranian prison. Sentenced to eight years for spying, both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have called for her release. Her father has reported that she is weak, but in good spirits.

Unfinished Business

On March 21 the WMC co-sponsored an intergenerational Speak-Out entitled "Women's Visions for the Nation: What's It Going to Take?" at The Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Laura Flanders, C.Nicole Mason, and performance artist Toni Blackman engaged the audience in a spirited give and take. Writer/activist Esther Broner (second right)and Ai-jen Poo (first right) of the Domestic Workers Union had a mesmerizing conversation across the generations that left us begging for more.

The idea for this grew out of a think-tank begun in 2008 by Elizabeth Sackler. Now called UNFINISHED BUSINESS, our purpose is identifying ways of mobilizing external networks to raise public awareness about intergenerational communications, issues of race/class/gender, and the effects of current events on women and children.

For more information, visit the website at www.unfinishedbusiness.net .

Report from the Congo: Sexual Violence Ignored by Media

The WMC co-sponsored, with Vital Voices, an evening of discussion created by Women's eNews to address the unabated violence against women. In the country to receive an award from Vital Voices, Congolese radio reporter Chouchou Namegabe, asked "Why is there no mobilization?" and addressed the issue of the media's failure. More than a thousand women a day are raped in the Congo. Joining her on the panel: Ambassador for the Democratic Republic of the Congo Faida Mitifu, Hassim Keita of Committee to Protect Journalists, and Liberian radio anchor and activist Agnes M.F. Kamara-Umunna. You can read a full discussion of the evening here.

Michelle Obama's 100 Days

Just a quick note at the 100 day mark of the Obama administration: we couldn't help but notice this piece by New York Times writer Rachel Swarns, who covers the Obama family. Much has been made over Michelle's 73% favorability polling. We get a glimpse here of how tightly she controls her image-defying magazine editors' demands. We also learn that her chief of staff attends Rahm Emanuel's daily briefings. Much more than fashion going on here, my friends.