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The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
April 24, 2002
POLITICS A RISKY CHOICE FOR WOMEN
WORLDWIDE
Author: ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ, aveciana@herald.com
Edition: Final
Section: Living
Page: 1E
Article Text:
Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt knew she was
courting danger when she decided to run for office in one of the most
volatile countries in Latin America. As a former senator, she had received
death threats and been told there was a price on her head.
"I've been forced to see death in the eyes," Betancourt told
documentary filmmaker Robyn Symon during an interview in Miami in January.
"I've succeeded in eliminating the fear of dying. And when you eliminate
this, you are free."
Weeks later, in February, she was kidnapped by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, a group known by its Spanish acronym FARC. There
is still no word on her whereabouts, but that eerie conversation has given
Symon renewed purpose. The two-time Emmy Award-winning television producer
is putting together Madam President! a one-hour documentary that explores
the challenges and obstacles women in the United States and abroad face
when the! y decide to run for political office.
"I'm still horrified watching the interview," said Symon, a North
Miami Beach resident and mother of a 13-year-old son. "She represents
everything this documentary stands for. She believes so much in what she
is doing that she was willing to take the risks to stand up for her
convictions."
Betancourt is not the only female candidate who has risked her
life. In 1999, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga was injured in
an explosion, and a human rights advocate in Russia was murdered.
Domestically the dangers are different. Symon believes American women face
a skeptical public and a biased media that concentrates on their looks
instead of their opinions.
"Women don't always see politics as a career," Symon said. "They
fall into it. They start on the PTA because of their children, then they
may go on to the school board, and maybe later run for state office. But
it's not something they intend to do! from the start."
Symon hopes her documentary will help cha nge that. Her crew will
follow two novice political candidates on the campaign trail, one in the
United States, probably in Florida, and another in a foreign country. The
Washington, D.C.-based International Women's Democracy Center (IWDC) and
Yale University's Campaign School for Women will help her identify the
women. The documentary will also include interviews with established
female politicians. The goal is twofold: to examine the cultural
perceptions that have kept women from entering politics and to inspire
more women to choose it as a career.
"We need more women in the political pipeline in order to someday
have a woman president," Symon says.
Already she has shot footage of a training seminar by the Yale
Campaign School in Naples. In March, Symon also shot video of a conference
in Kansas City, attended by experienced politicians, including retired
Congresswoman Pat Schroeder.
"They told me their opponents were fixated not on the issues but
on things like their hair," Symon said, with a rueful laugh. "They also
complained about the little support and the kind of treatment they got on
the campaign trail."
Of the 40,000 parliamentarians elected around the world, less than
15 percent are women, says Barbara Ferris, president and founder of the
IWDC. In the United States, women hold 72 out of the 535 seats in
Congress, or about 14 percent.
Symon's documentary will personalize those numbers. "A documentary
can be immensely powerful," Ferris added. "It brings the problem to
light. For any nation to achieve its full democratic potential, every one
of its citizens has to participate. You can't leave half of the population
out of the political decision-making."
A senior producer at WPBT-PBS 2 for six years and co-host of the
national show New Florida, Symon, in her early '40s, was no politics buff
- until sh! e read a piece about the IWDC and their work with women
candidates.
Symon's biggest challenge will not be getting women to talk
candidly on camera. Rather, she faces an uphill battle to get funding for
her project, which she estimates can cost up to $300,000. Women's groups,
she explained, are very supportive but they don't have the money to help
fund a documentary. As a result, she tries to raise funds through grants,
private donors and corporations.
"I hire crews only when I need them, and I use skeleton crews and
pick up people in the host location," she said. `I do everything. I
produce, I write, and I direct."
Symon expects to wrap up shooting by the end of November, with
distribution by public television slated for early spring 2003. The
documentary will also be distributed internationally and to 250,000
academic institutions and libraries in the United States.
She hopes that the stories of political triumph and tragedy wi! ll
close the political gender gap. "I have found these women so inspi
ring," she said. "They come from all walks of life. Some are highly
educated and others can barely read or write. They come from tiny villages
in Kenya and Northern Ireland as well as big cities. But they all want to
mak e a difference."
For more information on the documentary, visit www.symonproductions.com.
Caption:
CHARLES TRAINOR JR./HERALD STAFF DOCUMENTARIAN: Robyn
Symon checks footage of Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid
Betancourt, who was kidnapped in February.color photo: Robyn Symon (a)
Copyright (c) 2002 The Miami Herald
Record Number:
0204260164 |
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