Pictured Felicia Middlebrooks and Christiane Amanpour. Photo by Marie-Jo Proulx
The Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW) held its 19th annual luncheon and symposium Sept. 14 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The event brought together some 2,250 attendees (including a handful of men) and raised approximately $800,000.
CFW awards grants to organizations working in three areas of concern to women: economic self-sufficiency, protection against violence, and access to health services. Some of the more than 100 groups who have benefited from CFW funding in the last year include Affinity Community Services, Girls in the Game, Rainbow House, and Women Employed Institute.
This year's theme, 'Voices Carry,' explored the diversity of women's voices in the media. The first part of the program, a panel discussion moderated by Felicia Middlebrooks, was open to the public. Middlebrooks, an award-winning journalist, has been the co-anchor of WBBM radio's Morning Drive Program for the last 18 years. As the first woman and first African-American to hold the job, she is highly respected and a source of inspiration for her peers.
The eight invited panelists, pioneers and leaders of Chicago's media scene, were: Tracy Baim, publisher and co-owner of Windy City Media Group; Hermene Hartman, publisher, owner and CEO of N'Digo Magazine; Judy Hsu, co-anchor and reporter at ABC 7; Nesita Kwan, co-anchor and reporter at NBC 5; Ann Marie Lipinski, senior vice-president and editor of the Chicago Tribune; Alba Mendiola, reporter for Telemundo; Cindy Richards, columnist for the Sun-Times; and Melody Spann-Cooper, president and general manager of WVON radio.
Each drew on her own personal experience, cultural background, and work environment, but all agreed that women view events through a slightly different lens from their male counterparts. According to the panelists, having more women in decision-making positions is essential for the news to reflect women's realities and concerns. Many spoke of the effect a single person can have on resource allocation and editorial choices once she has reached a higher level in the hierarchy.
From newspaper consolidation to advertising, to flat out gender discrimination, a variety of reasons were offered to explain mainstream media's male-oriented bias. On this point, Hartman reminded the audience that to consider women a minority is 'a misnomer.' She added with humor, 'When you can give birth, you've got it going on.'
The symposium was followed by a keynote address by Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international news correspondent. In her two decades at CNN, Amanpour has covered the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War, the conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, the Balkans, Rwanda, Somalia, and many others. These assignments have shaped her view of the world and given her a voice that is unique, as the only other reporters with her breadth of experience are men.
Based in London, the multiple award-winning Amanpour accepted the invitation to speak at CFW, even though it meant spending only a few hours in Chicago before moving on to her next project. It was also time away from her 4-year old son. As a token of her true dedication to women's causes, she waived her speaking fees.
She began by making a reference to the hostage tragedy in a Chechen school to introduce the theme of her talk: the plight of women and children who are victims of war. In ethnic conflicts, she said, the rules of engagement have changed. 'Civilians are no longer inadvertent victims, they are now deliberate targets,' she said. Because mass rape has become a tool of war, it has now been declared a crime against humanity by the International Human Rights Court, thanks in part to journalists who have witnessed such atrocities and exposed the guilty to the rest of the world.
Amanpour was recently in Darfur, Sudan, where she said two million people are relying entirely on international aid. There again, women and children live with the fear of being attacked and the prospect of dying from hunger or disease. She recounted the struggles of women who are often forced to make impossible choices when trying to ensure the health and survival of their children.
In other African countries, it is female genital mutilation (FGM) that threatens women and teenaged girls. During the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, CNN aired a detailed report on the dangerous and coercive nature of this traditional procedure. While much remains to be done in the way of education about this topic, Amanpour said beaming this controversial reality into people's livingrooms had a galvanizing effect.
Finally, Amanpour extolled the merits of literacy campaigns and stressed the need for all to get involved in empowering underprivileged women. She echoed CFW's call to vote in the November election before answering a few questions and thanking everybody for their commitment and support.
