Cate Blanchett, Janelle Monae and Patti Lupone honored with Variety and Lifetime's Power of Women, here's why
This week, Lifetime and Variety aired their special event, 'Lifetime Presents Variety's Power of Women: Frontline Heroes', celebrating the Power of Women honorees and the women who have been at the frontline of the pandemic helping save lives.
During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many women find themselves on the frontlines in various roles, especially healthcare. Women play a crucial role in combating the spread of the disease and the added difficulties facing them. The outbreak is disproportionately affecting women more than men. However, in most cases, it also shows how women are crucial to fighting the pandemic as well as the economic impacts of it. The special highlighted the women healthcare workers, teachers, researchers and more who put themselves at risk to help others during this difficult time. It also introduced viewers to women fighting domestic abuse and homelessness and creating a change in education, mental health and other aspects of our daily lives.
Three celebrity women were also honored in the special: actresses Cate Blanchett, Patti Lupone and Janelle Monae, who is also a singer. All three women are staunch activists who help "share the mic" in Monae's words to highlight the plight of others.
Blanchett works with the UN Refugee Agency and has been a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador since 2016. Blanchett helps raise awareness and humanize the issue of forced displacement and statelessness. She has traveled with UNHCR to meet refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Bangladesh, learning first-hand about peoples’ experiences of flight from conflict and persecution as well as the challenges posed by statelessness. She has also spoken out in support of protecting the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, honoring her tireless advocacy for refugees.
Lupone was honored for her advocacy on HIV and AIDS awareness and she also supports the HIV/AIDS fundraiser Broadway Cares. Broadway Cares is a non-profit organization that raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States, headquartered in New York City. It is the theatre community's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Having lost many friends and colleagues to AIDS — including her long-time collaborator, musical director and beloved friend, Dick Gallagher — Lupone works tirelessly to educate and raise awareness.
Monae is a strong advocate of LGBTQIA++ equality and is involved with community development non-profit organization, Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). She dedicated her double-Grammy-nominated 2018 album “Dirty Computer” to young LGBTQ+ people struggling to live their authentic selves. She told Rolling Stone magazine, "I want young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality, dealing with feeling ostracized or bullied for just being their unique selves, to know that I see you." Monae is a LISC partner, supports LISC’s Rapid Relief and Resiliency small business grant fund and directs her donations to shine a light on the work of queer- and minority-owned enterprises.
The three women also introduced frontline heroes as they were honored. Blanchett introduced Alessandra Morelli, who works in emergency and conflict matters at the United Nations Refugee Agency. Morelli said that the agency helps refugees receive food, clean water and health care. They now focus on producing soap and masks as the coronavirus wreaks havoc on refugees who are already living under difficult circumstances.
Lupone introduced Tamar Shapiro, a social worker who joined the Actors Fund in 1986. Shapiro is currently reviewing 9,000 cases of entertainment industry professionals who have requested emergency assistance from the fund.
Monae spoke about Jasmine Crowe in Atlanta, founder and CEO of the food management platform Goodr, which has till date delivered more than 1M meals locally. Crowe explained that she was motivated to act after realizing how many children in her community were going hungry because of the business shutdowns spurred by the outbreak. She reached out to local businesses and developed a system of distributing leftover food that would otherwise go to waste.