This (below) is outrageous.
22 women have written a letter to a museum protesting an award to Former First Lady Bush. The award, the Alice Award, is to honor a woman for advancing women. This year's recipient is the Former First Lady.
I can't decide if the 22 protesting women are ignorant or mean spirited -- or worse, both. (I would love to know what each of the 22 has done for women!)
One (Sonia Pressman Fuentes) is quoted below saying "I'm complaining that she's [Mrs. Bush] never done anything for women to get this award.."
Really? Not done anything for women? Fuentes and the other 21 are grossly uninformed (at best).
Let me give you a sample or two. (And my guess is that GMA's Robin Roberts and syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker will agree with me since they both were there covering one of the projects about which I write below. Like I did, Robin and Kathleen saw it... and I am sure both were impressed.)
When Mrs. Bush was First Lady, she went all over the Mideast (Robin and I chased her) talking about breast cancer awareness and the need for early screening. She did this in places where the cultures prohibit such discussion or even detection efforts. She spoke to women who got help way too late since their culture does not permit discussion. I don't need to tell you what their prognosis was. Mrs. Bush went to cancer facilities... spoke to roundtables of women. It was nonstop. The governments of those Mideast countries listened -- even though they probably were not happy with her message that women should be treated fairly. She went to countries and places and talked to leaders where woman can't get mammograms without the permission of husbands.
Mrs. Bush didn't have to go to the Middle East to put the spotlight on breast cancer. She got nothing out of going (and the days and hours were long and hot) except a personal satisfaction that she could help... and that personal satisfaction drives her... drives her to help other women. Women are very lucky that Mrs. Bush has a personal drive to want to help.
Frankly, she is not like the 22 women who took a pot shot at her. She likes to help. She is decent in that way. She was using her platform (and continues to do so) to help women who desperately need and needed help. She did it because she gives a damn.
But her tireless effort to help promote breast cancer awareness in the Mideast was not something new. She has been doing that for years -- long before she became First Lady. It is her history. For years, prior to the White House or even the Governor's Mansion in Austin, she was a regular volunteer helping the Komen Foundation in Dallas... yes, putting a spotlight on breast cancer awareness here in the U.S.
The trip to the Middle East is one small sample that shows who she is, her big heart, and what a good powerful woman can do.
But it isn't just breast cancer -- how about her campaign for literacy? Do you know how many of her literacy events she has held that I have covered over the years? Yes, of course illiteracy afflicts men, too; but it's particularly painful to the single mother who needs to find a job to feed her children. If you can't read, you can't fill out a job application. (I heard her say that over and over and over again at these literacy events!)
Or how about the women of Afghanistan? She has devoted much time and effort to help the women and she didn't drop it when she went back to Texas. She dug right in with a mission to continue to help them. A year ago she drafted me to moderate a panel at SMU with women from Afghanistan and other countries who mentor with businesswomen in the U.S. -- putting a spotlight on what successful women in this country can do to help women in other countries and most of all in Afghanistan where the Taliban has been brutal to women. The conference was the public side of her work for the women -- she does a lot of behind the scenes work to help the women hook up with business women in the U.S.
Want another one? Ready for more? Do you know who Aung San Suu Kyi is? I confess... I didn't until Mrs. Bush spoke out at the UN about her. She was under house arrest in Burma -- under a repressive regime. For the First Lady of the U.S. to be so bold to speak out against a repressive regime holding a woman was big.
This blog posting is not a Republican/Democratic issue. Breast cancer hits women of both parties. I know Democratic women with it and Republican women. Likewise... literacy is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue -- you can't get along in life if you can't even sign your name.
These are projects Mrs. Bush has been pushing for years.
The only partisan aspect to the article below are the 22 women who signed the letter and lack the decency to step back from their mean spirited partisanship and just look at the FACTS. Facts matter.
I could go on and on with what Mrs. Bush has done for women over the years and continues to do. But now I turn to the question: what has Fuentes been doing? Holding pot luck dinner with other women complaining about women of other political parties who actually DO help ?
Finally, I do challenge other women in politics and the media to do the right thing. Time to speak up! Write a letter to the museum board challenging the obscene letter written about Mrs. Bush. We want to encourage women to help women -- what these 22 women did is just the opposite, although I doubt anything could or would stop Mrs. Bush.
If you want women to help women, speak up now. Don't tolerate small minded partisans trying to discourage those who REALLY help. You would never let men do this to women... so why look the other way when the unfair critics are women?
The time to speak up is now.
Read below... and post your comment.
Not everyone is happy to see the Sewall-Belmont House, a museum dedicated to advancing women, give its highest honor to former first lady Laura Bush.
Twenty-two women, including former members of the museum's board, have penned a letter to the museum in protest of Bush's selection for the Alice Award, as first reported by the Washington Post. Sonia Pressman Fuentes, co-founder of the National Organization for Women, led the charge."When I read that the award was going to be given to Laura Bush, I felt as if I'd had a sudden onset of Alzheimer's," she told Yeas & Nays. "I couldn't believe my eyes."
What i find incredible is Greta didn't know who Aung San Suu Kyi was???? You, a reporter? or just a party spokes person repeating what's fed You?
I don't dislike the former first lady even though I detest what her husband and his policies did to our country. But I'm pretty sure she's got a voice and an audience that's significantly larger than 22. Greta, I would suggest you use your pulpit wisely and not simply create tempests in teacups. If this is what passes as "women's issues" in your neck of the woods, you should try watching a network other than your own.
Didn't know who Aung San Suu Kyi was???? Don't want to be " catty " LOL
Unless women are prepared to fight politically they must be content to be ignored politically.”—Alice Paul, NWP National Chairman, 1920
i have no problem in agreeing with Greta
that Laura Bush was a beautiful & gracious
first-lady .
and that our country should feel pride in her
service while her husband was in the white-house .
in fact the great majority of American first-ladies
could equally be compared to Mrs. Bush .
but typically women who have chosen to advance
women's rights , ... have done so at risk to their reputation ,
and often at risk to their own life & limb .
no matter how Greta chooses to phrase it ?
Laura herself would agree that she has not
risen to the likes of say Rosa Parks or
Aung San Suu Kyi .
so if Greta could stand back for this instance .
perhaps Greta would agree that there has been
no INSULT cast upon Laura Bush ?
those dissenting voices are only saying , ...
honors like this should be given to a
Rosa Parks or Aung San Suu Kyi
and not to the people who helped to
spread the word of their bravery ????
Middle Eastern culture does not prohibit breast cancer screeninig. This may not have been said in so many words but the sentiment that the Middle East is backward, suppresses women and needs the U.S. to liberate women is utter nonsense. Yes, it is true that breast cancer awareness is not discussed in the same public forums as in the West, on television for example; but this is different than saying that women do not have culturally appropriate forums in which to discuss these topics. English and Arabic language magazines cover these topics at the very least.
Laura Bush deserves this award for her tireless efforts in promoting awareness and education that will benefit women around the world and ultimately entire societies. Let's stick to that, rather than use the support of Laura Bush as an opportunity to bring up sledging of Islamic countries...and saying "let's pop another one in too (Burma) so that we can't be accused of ostracising "the enemy"."
Did I get that right? I'm sure we all know that no women have ever been executed in Saudi or any other islamic state for adultery or apostasy. Of couse, that's the absolute truth, isn't it?
And we all know that islam is the most peaceful religion in the world...and anybody who disagrees with that will have their head cut off. Just ask Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg.
evidentally you missed my point. i did not say that islamic societies are perfect. whether women's rights are given in accordance with holy scripture in societies whose laws supposedly according to the qur'an is a separate discussion about interpretation and adherence.
what i did say is if the author objects to protests against laura bush's award then arguments supporting her objection should be made...not roping in non-related contentious issues to make a point for the purpose of furthering a not so hidden agenda.
did laura bush do well? yes. should she applauded for her efforts? yes. does it make sense to discuss her visits to the middle east to raise awareness about breast cancer and provide an opportunity to discuss this? yes. is it valid to make a broad sweeping comments about a region that is opinion argued as fact? NO! middle eastern countries are the same as much as all americans are blond and rich.
when all women in "western" societies are literate, voting, car-driving, fully-educated, empowered and equal members of society, then let's chat.
Well... I think that you will agree that this will more than likely happen SOONER in the West than it will in the East..
Should we impose our standards on the East? No. But we can certainly judge them on how they treat their women - regardless of religion. Yes, the US has some distance to go, but that distance is far shorter than in many Eastern countries. IMO, a country that does not treat its population with respect - and that most definitely goes for the USA as well - is a country that needs to PROGRESS upward towards equality.
Would you disagree?
And these attacks all come from liberal, open-minded people of tolerance and civility, too.