Bono’s Words for Women

As a female, I felt guilty at the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, Calif., on Wednesday.

The speakers lined up for this day devoted to women’s empowerment, hosted by California first lady Maria Shriver and her Terminator husband, aka California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, were a gal’s powerhouse: Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, Cherie Blair (wife of Tony), Gloria Steinem, Christiane Amanpour, and Billie Jean King, to name a few.

Some men were there, too, such as Warren Buffett and Michael J. Fox.

Oh, and this guy named Bono.

And he was all I could concentrate on throughout the day. He would be speaking at the end of the conference. I arrived at 7:30 a.m.

It was a long day.

I sort of listened to Rice in conversation with journalist Campbell Brown and Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo. I tried to take in Shriver’s heartfelt comments about her family and politics. I really wanted to hear Amanpour.

But at the beginning of the day, as soon as I heard “Beautiful Day” over the public-address system, my mind went elsewhere. I thought I’d hang out in the exhibit hall, figuring that free samples of Lean Cuisine and organic makeup would get me in a girlier mood. Nope. Hanging high up on the wall, right next to a huge poster of Steinem, was one of Bono. He hovered over me relentlessly after that.

The ONE and RED campaigns shared a booth space, where a video played with info about the two projects, including some footage of Bono, of course. I have seen every U2 video ever made, but I was still mesmerized.

So by the time 5 p.m. arrived, my Bono meter was buzzing and I had given up on role models of female empowerment.

But as soon as he came on stage, “Pride (In the Name of Love)” playing in the background, I let go of my guiltiness at wishing that tennis champ King, who spoke before him, would hurry up.

I’ve seen Bono speak about his humanitarian efforts a few times now in person; I get the same chills every time. For people who love U2 just for their music, and perhaps applaud but don’t focus much on Bono’s work to end poverty around the world, it’s that same feeling you get when the band comes out at the beginning of a concert. Bono’s words, whether sung or not, are always lyrical.

His speech, as it turned out, was deeply empowering for women, especially when he said the following:

“A continent burns and we smell the smoke. It stings our eyes; it sears our consciousness. But maybe not as much as it should, because we live with it, don’t we?

“I’m not saying this just to flatter you. Because not even this rather indiscreet rock star would have the audacity to use gender stereotypes in the presence of the great Gloria Steinem. I say it because it’s true. Because the emergency hits women where they live more than most men. As hard as it is to ask fans at a rock show to think about the value of a child’s life far away, or to ask Boardroom U.S.A., or political America for that matter, you do not have to explain to the women of America, the mothers of America, the value of a child’s life far away.”

It took a man to hit me over the head with the message that women can fight fires, too.

You can watch a video of Bono’s entire speech on the ONE campaign’s Web site.

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