The Women's Media Center will honor Hillary Clinton with its first ever WMC Wonder Woman Award at the Women’s Media Awards on October 26 at a gala at the Capitale in New York City.
Clinton joins 2017 Honorees Jane Fonda, Maria Hinojosa, Ashley Judd, April Ryan, María Elena Salinas and Gail Tifford. The WMC also will be recognizing the film, “Hidden Figures.” Maya L. Harris will host this event for the first time.
Clinton is an advocate, attorney, author, First Lady, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, and Democratic presidential candidate who has devoted her life to working on behalf of women, children and families.
The Women’s Media Center is presenting its first — and only — WMC Wonder Woman Award to Clinton as she is a hero to millions in the United States and around the globe for her extraordinary accomplishments and public service. Like Wonder Woman, she seems to have superhuman strength, resilience, and courage. She also blazes new paths so that everyone has equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, and she has done much of it in the face of enemy fire.
“Hillary Clinton’s actions have inspired and protected women and men on every continent,” said Gloria Steinem, co-founder of The Women’s Media Center. “She has battled negative forces and helped to maintain a fragile peace with her negotiating skill on behalf of this country and peace-seekers everywhere. She has handled all this with grace, grit, determination, integrity, humor and fortitude while remaining a steadfast feminist, advocate, activist, sister and tireless leader in the revolution. With this award, the Women’s Media Center declares Hillary Clinton our Wonder Woman.”
Clinton’s journey has been a succession of historic firsts: The first woman to ever win a presidential primary or caucus state; the first First Lady elected to the U.S. Senate; the first woman elected to statewide office in New York and, last year, becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
As the Democratic candidate for president, she campaigned on a vision of America that is “stronger together” and an agenda to make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top. She won the popular vote by a margin of nearly three million, and earned the support of nearly 66 million Americans. As First Lady of the United States, from 1993 to 2001, Clinton championed health care for all Americans and led successful bipartisan efforts to improve the adoption and foster care systems, to reduce teen pregnancy, and to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program. She traveled to more than 80 countries to advocate for human rights, democracy, and civil society. Her speech in Beijing in 1995 inspired women worldwide and helped galvanize a global movement for women’s rights and opportunities.
“I’ve known Hillary for decades and I was proud to be at the historic UN Conference on Women in Beijing when she made her groundbreaking speech, ‘Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.’ " said Jane Fonda, WMC co-founder. “Over the years I’ve watched her break glass ceilings, champion women and girls, and fight for human rights domestically and internationally. I celebrate her fierce passion, compassion and dedication.”
In 2007, Clinton began her first historic campaign for president, and won 18 million votes. In the 2008 general election, she campaigned for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and in December, she was nominated by President-elect Obama to be Secretary of State.
“When Hillary was Secretary of State, she accepted my invitation to speak at the first TEDWomen Conference in 2010. In the TEDTalk she gave that day, a talk viewed millions of times around the world, she spoke about a global imperative to remove all barriers to women and girls and their full participation in the political, economic, social and cultural lives of their communities and countries,” said Pat Mitchell, WMC’s board chair, founder and curator, and host of TEDWomen. “Providing opportunities for women and girls to reach their highest potential — and inspiring all of us to reach ours by working together to shape the paths to leadership for all women — has been her life’s work. I am deeply honored to pay tribute to my longtime friend and to express gratitude for her vision, courage, and her unwavering commitment.” Clinton is the author of six best-selling books, including her newest best seller: What Happened. She also wrote the groundbreaking book on children, It Takes A Village (1996) (released as a children’s book this fall); Dear Socks, Dear Buddy (1998); An Invitation to the White House (2000); her memoir, Living History (2003); and Hard Choices (2014.)
Julie Burton, president of the Women’s Media Center, said: “At a time of political attacks on women’s equality, safety, bodily integrity, and educational and economic opportunity — and when the role of independent and honest media is being undermined at the highest level of government — our honorees represent trust, truth, and excellence. Whether in front of the camera or behind it, in traditional media or online, they tell the stories of our lives, and are champions of accuracy, empathy, and democracy for women in all our diversity. We are proud to celebrate them at the Women’s Media Awards.”
Lauren Embrey is the chair of the 2017 Women’s Media Awards and former board chair of the Women’s Media Center.
Women’s Media Awards Co-chairs are Loreen Arbus, Abigail Disney, Jane Fonda, Mellody Hobson, Victoria Jackson, Pat Mitchell, Robin Morgan, Susan Pritzker, Bonnie Schaefer, Regina K. Scully, Gloria Steinem, and Mary and Steven Swig. Proceeds support the continuing work of the Women’s Media Center in advancing women and accuracy in the media.
Past WMC honorees include Luvvie Ajayi, Christiane Amanpour, Amma Asante, Laura Bates, Samantha Bee, Ursula Burns, Katie Couric, Sady Doyle, Mona Eltahawy, Sarah Hoye, Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, Sheila C. Johnson, Maria Teresa Kumar, Laura Ling and Lisa Ling, Lara Logan, Pat Mitchell, Martha Nelson, Soledad O'Brien, Salma Hayek Pinault, Elianne Ramos, Joy Reid, Yanique Richards, Anita Sarkeesian, Regina K. Scully, Mary Thom (posthumously), Marlo Thomas, Barbara Walters, Padmasree Warrior, Lindy West, and Maggie Wilderotter.
The Women’s Media Center was co-founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, and works to make women visible and powerful in media. We train women leaders in media skills, make women experts available to the media through WMC SheSource, and conduct groundbreaking research and reporting on inclusiveness and accuracy in the media. We also feature women’s voices and stories on our award-winning radio broadcast and podcast, “Women’s Media Center Live with Robin Morgan,” and in WMC Features, WMC Fbomb, WMC Speech Project and WMC Women Under Siege.
To buy tickets, or to find more information about the 2017 Women’s Media Awards and our ongoing work, go to: www.womensmediacenter.com.
