The WIP Talk

Twenty-five years ago Jane Campion, the Academy Award winning screenwriter and first woman director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, told the Philadelphia Enquirer she was “lucky to be making movies in Australia … To deny women directors, as I suspect is happening in the States, is to deny the feminine vision.”

Photograph courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival.

As I travel to New York to attend the Tribeca Film Festival, I wonder what is the feminine vision? One hundred and nineteen feature-length films will be shown at this year’s festival – an impossible number of films to view in the days my colleague Barbara Castro and I will be there. Thirty-three percent of this year’s feature length films are directed by women, the highest percentage in Tribeca’s history. If we view only films written or directed by women, will we observe a feminine vision?

In both news media and film female representation lags far behind male. According to the Women’s Media Center “women comprised just 9 percent of the directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2013” and on Sunday morning public affairs news programming, “women comprised only 14 percent of those interviewed and 29 percent of roundtable guests.” Yet much of the conversation surrounding women in Hollywood only addresses the correlation between low numbers of female filmmakers and the lack of female characters with speaking roles portrayed positively on screen. The Women’s Media Center also notes a correlation between the number of women in clout positions in the media and the presence of women as guests. Noteworthy in their 2014 Status of Women in the US Media Report is female co-anchors Gwen Ifill’s and Judy Woodruff’s unprecedented 93 percent female presence on PBS’ NewsHour in the last quarter of 2013.

Surveys of both reports out of Hollywood and in the news media provide minimal reference to the social change possible when parity is accomplished. Is there an intrinsic value in women telling stories – all stories – from their voices, from their experiences, from their perspectives? When we see the world through the eyes of women do possibilities open up that we did not see before? From the research, more women directors and writers equate more women on screen in all our diversity – from race to our capacity as leaders – impacting viewers perception of women and our capabilities. So what will the impact of women directors and writers hired and produced on par with men ultimately be?

To be sure, there are some who will conclude that I am assuming categorical polarizations that “women do this” and “men do that.” This is not my intention at Tribeca or my intention as Director of The WIP. But, if such a disproportionate number of films that we watch are directed by men, then surely this has impacted the art form as a whole. Surely the addition of women must lead to something different from what we always see.

The Tribeca Film Festival began in 2002, post 9/11. The goal was to bring a festival to a region of the city in need of something positive, artistic, and revitalizing. Nelson Mandela attended that first festival and spoke about the “unifying and humanizing power of film.” According to festival organizers, Mandela “often spoke about the equalizing power of movies to bring people together and to create empathy and understanding.”

Clearly successful films are in some way transformative. Stories, documentaries, and narratives impart an awareness of the world around us. We are forced to meditate for 80 minutes on injustice, atrocity, humanity, love and social change. In a 1993 interview with Marli Feldvoss, Jane Campion also remarked “There is a different kind of vulnerability when a woman is directing.” Will I notice this difference? Will I notice if the lens from which I am looking at the world is a feminine vision? I will let you know what we find!

For daily updates from the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival follow The WIP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. – Ed.

Kate Daniels Kurz is the founder and Director of The WIP.

This past Tuesday, March 31, 2015, marked the 50^th Anniversary of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike and the second annual César Chávez Day (officially declared by President Obama last year). All week, communities across the country held celebrations and set aside time to promote service and honor the life and work of Chávez.

César Chávez at a United Farmworkers rally in Delano, 1974. Photograph from Wikipedia and used under a Creative Commons license.

The Delano Grape Strike began on September 8, 1965, with a partnership between the predominantly Mexican-American National Farmworkers Association and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee of mostly Filipino farm workers who demanded that the grape growers pay wages equal to the federal minimum wage. In 1966, the two groups merged to form the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). In addition to organizing boycotts and advocating for nonviolent resistance, Chávez led a 300-mile march from Delano to the state’s capital Sacramento, garnering national attention for the farm workers’ demands.

Previously unfamiliar with the renowned American farm worker, civil rights activist, and labor movement leader, I now live near the fertile Central Valley of California. The issues are front and center. Unfortunately, fifty years later, the same conversations persist locally and just south of the border. Farm workers in the coastal town of San Quintín in the Mexican state of Baja California just held a massive strike. Why didn’t that make national headlines? We make it a point to commemorate César Chávez Day, but do we acknowledge that the United States is driving an insatiable and potentially dangerous demand for produce?

According to the LA Times, the most recent labor movement manifestation 200 miles south of San Diego began on March 17, mobilizing thousands of workers at the peak of the late-winter harvest. For decades, workers had migrated north up the West Coast to follow the tomato and grape harvests, but recent amplification in border security has largely stalled this movement. Americans now demand strawberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers year-round. In the last decade, farm exports to the U.S. from Mexico have tripled to around $7.6 billion.

However, after time spent in the United States, these workers started to demand better treatment in Mexico. Farm workers want higher wages. According to a major series produced by the LA Times in December called “The Product of Mexico”, these laborers are bussed hundreds of miles from Mexico’s poorest regions to work at huge agricultural complexes. They work 6-7 days per week and get paid 100-150 pesos/day ($8-12 USD). That is, if the growers decide to pay them weekly. Sometimes, they withhold wages for the entire duration of the 3-month contract.

The workers remain overworked and underpaid while agribusinesses, distributors, and retailers stand to gain enormously. Farm workers accuse agribusinesses of denying them government benefits, neglecting basic human rights, and proliferating cases of sexual harassment in the fields. These are the same issues Chávez and the UFW faced in the 60s and 70s.

For the past two weeks, approximately 50,000 farmworkers went on strike, confronted police, and blocked the major highway running north. They demanded a wage increase to 200 pesos/day ($13.10 USD). On Monday, March 30, commercial farms in Baja offered farm workers a 15 percent wage increase under the condition that they return to the fields. Many responded, for lack of another option. But that’s not enough. Leaders of this movement remain unsatisfied because they want services like health care and an end to abuses.

One company in the region accused of such abuses is BerryMex, a major supplier of Driscoll’s in Watsonville, CA. Driscoll’s recently released a statement assuring that BerryMex increased its workers earning potential to $5.00-9.00 USD/hour. However, they gracefully neglected any mention of remedying human rights abuses or access to services like water and sanitation.

So, what does this mean for us in the United States? On Monday, March 30, radio host Rose Aguilar featured this discussion on her regular program called “Your Call” on local public radio KALW in San Francisco. The U.S. gets 69 percent of its vegetables and 37 percent of fruit from Mexico, both conventional and organic. Grocery stores are required to stock particular fruits and vegetables year round because we the consumers demand it.

Fad diets and health trends tell us we need to consume more fruit and vegetables. This is true. What they leave out is that eating seasonally is actually better for the environment and us. Foods out of season have to be produced and shipped from elsewhere, exponentially growing the globe’s carbon footprint at the expense of the wellbeing of the farm workers … and our wallets. Usually, the produce is picked before ripening, which prevents the full development of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants – the reasons we consume these foods in the first place.

Furthermore, we tend to believe our produce should look a certain way. We shop over bruised apples. “The Product of Mexico” by the LA Times revealed how much investment has been channeled into constructing gigantic greenhouses and improving the sanitation of facilities in Mexico. Some growers even require that farm workers clip their fingernails before handling produce for fear of puncturing the tomato skin. If the produce falls to the ground, it is discarded because these sorts of blemishes certainly would not measure up to American standards. Meanwhile, farm workers resort to bathing in irrigation channels and living in rat-infested huts.

None of this is intended to detract from César Chávez Day. In fact, it’s the opposite. We should be channeling the lessons we learned from his movement decades ago to reexamine the status quo and continue to make it better. Is it time for a widespread campaign for U.S. consumers to boycott these products? Is it time for another grape/tomato/cucumber/strawberry strike?

Film used in 1969 by the United Farmworkers organizing committee to promote a nationwide grape boycott in American cities.

Brittany Lane is a graduate candidate for a M.A. in International Policy Studies with a concentration on Human Security and Development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She earned her B.A. in International Relations and Economics from the College of William and Mary. She is passionate about women’s rights, gender equity through sport, and youth development. She is a Graduate Assistant for The WIP.

The WIP Executive Editor, Kate Daniels Kurz, is interviewed on Wagner & Winick On the Law, a legal talk radio program broadcast on KSCO AM 1080 on Saturday afternoons from 4-5 p.m. (PST). For more information, visit www.wagnerandwinick.com.

Have a listen and let us know what you think?

Sunday, March 8, 2015, marked the 104th observance of International Women’s Day. According to the United Nations, the day was initiated in Copenhagen to honor the movement for women’s rights and build support for universal suffrage. Now, International Women’s Day is a day celebrated in multiple countries worldwide, where women are recognized for their accomplishments “without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic, or political.”

Naturally, as a global news source for women’s voices and perspectives, The WIP has organized a variety of events celebrating International Women’s Day for four of the past eight years. However, this year on Friday March 6th, The WIP hosted its first luncheon and fundraising event at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Monterey, CA. With sweeping views of Monterey Bay and a blue-sky backdrop, the almost 200 guests brought a spirited energy to a successful event.

Titled “Women, Media and Social Change,” this year’s event placed a strong emphasis on the community of women contributors around the world who continue to write, submit, and expose issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Opening remarks from Amy Sands, Executive Director for Research Centers and Initiatives at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), started the event on a positive note, as she represented the strong support from attending MIIS faculty, staff and students. Emcee Daisy Tormé, renowned actress, singer, and host, captivated the crowd with her humor, flair for storytelling, and enthusiasm for women’s rights.

For the first time, two video compilations (see both videos below), one shown at the beginning of the event and the other toward the end, shared the real voices of some of these women, highlighting why The WIP plays a critical role in their lives and for the world.

Associate Editor Kim Amador offered her brief remarks, genuinely expressing her commitment to and love for The WIP’s mission. Director Kate Daniels Kurz followed with words of appreciation for everyone attending and obvious passion for her work. Finally, singer, composer, writer, and voice coach Lisa Goettel led a surprising activity, encouraging everyone in the room to stand up and sing in a powerful expression of unity.

The conversational buzz in the room left a memorable and hopeful impression, as a group of people from a variety of backgrounds connected around a singular mission. In 1975, the United Nations designated March 8th as the official date for International Women’s Day. With growing support worldwide, and organizations like The WIP to propel the progress of women, it’s an international fixture here to stay.

IWD 2015: A Message from our Contributors from The WIP on Vimeo.

IWD 2015: A Closing Message from our Contributors from The WIP on Vimeo.

Brittany Lane is a graduate candidate for a M.A. in International Policy Studies with a concentration on Human Security and Development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She earned her B.A. in International Relations and Economics from the College of William and Mary. She is passionate about women’s rights, gender equity through sport, and youth development. She is a Graduate Assistant for The WIP.

The division of Social Behavioral and Global Studies (SBGS) of California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), The Women’s International Perspective (The WIP), and the division of Humanities and Communication (HCOM) of CSUMB are proud to welcome Dr. Dawn Chatty on November 17th, 2014 from 5-7 PM for a public lecture at CSUMB’s University Center Living Room.

Dr. Dawn Chatty. Photo courtesy of CSUMB.

Dr. Chatty’s talk is titled “Forced Migration and the Humanitarian Aid Regime.” In this lecture, Dr. Chatty will explore the range of forced migration categories and labels around the world and the meanings of the terms attached to the label ‘refugee’ in international law. The talk will also elaborate a modern historical overview of the development of the contemporary refugee regime and the significance of the Middle East.

Dr. Dawn Chatty is a University Professor in Anthropology and Forced Migration and the Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. She is a social anthropologist with long experience in the Middle East as a university teacher, development practitioner, and advocate for indigenous rights. She has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the State University of California at San Diego, the American University of Beirut, the University of Damascus, Sultan Qaboos University and at the University of Oxford. She has worked with the regional offices of various international agencies.

Dr Chatty’s research interests include nomadic pastoralism and conservation, gender and development, health, illness and culture, and coping strategies of youth and their care givers in prolonged conflict and forced migration. Her most recent books include: Children of Palestine: Experiencing Forced Migration in the Middle East (ed. with Gillian Lewando-Hundt), Deterritorialized Youth: Sahrawi and Afghan Refugees at the Margins of the Middle East (ed.), and Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Brendan Taylor at bretaylor@csumb.edu.

On October 29, the MIIS Community met Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, a self-described ‘social entrepreneur’ from Afghanistan. Immersed in The WIP nearly every day, it is rare to meet a woman who can and does change the course of what I feel a certain future will look like. Yesterday reminded me that each of us has the opportunity to create social change and make the future a better place – one day, one article, or one student at a time. Dr. Sakena Yacoobi lights the way.

Dr. Sakena Yakoobi speaks with Najia Lodin, MIIS student from Afghanistan. October 29, 2014. Photograph courtesy of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Dr. Yacoobi’s talk and visit was hosted by the Institute’s new Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL). The bulk of Dr. Yacoobi’s talk was about the obstacles and achievements her organization, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), has faced in its 20-year history of opening educational learning centers in Afghanistan.  Yet, throughout her speech, were shots of inspiration, stories that terrify, and the beauty of a woman with a vision and the courage to see it through.

It is cliché to say I was humbled by her talk, but I must. I was truly humbled by her talk. When this woman of short stature yet overwhelmingly powerful voice and force stands up and invites you to not give up on Afghanistan, you don’t. When this woman, running on faith, puts her life on the line over and over to transform Afghanistan through education speaks, you listen. When you feel you are in the presence of a saint, and she invites you to bring your skills and talents and share them with the people of Afghanistan, all you ask is “how?”

One way is to donate to AIL  and support Dr. Sakena Yacoobi and the teachers and students who are the future of Afghanistan and our world.  The Skoll Foundation is currently offering matching funds to the Afghan Institute of Learning.  AIL’s goal for this challenge is to raise $120,000, enough to educate 1,846 students. A  donation of $65 covers the cost to educate one student for one year. The Center for Social Impact Learning has set up a Crowdrise Team. I’ve made my donation. Please join me and together we will help the Afghan Institute of Learning continue to create the tomorrow we all know is possible.

Onward!

Kate Daniels is the founder and executive editor of The WIP.

Will you join us? Please let us know via our Facebook event page!

“Our choice is simple: either we break the alliances or they will break us.” This is the parting thought Nomi Prins leaves us with in her latest book, All the Presidents’ Bankers, which explores 100 years of relationships between presidents and the Big Six bankers.

Image credit: Stephanie Murti

In 2008 and 2009, people around the world witnessed firsthand what being broken by the banking system could mean as millions lost their homes, livelihoods, incomes, and way of life with little warning. They were all victims of an unscrupulous relationship between Presidents, Treasury Secretaries, and banking executives over generations that overlooked the needs of the people in order to amass huge profits for themselves.

According to Prins, the future ramifications for continuing to deregulate the banking industry could be even more severe — but there is a solution. By instating policies that reflect the interests of the people over the interests of the banks and dissolving the unscrupulous relationship between those in control of the money and those in control of the laws, we can promote economic empowerment on an individual level, rather than leaving it exclusively in the realm of the already wealthy elite.

On Tuesday, September 23^rd at 6pm, author Nomi Prins, herself a former managing director for Goldman Sachs, will be joining The WIP at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Irvine Auditorium to talk about these alliances and what they mean for the rest of us. Prins left the banking industry after becoming disillusioned with policies that were out of sync with the needs of the very people they claimed to serve and now spends her time advocating for fairer banking policies and greater economic empowerment for individuals.

A short reception and book signing will follow.

See you there!

Kirstin Kelley is a graduate assistant at The WIP who is completing her master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

On Tuesday, August 5, The WIP is hosting the live Twitter chat #WomenCallAction: Missing Her POV from 10 am – 11 am PDT.

Inspired by The WIP Feature Article #WomenCallAction: Illuminating the Relevance of Women Directing U.S. Media and the July 24 report released by the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, Tuesday’s Twitter chat is your opportunity to discuss the underrepresentation of women behind and in front of the camera. As WIP Contributor Rachel Feldman points out, gender disparity in American film has consequences cross-culturally:

Hollywood film and television is our culture’s most powerful influencer and ambassador.  All around the world, even in the most remote corners of our planet, men, women and children see how Hollywood movies and television present the human condition. Our media is a great proselytizer and we have a tremendous responsibility to insure that the images and ideas we disseminate represent the most enlightened aspects of culture and are not created primarily by a single gender perspective. Shutting out women’s voices impacts the entire world.

Film industry professionals, film lovers, students, and folks simply interested in the topic – let’s hear your voice on Tuesday! Join in the conversation by posting tweets with your questions and experiences using the hashtag #WomenCallAction from your twitter account.

Bios of participants:

Rachel Feldman @WomenCallAction – Rachel Feldman is a director and screenwriter, currently in development with THE GOOD YEARS, a feature film based on the life of Lilly Ledbetter, with Oscar winning producer, and Women In Film President, Cathy Schulman and Mandalay Pictures. Rachel has directed many hours of series television and Movies of the Week for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, FOX, HBO, LIFETIME, DISNEY CHANNEL, TEEN NICK, LIFETIME and SYFY.  She teaches directing at Loyola Marymount University and has taught directing and screenwriting at University of Southern California.  Rachel received her BA at Sarah Lawrence College and her MFA at New York University School of Film & Television.

Melissa Silverstein @melsil – Melissa Silverstein is a writer, blogger and marketing consultant.  She is an expert in the area of social media regarding women and Hollywood. She is the founder and editor of Women and Hollywood, one of the most respected sites for issues related to women and film as well as other areas of pop culture. She has been featured on CNN, the BBC as well as in Newsweek, Salon, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, NY Times, and many other publications. In 2011, Melissa was named one of the Top 100 Arts tweeters by the Times of London and Women and Hollywood was named one of the top 100 websites for women by ForbesWoman. Recently, her writing was included in The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thriller of Our Time. Melissa Silverstein is a WMC SheSource expert on Media and Entertainment.

Stay tuned! More participants will be added to our lineup!

Banner image credit: Karolyne Carloss

On Thursday, July 24, The WIP and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies will co-host Twitter chat “Women in Islam: Myth vs. Reality.” Join the conversation from 9:30 am – 10:30 am PDT on Twitter. #LocalVoicesTalk

Image credit: Stephanie Murti

The idea for “Women in Islam: Myth vs. Reality” was inspired by two CNS fellows from Pakistan – Maria Syed and Nidaa Shahid. Both fellows wrote this summer for The WIP addressing the common misperceptions in the West of women in Pakistan. After sharing the topic with CNS fellow Abdulmajeed Ibrahim of Nigeria, the topic grew to address common misperceptions in the West about Islam. The vision for this conversation is to engage Muslims and Non-Muslims to cultivate better cross-cultural understanding.

Please join us at 9:30 Thursday morning, July 24 using #LocalVoicesTalk

Bios of participants:

Maria Syed @SyedMarias – Maria Syed is currently a visiting fellow at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, MIIS. She is a researcher at Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Pakistan and has over six years of research experience. Her areas of interest include Pakistan’s security and governance issues, political economy, The Middle East and North Africa region with special focus on The Arab Spring.

Nidaa Shahid @NidaaShahid – Nidaa Shahid is a visiting fellow at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at MIIS. She is a Radio Journalist from Pakistan. She has been working for the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) which is the official radio channel of Pakistan for the past five years. Apart from that she is also an MPhil Graduate in Defense and Strategic Studies with a focus on Media Studies, Information Warfare and Psychological Warfare.

Abdulmajeed Ibrahim @abdulmj1 – Abdulmajeed Ibrahim is a visiting fellow at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, MIIS. He is a Regulatory Engineer at the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Abuja. He has been working there for five years. He is experienced in Nuclear Security, Safeguards and Nonproliferation. His interests include Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament. He hopes for a World  free from Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies @CNS_Updates – The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies strives to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by training the next generation of nonproliferation specialists and disseminating timely information and analysis. CNS at the Monterey Institute of International Studies is the largest nongovernmental organization in the United States devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation issues.

The Women’s International Perspective @thewip – Based on the campus of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, The WIP is a global source for women’s perspectives. The WIP reports news, world opinion, and commentary through our Feature Articles, Byline Portal, Current Headlines and community blog. Our mission is to provide quality articles from the unique perspectives of women, accessible worldwide, and free to readers.