posted on March 20, 2007 08:46:31 AM new
Leno's wife laments Afghan situation as Iraq eats up resources
Women still struggle for rights in many areas, she says in Jacksonville.
By JUDY WELLS, The Times-Union
It's a good thing Mavis Leno has a husband like Jay to keep her laughing.
After working more than three years to publicize the plight of Afghan women and girls under the Taliban, she had the elation of seeing the Taliban fall and many nations make promises of support for the new government. Now she said she watches in dismay as drug lords, tribal chiefs and the Taliban build pockets of control because resources are being siphoned into Iraq and promises aren't being fulfilled.
She spoke to the Jacksonville Women's Network about the victories and the rapid erosion at the Jacksonville Marriott on Thursday night. Emily Lisska, director of the Jacksonville Historical Society, is the network president and said Leno and her topic were a perfect fit for the group's annual special event.
"Global affairs often overshadow women's rights and opportunities, and we wanted to bring this issue to our membership."
In an interview beforehand, Leno said hope has become frustration and that we struggle to achieve the impossible in Iraq at the expense of a nearby country "begging for democracy, one that has a government in place. They would be our friends."
Leno has served as chairwoman of the Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan since 1998. She's achieved her initial goal in working with a campaign started by the nonprofit Feminist Majority Foundation: the women in Afghanistan, who constituted 70 percent of the country's teachers and 50 percent of its medical workers before the Taliban reign, can leave their homes, dress as they wish and work. Girls can get an education.
Unfortunately, she said, in many areas they can't exercise those rights.
"It's too dangerous," she said. "Girls' schools are being burned down, especially near the border with Pakistan where the Taliban is still holding sway."
The immediate need, according to Leno, is to raise awareness of the deteriorating situation so more peacekeepers go in and nations feel the pressure to make good on promises.
Leno grew up in a politically active Los Angeles family. Her father, Nick Nicholson, was a character actor - "he was always the cop who said what had happened" - and began her feminist efforts when she was told girls weren't allowed to be jockeys.
"I was mad," she said. "To be disqualified at birth!"
She tabled her inclinations for 15 years of traveling around and helping her husband's career. But she was ready to become more active in human rights when she heard about the situation in Afghanistan and the need for someone to head up a campaign against it.
She used her husband's celebrity for all it was worth. She made appearances on TV, talked to groups around the country and instigated what the foundation says was the largest response the State Department ever received on a human rights issue.
She has yet to visit Afghanistan - Jay panicked at the thought - but prays it will be safe to do so some day soon.
"People died to get rid of the Taliban, and that is going to go for nothing," she said. "We could help these people make it right. If we don't, it would rank as one of the great mistakes and lost opportunities of our lifetime."
The cause has had a constructive influence on her own life.
"The greatest human growth hormone in the world is activism. When you have taken on a task of helping people much worse off than you can possibly imagine, and people are dying every day you don't get something done, you will go to greater lengths than you ever would for yourself. Anything you do to help others ends up helping you more."
Surprisingly, Leno says she fields few questions about her life with comedian Jay, although one TV interviewer did take her aback by asking if she had any beauty tips to offer viewers.
"She asked me?" said Leno, an attractive brunette but hardly a trophy arm piece by L.A. standards. "I think I said something like 'A good scrubbing helps.' I was nonplussed."
