"Nothing thrives in chaos like criminal activity," Mavis Leno said in an interview this week at the Feminist Majority headquarters.
Mavis Leno and her fellow activists have waged an ongoing effort to make sure that the status of Afghan women figures into America's policy calculations. With President Barack Obama shifting the focus of American military back onto Afghanistan and Pakistan -- where the Taliban is aggressively expanding -- the local activists have been making a special effort to ensure that the rights of women are considered alongside Washington's strategic considerations.
Last week, foundation activists went to Washington to meet with members of the Obama administration. Sima Samar, who heads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan, joined up with them. "We warned in 1998, and over and over again ever since, the women and girls in Afghanistan are the canaries in the mine," Smeal told reporters in Washington. "We cannot forget them if we are ever to gain peace and global stability."
But it takes cash to keep even the most compelling causes going. And so Mavis and Jay Leno will be hosting a fundraiser on April 29 at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the foundation's ongoing efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The event will be structured more along the lines of a salon (these are very serious folks) than the normal network- and-sign-a-check industry gala.
Among those being honored for their activism at the event are:
* Journalist Christiane Amanpour, who risked her life reporting on the plight of women in Afghanistan for CNN.
* Leymah Gbowee, who led an unprecedented mobilization of women across Liberia in a series of massive demonstrations to end the bloody 14-year civil war.
* Producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney and director Gini Reticker, who captured Gbowee's efforts in the documentary "Pray the Devil Back to Hell."
* "Law & Order" executive producer Neal Baer and "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" actress Mariska Hargitay, who have worked to bring television audiences a better understanding of violence against women, including human trafficking and child soldiers. (Hargitay's series aired an episode this week on the subject.)
* Los Angeles activist Billie Heller, who has worked for nearly three decades to win U.S. ratification of the International Women's Rights Treaty.
Jay Leno (described by his wife as a true feminist) will serve as master of ceremonies.
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tina.daunt@latimes.com
