AJC.com > Opinion > Woman to Woman > Archives > 2008 > December > 19
Friday, December 19, 2008
Who is the most admirable woman of 2008?
Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Andrea Cornell Sarvady, a left-leaning columnist, responds.
Rebuttal
I spent my childhood immersed in superhero comics, marveling at characters that traveled the globe, fighting crime. My admiration for superheroes hasn’t dimmed, but now they take the form of medical researchers, in lab coats instead of capes, battling an unseen yet devastating villain.
For admirable men and women working tirelessly to wipe out communicable diseases, rewards are years in the making, if they come at all. For Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, the French virologist who helped discover HIV, December provided a rare moment to savor and celebrate; she was a co-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine. The discovery of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) led to the creation of strong antiviral drugs; Barre-Sinoussi and colleague Luc Montagnier have helped turn a certain death sentence into, what is for many, a livable, treatable, condition.
I’m sorry that Robert Gallo, an American researcher also involved in the discovery, didn’t get to share this incredible honor. Yet I’m equally relieved that Barre-Sinoussi wasn’t edged out. Nobels have been awarded since 1901, and of the 789 individual laureates, only 35 have been women—Marie Curie won it twice. With her Nobel, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi is guaranteed to make it into the history books, giving the next generation of female researchers their own Madame Curie to emulate.
“I’m personally convinced that we are on a good road towards a world without AIDS,” Barre-Sinoussi told her Nobel Lecture audience earlier this month, and she’s certainly doing her share to make that happen. She learned of her Nobel while in Cambodia; her current work includes training researchers and studying mother-to-child transmission.
In 2007 alone, 290,000 children died of AIDS, and statistics like these were clearly very much on Barre-Sinoussi’s mind as she accepted her award. For despite much of a lifetime spent around the globe, and one of the highest honors anyone can receive, it is her close collaboration with her patients that she deems “a wonderful experience.”
Few of us will ever meet the altogether admirable Francoise Barre-Sinoussi; many (myself included) struggle to properly pronounce her name. Yet in telling our daughters about her remarkable work, we send a powerful message: there might just be a cape out there with your name on it, honey. Find it and fly.
Services »
Commentary
By Shaunti Feldhahn
Although this has been an historic election year for women, I want to highlight a Republican female who has never been a candidate — and whose grace, strength and history-changing contributions have often been missed by the spotlight.
In a destructive, vicious political culture, Laura Bush has lived out the compelling alternative of gentleness and respect. This summer, I was so proud of her for contradicting a reporter who wanted to gossip about Michelle Obama’s infamous comment that she was proud of America “for the first time.” In an intense political season, Mrs. Bush defended her political opponent by explaining how easy it is to misspeak and be misconstrued.
Although she cannot single-handedly change a rough political climate, she has been a major agent of other change. Mrs. Bush has overcame an enormous personal reluctance toward public speaking or acclaim, and has used her platform to accomplish an equally enormous number of humanitarian goals.
She has been particularly tireless at her “pink diplomacy” efforts on behalf of women around the world. Despite her understated nature, Laura Bush is one of this decade’s most effective leaders at drawing international attention to the need for breast cancer research. Just eight weeks from leaving the White House, she traveled to Panama on “Starbright” - the first lady’s version of Air Force One - to announce a new research partnership between the U.S. and Panama. This was not just a photo opportunity: Panama was the latest country to join a program Bush herself launched in 2007 to help nations fight breast cancer by sharing regional research. Just a few weeks earlier she was on an exhausting mission through Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries to confront the cultural taboos that prevent attention to the disease.
Or take her initiatives to promote literacy and a love of reading; or her award-winning efforts to draw international attention to the little-known genocide perpetrated by Burma’s brutal regime; or her success at educating women on heart health….
Her admirable attitude and accomplishments together must be the reason Laura Bush is one of the most popular first ladies in history, with an approval rating hitting 85 percent in 2005. As she leaves Washington, this quiet and self-effacing woman deserves some resounding applause.