During the Week of March 8th, Bonnie Erbe, who is host of "To the Contrary" and a pioneering US journalist for covering women's news, offered a segment of her program to discuss International Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8th worldwide. To the Contrary is considered a major television program for women in the US, and was broadcast on Public Television, which has stations throughout the nation. A tape of the program is likely available; contact To The Contrary for it at www.tothecontrary.org

Erbe and her guests, Maria Echaveste - a Former Clinton Chief of Staff, Eleanor Holmes Norton, US Democrat Representative from the never enfranchised District of Columbia, Geneview Wood, a Conservative Independent, and Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster, discussed International Woman's Day, in a very revealing way: They discussed whether the United States women are interested, or need to be interested in global woman's news and stories.

As they talked, the screen filled with pictures of poor, rural women, usually looking pained or starved, from around the world. There was not one picture shown of a non-US woman President (there are many to choose from from Indonesa to Finland), not one picture of a woman legislator, a woman doctor, a woman actress, a nurse, a teacher, or any clearly well-educated woman from another nation, like India, or China, or Argentina, or South Africa in all the pictures shown. Sylvianne Agacinski, who brought 50-50 gender to Fremch government in a story more important than even the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and whose face is in French news daily as her husband and Prime Minister runs for election, was not among the photos displayed, nor were French women Presidential candidates , one of whom is number three in the French election polls

Also interestingly, few or none of the pictures showed a Caucasian (apparently the nations of Europe do not exist as a international reality to Erbe's staff - do they believe the US is the only Caucasian nation? Perhaps they believe that in the rest of the world, only men are Caucasian, and women, because they are of course, poor victims, like those are of color, like the United State's own still economically "second-class citizens". Poor women of Russia and other Caucasian poor were not as frequently shown.) Thus, the selection of pictures itself revealed shocking gender-racial biases and morbid interest in victimhood with litter interest in photos of clear empowerment, at least on the part of someone on Erbe's staff, who, likely, was sincerely trying to celebrate International Women's Day

Erbe and the guests then went on to discuss whether the US gives enough foreign aid to the world's poor and dicriminated-against women, such as those shown in the pictures.

Gentle Confrontation and Empowerment to Do Better/ Open Letter to Erbe and Guests

The Host and women Guests on this women's issue program are either, ironically, extremely poorly informed about women around the world, being pressured by male bosses, or willfully miscommunicating to American women about international women for some strange reason. This coverage of International Women's Day was either ill-informed naivete, or lip service only. It was, sadly, a shocking and amazing insult to women around the world, especially in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India and China. as well as the vast majority of women in the US, Canada and throughout the Americas, who understand and want to celebrate women as sisters, and as equal partners to men in our world.

On International Woman's Day Week, Erbe might have mentioned that the US now ranks 49th among nations, and dead last among currently wealthy and literate nations, in the number of women in its national legislature; and asked her guests how the US could catch up.

She could have shown pictures of the now newly 47.5% women in office of France's city governments, gender balanced since March 2001, and discussed their upcoming Parliamentary gender balance election now, in March-April, under the Gender Parite law. But since Public Television news did not cover these stories, maybe Bonnie didn't know about them. So much for being a woman journalist in the US.

Erbe might have shown her watching audience pictures of the woman leader Chairing the Swedish nearly 50-50 gender-balanced Riksdag, or a picture of the South African women who brought 30% women to their government. She could have shown pictures of Australian and New Zealand women economists who are changing the methods by which any nation counts its gross national product to count all the work, paid and unpaid, of women and all citizens.

Instead, Erbe and her guests women mislead their audience to believe that the women of the world are mostly nameless victims, with not one knowable or nameable woman leader among them, according to this insulting presentation. In this presentation, the women of the world are everywhere eternally just starving but exotic looking water carriers, that need US women to have their (dominator-male-run) government dole out more money to, and decide if they should have birth control.

Embarrassed American viewers, and the women of the world must now say firmly and clearly to Erbe and her guests: Ladies, you have a lot of catching up and better informing of yourself, and any who might watch you, to do. We who are better informed are willing to help you. We, women everywhere, in the US and outside as well, will help the US government become more gender-balanced as others have become. But women of your titles and positions of public service must begin to face some global and internationally known truth, especially on a television program that is meant to inform and safeguard the women of your nation from their own victimization and under-representation.

Too many of the women in Ms. Holmes Norton's city, Washington DC, and many other cities and counties in the US, are almost as poor and illiterate as the pictures you showed. They too suffer diseases like AIDS, drug abuse, rape and other horrific problems. The face of female suffering victimhood is not necessarily foreign in a city where the town council is the US Congress, 87% male and mostly white.

But neither is the face of empowerment and health right now, primarily US American. These women guests may be big fish in the small women's ponds of the US alpha-male owned media and US dominator-male controlled government for the moment; but even their positions will not last long if they live in or perpetuate denial about how US women are falling behind, in empowerment, internationally speaking, and failing to achieve solidarity with the women of the world thus far in gaining presence in government.

Even middle class and upper class women in the US are worried about the US failing dominator-male-controlled economy and an exploitive materialistic culture affecting all children. They are concerned that US women on the media see so many ads about breast cancer, breast size, and breast implant surgery, but no women concerned that in the US, women lost the ability of their votes to count.

The women of the US need better familiarity with the world's women and the men in many nations who are assisting women to become full partners. If US women do not connect well with them now, it is US women who, falling behind other nations like those in Europe, Canada, India and elsewhere in literacy, labor protection, family leave, gender balance and democracy, may soon need the greater help.

All thinking women worldwide know the key to their empowerment is the equal representation of women and men who have votes that count. Yet, the US uncounted most women's votes in the last election, indeed, most everyone's, and didn't even let people in Holmes Norton's are cast one. Unlike many nations, the had no women of any major or even well known minor party, running for President.

To the Contrary's superficial International Women's Day, without a real discussion of the power of women in government, and voting as something especially important to all the world's women, is a desecration to American women who are celebrated internationally, like Susan B. Anthony and many others. And whether Echaveste and Holmes mention it or not, international women know that gender justice is a prerequisite to racial justice, Giving such superficial lip service to International Woman's Day on a major television program does not help the people in your nation's routinely disenfranchised capital, and those hundreds of millions who have lost faith in elections, and are now losing faith in even women in media, as well.

Of course, the most ill-informed moment was when Kellyanne Conway openly demeaned the UN Sponsored Beijing Conference for Women, representing it as only concerned with birth control. Most women know the conference covered all areas of life and democracy. But Kellyanne need not feel at all singled out for embarrassment:

All the women on this program failed to tell the truth, in any meaningful way, about International Women's Day. The presentation given was either intentionally or naively superficial, arrogant in assuming the US is politically better off than other nations, ignorant of the facts, and misleading. But it was valuable in bringing into focus just how isolationist and disconnected is the thinking of women like Erbe and her guests, who many thought were trustworthy women's leaders and journalists, and hope they might empower themselves to be again.

In fact, isolationism of the kind Erbe's discussion appeared to be perpetuating, is literally incompatible with real leadership for women, or for anyone. Women who are not free to talk about the 50-50 French election, nor about the sit-ins for gender balance in India, and the 30-50% women holding office in so many nations, on International Women's Day, are simply not free enough to watch or listen to. But women who take time on the air to talk about the French election and the Indian sit-ins, help free all women and those of their own nation.

Yet, we believe Erbe and all her guests can and will do better. Indeed, dear ladies. We encourage you to gentle courage and truth force: if you are being censored, have the courage to say that on the air. The size of your watching audience protects you from threat or intimidation.

There is no reason Erbe cannot have the English speaking Birgitta Dahl, Speaker of the 50-50 Swedish Riksdag, a spokeswoman for the woman President of Indonesia, or a newly elected mayor or likely to be elected French woman parliament deputy candidate call in long distance, and add to the quality of her program. She must ask her partyized guests to answer why they have not yet produced a Manifesto like that of the French women of all parties, that brought Gender Parite to their Government. And certainly, recite passages from the Beijing Platform, CEDAW, and the Universal Declaration of Gender Balanced Government, all available from the links section of this website, on the air. In fact, doing so will empower Erbe herself, and fulfill her deepest goals as a woman and journalist. It will truly be the culmination of her destiny, and nothing can really stop that but Erbe herself.

Erbe might have noticed that interview pioneer Barbara Walters was recently (nearly?) fired by an dominator-male-run corporation. She may be worried about women in her field of journalism in the US losing ground (not that they had gained enough, since US journalism has prevented women from reaching highest levels of management, without strike or protest, compared to women in other nations, like Norway, where the government is now insisting that all corporations come up to the level of their government in women's participation and leadership.

As long as Erbe and women like her guests remain isolationist, as long as they remain silent, and fail to tell about International Women's and Men's progress toward gender balance and democracy, as linked to the fate of American women and men, on any and everyday, the more the jobs they endanger may be their own. Not forgetting that 9-11 was a message from and TO the desperation condition of a nations, including the US, stuck in patriarchy and gender imbalance, the date of Earth Day, 4-22-2002, is a message to humanity about government and gender; on that date, humanity must intentionally move to balance the political empowerment and social and spiritual appreciation of both its genders, to see to it that their talents mutually support and multiply each other, to link their overlapping world views in the decisions that affect our shared world. The world will thrive with that, and not survive long without it. Erbe must DARE to tell the international and global story of women and men growing in partnership in other nations, or the next dominator-male ordered job cut, like Barbara Walters', may be her own among those of many other women in journalism. Freedom of speech is like that, especially if you have a national audience. Use it or lose it.