by Diana Serbe
When you leaf through the pages of Women Who Light the Dark, you find the spirit of the author and easily see that Paola Gianturco is a woman who acts on principle. When you read that all of her royalties are being donated to the Global Fund for Women, you know how deep those principles are. But when you meet Gianturco, see the compassion in her eyes and feel her warmth, you know that her principles have emerged from an ability to empathize with others. Speak with her and you will see the edges of her own vulnerability. While an exemplar of activism, this is a soft human being, and that softness lights her own work.
For the past twelve years Gianturco has chosen to document the stories of people who face intractable problems with courage, spirit and imagination. Traveling through countries torn by war, poverty, disease and corruption, she has been witness to sex trafficking, to those near death from starvation, to people subjected to brutality and torture. Rather than turn away to avoid the pain, rather than give up and declare the world hopeless, Gianturco has deepened her commitment, for her real gift is to recognize the inherent love of life that empowers and ultimately prevails, triumphing over circumstances. Through her books, she shares this vision with her readers.
Prior to her work as a photojournalist,
Gianturco had a highly successful career in advertising, public relations and marketing. Her commitment as a feminist was reflected in this work and she was the senior vice president of the first women-owned advertising agency in the US. She co-taught executive institutes about women and leadership at Stanford University and Mills College and served on the Board of Directors of the Association for Women's Rights in Development.
Her life rewarding her in many ways, she could have continued on the path, but the impulse for change was brewing within her. In 1995 she lost her father, then aged 90. Returning to her family home, she looked at the household gadgets he had invented, but thought of the more important medical devices that he had created and which had saved lives. Was it her turn to contribute more to the world around her? She began to take long solitary walks under the Redwoods, and by the sea. How could she toss away a successful career to start in a new one as she entered her middle years?
In that same period of time she she found a report about the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women being held in Beijing. "I read that women who were living on a dollar a day spent the money they earned to send their children to school. To me those women were, invisible heroines! If they could educate the next generations, they would change the future not just for themselves, but for their communities, their countries, and for the world. I wanted to meet them, to talk with them, to document their lives." She made the decision to "align who I am with what I do."
Gianturco's principles coalesced with her skills in marketing and she saw a way to extend dignified help to the women she had met. Principle told her "I was in a position to help. To me, the fact that I can help means that I must." Books would have the power to effect change, could "tell readers how we all fit together on this planet and what our relationships mean." With strong marketing skills she knew that the sales of a book could provide an extended and steady stream of income to benefit the nonprofit organizations that were empowering low-income people, most (but not all) of whom were women.
Having made a commitment, Gianturco planned to take a one-year sabbatical. She would pursue both a long-standing interest in photography and her desire to learn more about women in developing nations. She invited a friend, Toby Tuttle, who was also ready to make a transition to join her. Together they would write a book.
Gianturco did not rush into her sabbatical. For a year she doubled her work load. In addition to consulting, she also taught classes, and managed to double her income. She did research and took photography courses. With Tuttle she sought a publisher willing to offer an advance. This proved to be impossible. Together they looked for a grant which also proved impossible. Undeterred, the two forged ahead. At the end of the year, with camera securely packed in a suitcase, the two booked several plane tickets and set off to learn about and document those unsung heroines.
When the year was up, the two women returned with a book, In Her Hands, Craftswomen Changing the World. Gianturco tells us the effect that the book had on her: "I documented the lives of women artisans in 12 countries. I came back from those travels in the developing world asking myself: what is poverty? Those women had rich spiritual lives and communities. What they didn't have was material resources."
Already committed to feminism, Gianturco's instinct has always been toward equality, and the people you meet in her work are her partners, not objects of a rapidly clicking camera whose faces are forgotten until the photograph is developed. Each person in the book has the right to edit their profile so that they are represented accurately, a complicated procedure when you are sending drafts around the world. Each of those people then receives a copy of the book, a mighty project in its own considering the large number of people in the book and the remote addresses to which the books are delivered. Gianturco would have it no other way.
She has now written four books documenting women's lives in forty countries.
For her latest book she aligned herself with the Global Fund for Women, an organization that she has supported for years. The Global Fund for Women is an international network of women and men committed to a world of equality and social justice. They advocate for and defend women's human rights by making grants to support women's groups around the world.
Gianturco states, "I have been an enthusiastic donor to the Global Fund for a dozen years, but visiting 18 grantees showed me exactly how effective local women can be if they have the funds to do what they know should be done. Everywhere, I saw grassroots groups developing creative strategies -- their own solutions -- and being impressively capable of resolving the difficulties they face. My dream about Women Who Light the Dark is that readers will give money through organizations like the Global Fund for Women -- and enable local women everywhere to make life better for their families, communities, countries, and our world.
Gianturco's books set up a steady stream of revenue for the groups to which she donates her royalties. The purchase of a book assures a donation, however if you would like to donate directly, or simply learn more about the Global Fund, you can go to the global fund for women's web site.
If you would like to learn more about Women Who Light the Dark, you can read our book review or visit the site created expressly for the book.
read a review of Gianturco's other books:
celebrating women ¡ Viva colores!
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