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Local groups to screen film on female leadership

By Eric Morris emorris@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read

In celebration of National Business Women’s Week, a documentary chronicling the political and social atmosphere surrounding Brazil’s first female president will be screened for the first time in Fayette County.

District 12 Business and Professional Women (BPW) and the Uniontown High School all-girl after-school program Making a Change, in collaboration with BPW offshoot MyOWN Campaign, will sponsor the screening of the 2014 film “Madame Presidenta: Why Not U.S.? Vamos Meninas!” (which means “Let’s Go, Girls!” in Portuguese) at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown.

“The whole reason for the film is, why does Brazil have a female president and the U.S. does not?” said Denice Robinson, District 12 BPW individual development chair and state BPW past-president, who, along with Uniontown BPW president Pat Carter, attended the documentary’s premiere at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater in Pittsburgh in March.

“It was eye-opening to see the way things are in Brazil compared to how we live in the United States,” Robinson said in regards to the political and economic conditions shown in the film, “and the fact that they have a female president and it’s working.”

The event will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 21 and is free of charge and open to the public.

The hour-long documentary is the product of Heather Arnet, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Women and Girls Foundation, and the month Arnet spent in early 2013 traveling Brazil and interviewing community figures about the leadership of women in the country, including that of President Dilma Rousseff, who was elected to the position in 2010.

Arnet will be on hand Oct. 21 to take part in a question and answer session at the conclusion of the film to discuss the making of the documentary and the issues that it addresses.

“Heather Arnet filmed the documentary to show women in leadership roles,” said Gina Jones, a mentor with Making a Change, a mentoring program geared toward high school-aged girls that was started at Uniontown High in March. “Too often we highlight the successes of men, and too often we don’t highlight the successes of women.

“It’s not expected to have a woman in these kinds of leadership roles, so it’s really important for women and girls of all ages to this and to see that women can be viewed as strong leaders.”

Robinson said BPW hopes to attract all women in Fayette County to the premiere because of the importance of female leadership in arenas like politics and business.

“I would hope that they would have a much greater understanding (after viewing the film) of the similarities between the people of Brazil and the people in the United States, and between the political environment in Brazil and the political environment in the United States,” Robinson said, “and how (Brazil) has been able to elect a woman president and why the United States has not been able to do that.

“It’s so important to see what the world is like outside of our little area — just to see people in another country (and) how their business women have accomplished what they’ve accomplished.”

National Business Women’s Week, held every year during the third week in October, celebrates the contributions that female business and professional leaders have made to the United States.

“We thought that this would be a good way of highlighting women in our country — a celebration of women business owners and what they contribute to our economy,” Robinson said.

Jones said the event is a prime opportunity for female adolescents to mix with local female leaders, who can act as positive influences on the girls.

“One of the main goals of Making a Change is providing young girls with the opportunity to connect with woman leaders in the community,” said Jones. “When people come and attend this event, they’ll see this in action.”

While admission is free, Making a Change members will be accepting donations that will help pay for expenses for the group’s events and activities, Jones said. Portions of the donations will go to District 12 BWP and the State Theatre, she said.

For more information about the film, visit online at www.madamepresidenta.com.

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