Author, speaker and feminist, Pamela Varkony doesn't hesitate when asked to pinpoint one of her earliest inspirations. “I had a very advanced mother. I think strong women come from strong mothers,” she says. “My mother was born into a world where she could not vote. That's very hard to comprehend—that your voice didn't matter at all.” Varkony has dedicated much of her adult life to humanitarian causes, including furthering the rights of women at home and abroad.
It's a vocation that has brought her numerous accolades. She was recently honored as the 2017 Woman of Influence by Pearl S. Buck International, a distinction shared by past recipients like former First Lady Laura Bush, humorist and author Erma Bombeck and Jane Golden, founder and executive director of the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program. “I was floored,” Varkony recalls, upon learning she'd been chosen. “My hands started to shake. I didn't know I was being considered.” The designation means so much, Varkony says, not only because of the iconic status of the Pulitzer Prize-winning and pioneering feminist Buck, but also because the bestowal honors not just a singular achievement, but a lifetime of work.
Varkony was born and raised on a 100-acre farm in Haycock Township, Bucks County. “I had one of those Leave It to Beaver childhoods that not a lot of people have anymore,” she says. Her father, Clyde Feist, operated his business, the Tohickon Stone Quarry, on the site. Varkony, an only child, says her mother, Gladys Feist, was a skilled writer and encouraged her young daughter in her earliest attempts at mastering the written word. Varkony recalls a piece she wrote about a blizzard being published in a local newspaper when she was a teenager.
Varkony would go on to write and speak extensively about the painful chapter that was a postscript to her idyllic childhood: the seizure of her family's farm by eminent domain. Nearly 250 families in the area were forced to sell their land to the state government in the mid-1960s. The region was then flooded to create Lake Nockamixon and its surrounding state park. “My father fought it all the way to the state Supreme Court,” Varkony says.
At the time, she was pursuing a marketing and advertising career in Florida. She later returned to Pennsylvania to care for her ailing parents. “It was a hard thing to do,” she says. “I was happy in Tampa. I loved my job. But my parents needed me. I had to basically start over.” It didn't take her long to find her footing. Varkony started her own advertising agency and became involved with the local chamber of commerce. She met and married her current husband, Zsolt Varkony. She also decided to dip her toe into the political pool for the first time, following an appointment to the Allentown City Planning Commission. “That gave me a whole new perspective on something I'd never thought about,” she says. “I saw what a difference you could make in some of these positions.” Fast-forward five years, and a spot had opened up on the Allentown City Council. Varkony went for it, and won. But she wasn't done yet. “I got totally carried away and ran for mayor,” she says. Unfortunately, the election of 2001 did not go in her favor.
Varkony's political career was over. In some ways, the experience left a bitter taste in her mouth. She says she grappled with the “worst sexism and worst chauvinism” of her career during that time. But there was a silver lining: Her campaigns served as a rallying cry, of sorts, for local women. During her bid for city council, Varkony says someone in her inner circle got the idea to host a “ladies' lunch,” a forum for women to come together in one place for social, networking and educational support. The very first lunch was held at Allentown's Barristers Club and was attended by dozens of women. The event quickly grew in popularity, and later morphed into an initiative called “Power of Women.” Varkony served as executive director for 14 years before transferring the facilitation of the program to Cedar Crest College.
By that time, Varkony says, she was ready to focus on other things: namely her writing, and her travels overseas would give her plenty of fodder. She was enlisted to train women managers for Great Britain's Inland Revenue, a department of the British government akin to the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S. In Australia, she tackled issues of pay equity. Varkony says she discovered a disparity in both nations that surprised her. “We think of them as our English-speaking cousins. I was stunned to find out how far behind they are on women's empowerment,” she says.
While her trips to England and Australia may have been enlightening, she describes her travels to Afghanistan as life-altering. She visited the war-torn country twice, including a fact-finding trip with a U.S. military medical team. Their task was to evaluate and assess medical facilities for women and children. “As Western women, we have no concept for what women in conflict, post-conflict and developing countries go through,” says Varkony.
Varkony chronicled her experiences in Afghanistan in a series of columns and editorials, many of which were printed in The Morning Call, where she was under contract as a commentator and columnist for seven years. During that time, she received an “Excellence in Journalism” award from the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association. She also provided commentary on the subject for NPR. She writes of traveling through a weary, tense Kabul to Rabia Balkhi Hospital, which she describes as a dilapidated relic. And yet, Varkony writes, it's also a “refuge of last resort,” the only hospital specializing in care for women in the entire country. Among its patients are victims of rape, and women dealing with severe malnutrition and difficult pregnancies. Despite the grim reality that greeted her in Afghanistan, Varkony was not deterred. “Afghanistan already holds my heart,” she wrote. Varkony considers her work there to be among her greatest accomplishments, personally and professionally. “There is no better feeling in the world than knowing you have forever changed the life of another woman,” she says.
While she itches to return to Afghanistan, the violence that continues to roil the country has made a third trip impossible, so Varkony continues to focus on the work that still needs to be done on the home front when it comes to leveling the playing field for women. She's currently chipping away at another book, Ten Rules for Ladies. She describes it as a combination of her memoirs and a leadership guide for women. It rewrites and updates the antiquated code of conduct put in place for women a long time ago. “The old rules used to restrict us,” she explains. For example, while it was once thought entirely taboo for a woman to use “blue” language of any sort, Varkony says sometimes a well-placed swear word can be used to great effect. She hopes to put the finishing touches on the book by the end of the year. In the meantime, she continues to be an in-demand speaker, trainer and mentor, with a goal of inspiring and motivating women around the world. “As long as I am healthy and able, I will always be working to help the cause of women's rights and empowerment,” she says.
