“A great photograph is something that you feel, in its compassion, its light and color, its aesthetics. I don’t take photos with my eyes, I take photos with my body.” Anonymous

Award-winning author Elizabeth Becker recently wrote a story for the New York Times about female journalists, “The Women Who Covered Vietnam.” Although women journalists, nurses, spies, and other diverse professionals have been around as long as men, with few exceptions women remain invisible.

More Hidden Figures – The Invisibles

Most of us are familiar with Florence Nightingale, the British nurse considered “the founder of modern nursing practice.” In our early school years we learned about The woman with the lamp and his work in a British military hospital in the worst sanitary conditions during the Crimean War. In fact, Miss Nightingale is better known around the world than the thousands of American nurses who saved the lives of seriously wounded military soldiers in the Vietnam War, while losing eight of their own.

Among other well-kept secrets of America’s ill-born compromise in Vietnam are the many female foreign service officers like myself, and civilian humanitarian workers who lived and worked under mortar and rocket attacks, and witnessed the horrors of the Tet Offensive up close. . Some of these women suffered physical injuries and emotional scars. However, there are practically no records of their sacrifices. There are no records of American women (not to mention the thousands of Vietnamese) who suffered the cancerous effects of prolonged exposure to the herbicidal chemical, Agent Orange. We also do not know how many still suffer from PTSD for which there is treatment but no cure.

The revolt of women: crimes and misdemeanors

From the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, to the world conflicts of the 21st century, women continue to work in the media and photojournalism, in the military, in the government, medical and aid organizations. As you read this, women are actively participating in war zones and other dangerous and unhealthy places around the world. However, in the workplace, women continue to be paid less for the same job.

In the 1990s, when John Gray wrote, “Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus,” he provided a practical and proven way for men and women to better communicate by understanding and respecting the differences between them. However, when it comes to unwanted sex, neither Dr. Gray nor anyone else questioned whether men’s power over women is learned (from family and friends) or is inherent in their DNA. Maybe it’s a bit of both. However, there are many men in positions of power who not to do do something about it. Despite the fact that sexual assault is a crime, there are many women who have been abused or know others who have, but remain silent to keep their jobs or fit into the group. Today, many women are finally speaking. Staying silent only encourages and gives credence to this disgusting and illegal behavior.

I am the camera

I often wonder why photojournalists’ work often looks and feels different from their male peers. There are many assumptions, but no one can really explain them. My theory is that photos of women are not better, they are just different. (1) Women photojournalists tend to have greater access to other women in countries where they are kept hidden from view. (2) Women are instinctively in tune with the family and the plight of children. Catherine Leroy’s photo of a soldier cradling a Vietnamese child; the poignant impact of a soldier looming over his dying comrade are examples of what the “me” attracts from a woman’s camera.

“If your photographs are not good enough, you are not close enough,” are the historical words of one of the greatest war photographers of the 20th century, Robert Capa. Yet Catherine Leroy is considered by many to be the most daring of all Vietnam War photographers for whom “close enough” was never close enough.

Martha Gellhorn was a professional journalist in her own right, but she is more often remembered as Ernest Hemingway’s third wife than as the magnificent author and fearless war correspondent that she was. With the notable exception of Gellhorn, most female war correspondents and photojournalists are unknown or long-forgotten. Some died in the conflicts they covered. Lynsey Adarrio worked in all the great war theaters of the 21st century. She is the author of “It’s what I do: the life of love and war of a photographer”. Here are some other notable photojournalists and war correspondents:

Dickey Chapelle, Vietnam War (KIA)

Catherine Leroy, Vietnam War

Martha Gellhorn, Spanish Civil War, World War II

Lee Miller, World War II

Margaret Bourke White, World War II; korean war

Camille Lepage, Central African Republic (KIA)

Alison Baskerville, Afghanistan

Andreja Restek, Syria

Shelly Kittleson, Syria

Anja Niedringhaus, Afghanistan (KIA)

Arwa Damon, CNN, Middle East

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Middle East

“Our industry has invested so much money in technology that perhaps it is time to invest in talent, in people.” Christian Amanpour, CNN Chief International Correspondent