The 2006 Above Rubies Awards Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liberia

Elected in 2005, economist Sirleaf hopes to free Liberia of both economic dependence and political upheaval. Like so much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Liberia has struggled with corrupt governments, coups (including a brutal 14-year civil war) and staggering economic and health issues. It is devoutly to be hoped that Ms. Sirleaf is the leader her beleaguered country deserves.

Answer: She's an architect

Researching Ms. Hadid was interesting for me because I had no idea what "Deconstructivism" was. (If you haven't either, Wikipedia defines it as "a development in Postmodern architecture beginning in the late 1980s. It is characterised by ideas of fragmentation, non-linear processes of design, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, and apparent non-Euclidean geometry, which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of architecture, such as structure and envelope. The final visual appearance of buildings that exhibit the myriad deconstructivist "styles" are characterized by a stimulating unpredictability and a controlled chaos.")

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is the field's most prestigious--previous winners have included I.M Pei and Philip Johnson. Not only is Zaha Hadid the first woman to win the prize, she is also the first Iraqi to be so honored. (Ms. Hadid was born in Baghdad but moved to the UK in the 1970s.)

Answer: Argentina

Although the wine-producing business remains largely male, Ms. Cullen and Dr. (she's also a physician!) Catena are hopefully harbingers of a growing trend. Dr. Catena is hopeful that wine production and sales will help her beloved Argentina emerge from an economic crisis that has persisted for many years.

Answer: The Cultural Revolution

It was during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution (interestingly, officially repudiated by the Communist Party of China in 1981) that high school student Hung Liu was forced onto the farm. Today a college art professor, her work marries traditional Chinese and modern images, particularly in her 1988 and 2000 installation pieces, both titled "Where is Mao?".

Some of Hung Liu's work may be viewed online at http://www.kelliu.com

Answer: To raise money for breast cancer education

Polly Letofsky's journey can be viewed at www.globalwalk.org.
In total, she raised more than $200,000, completing her walk in 2004 and becoming the first American woman to walk around the world.

Answer: Standing Alone in Mecca

All of the answer choices are by contemporary Muslim women writers. "Reading Lolita in Tehran" is by Azar Nafisi of Iran, "God Dies by the Nile" is by Egyptian feminist author Nawal El Saadawi, and "Distant View of a Minaret" is by Alifa Rifaat, also of Egypt. To say that the world is currently experiencing a brilliant cultural explosion of Islamic female talent is to understate the fact!

Answer: Racism, genocide, and the modern obsession with beauty

"Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than the male", says Wangechi Mutu. Her work is a painstaking catalogue of the way the culture of war, famine, greed and obsession with personal beauty has marked all women today; from self-starved emulators of the catwalks to the malnourished refugees in a Saharan dustbowl. Now based in New York, Wangechi Mutu is a Master's graduate of the Yale School of Art.

Her work is exhibited in major shows throughout the USA and world-wide.

Answer: Tibet

Tibetan Ngawang Sangdrol was imprisoned by the occupying Chinese government for a total of 21 years when her sentence was shortened, officially for good behavior, immediately prior to the visit by then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin to the ranch of U.S. President George W. Bush in October, 2002.

She now resides in the U.S.A., where she is an analyst for the International Campaign for Tibet.

Answer: By law, teachers could teach only abstinence in sex ed classes

In 1996, then-governor George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that made it a crime to teach any sex education but abstinence. Although Shelby personally signed a pledge to remain chaste until marriage, she couldn't help noticing the large numbers of pregnant teens in her high school hallways. Indeed, Lubbock, Shelby's hometown, had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates (and STD rates) in the USA. "The Education of Shelby Knox", which premiered at Sundance in 2005 (and was nominated for its Grand Jury Prize) follows Shelby's quest to be educated about some very basic processes.

"I think that God wants you to question," Shelby says, "to do more than just blindly be a follower, because he can't use blind followers. He can use people like me who realize there's more in the world that can be done."

For more information, please see www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/shelbyknox/about.html and www.shelbyknox.org.

Answer: Frida Kahlo & Georgia O'Keeffe

In addition to activists Sarandon, Mam, Maathai and Allende, the bearers included former female Olympians Nawal el Moutawakel and Maria Mutola, Italian IOC member Manuela Di Centa, and Italian national treasure Sophia Loren.

In my opinion, those eight women were stunningly selected. Dressed in white, they were an extraordinarily moving addition to the opening ceremonies. Bravissima!

Thank you for playing this quiz. If you would like to nominate a woman for next year's Above Rubies Awards, please send me a note and help celebrate all women, everywhere.