Women Voices Now White Winter Benefit- December 14, 2010- New York City

When we met Catinca Trabacaru, executive director of Women Voices Now, we were very impressed by her passion and determination to speak on behalf of those women who do not have voice.

Women Voices Now is a young organization founded in January 2010, and its mission is to empower women and give voice to the struggle for civil, economic and political rights.  In their first year, WVN is hosting Women’s Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival giving voice to women of all faiths living in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim women living as minorities around the world. Network 355 is proud to share with our followers the story of this amazing women organization.

Please join Women's Voices Now at their Winter White Benefit on Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 in New York City. This one night only event will include a sneak peek at experimental films from Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival; never-before seen works by Israeli artist Rachel Monosov and Iranian photographer Majeed Beenteha; and poetry/song performances by Jeanann Verlee, Corrina Bain, Valerie June and Samantha Thornhill. To top it all off, several DJs will shake the house with electro hybrid beats and more.  White attire is encouraged for all guests, and a minimum $35-$50 donation is required.

Millions of women throughout the world are discriminated against and deprived of their fundamental human rights for no reason other than that they are women. Given the clear connection between expanding women’s freedoms and peace, democracy and economic development, solving this problem is critical. WVN empowers women by creating an on-line platform where underrepresented women can be heard by an international audience, women can communicate with each other, and the dialogue on women’s rights can be elevated by a multitude of views from diverse national, economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds.  This project allows for and actively seeks submissions from all the varying Muslim minorities as well as majorities, and the Kurds, Bahai, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and other minorities throughout the half billion plus women that inhabit the Muslim World.

In their first year, WVN is hosting Women’s Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival. The Festival is focused on giving voice to women of all faiths living in Muslim-majority countries, as well as Muslim women living as minorities around the globe. WVN aims to present an unfiltered and neutral account of these women’s stories and to highlight pro-women voices from within the Muslim world. Films accepted to the Festival will be available for viewing online where these women can speak directly to each other and to an international audience. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning films. Top films, coupled with panels of speakers providing further insight and context, will be screened at the WVN Festival in Los Angeles on March 10-12, 2011 and in venues around the world.

Why the Muslim World? Today, women in Muslim-majority countries still face many legal and cultural impediments to their basic freedoms and civil rights.  However, these women are showing an incredible capacity for transforming their communities from patriarchal societies, with large discrepancies between the rights and welfare of men and women, into more open and tolerant societies, accepting of diverse religious, political and social standpoints. No group is better equipped to present the issues facing women of the Muslim world to an international audience than the women who live and breathe them each day.  These women are at the forefront of challenging abusive and limiting political, religious, economic, social and educational environments and giving them a voice is key to their success.  But, broad and lasting social change can only be achieved by an educated and united community.  On the subject of women of the Muslim world, our global community is anything but educated and united.  The same obstacle exists at the local level where women of the Muslim world originate from 48 drastically different Muslim-majority countries, countless religious beliefs, and mutually exclusive social and political environments.  Women will be able to use the Festival to make their voices heard directly by an international audience, this will increase awareness, empowerment, and connectivity within their communities.

The Festival will provide a multimedia forum through which to elevate an already complex and nuanced dialogue; a dialogue to which justice can only be done by a multiplicity of voices from diverse national, economic and religious backgrounds.  No other film project exists that is focused exclusively on women of the Muslim world, and no other film project exists that aims to obtain the diversity and breadth of audience WVN is working towards.  WVN plan is to create a catalyst for social change by providing the most widely accessible on-line outlet for emerging discussions on women’s rights issues, thereby educating, empowering and uniting those who participate.  The Festival will contribute to the awareness, empowerment, and connectivity of women from the Muslim world themselves–crucial weapons in the fight for women’s rights.

Please come and support Women Voices Now at their at their Winter White Benefit on Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 in New York City.  Here is more on Catinca Tabacaru.