Feminist Majority Organization

Everybody knows about Jay Leno's taste for topical humor. Far fewer are aware that his wife, Mavis, has long been one of Hollywood's most influential behind-the-scenes activists on behalf of women. For more than a decade Mavis Leno has made the plight of Afghan women her particular case and this month she and the organization in which she plays a pivotal role -- the Feminist Majority Foundation -- will hold what amounts to a coming out party for the next round in this cause.

Many a Hollywood cause has been built around film, but no one in the Feminist Majority Foundation ever expected that one of their most powerful recruiting tools would be a few minutes of cellphone video shot in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The Feminist Majority is one of the oldest of the industry-connected organizations concerned with women's issues.

As a cause, women are never chic. Rain forests, ailing children, vanishing species, AIDS . . . these are the issues that generate philanthropic and activist heat. Women in need . . . well, the fuzzy-warm factor is pretty low. What assails women is usually some pervasive system. The social order. The male psyche. The government. Who wants to confront such behemoths? Mavis Leno, it would seem. Mavis Leno, wife of Jay.

It's Saturday morning at Senn High School, a grim, cement monstrosity on the city's north side. Neighborhood kids are milling around the campus, trying to fend off the tough precinct and winter cold. On the torn-up field, boys are playing football. On the blacktop, it's boys again, this time matching up for two-on-two. A sinewy girl in a yellow oversize sweatshirt dribbles a ball on the sidelines. She waits 20 minutes. Forty-five. No one will match up with her.