Susan Sered on Uninsured in America, February 11

On February 11, Dr. Sered gave a public lecture based on her new co-authored book Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity (University
of California Press, 2005, http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10379.html ).

Drawing on reports from her in-depth interviews of uninsured women and men in five regions of the country, Dr. Sered discussed how women are particularly vulnerable in America’s health insurance crisis, and the multiple gendered factors whose cumulative impact is clear: Uninsured women are significantly less healthy than their insured counterparts. Dr. Sered highlighted the story of one woman who lost her health coverage when she fled an abusive husband to explain why women’s concerns need to be placed front and center in every discussion of health care reform.

Building on Beijing: What US Women Must Learn from the 10 Year Review and Appraisal of the Platform for Action, February 28

From February 28 to March 11 of this year, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) met in New York City to access the outcomes and implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. These meetings drew over 5000 participants representing 165 member nations and over 270 non-governmental organizations. Why do so many people still actively care about an agenda set ten years ago at the 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing? What are the enduring hopes of the international women’s movement for equality, development and peace and for the future of the U.N.? What can feminists in the U.S. do to turn these dreams into a lived reality for future generations?

Activist-scholar Laura Roskos attended the Beijing +10 meetings as a representative of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her talk built on her observations and experiences in New York to propose strategies of domestic activism towards the full implementation of the Platform for Action and beyond.

Racism, Sexism, & Homophobia - A Black History Month Event with Rev. Irene Monroe, March 3

On March 3, Rev. Irene Monroe presented "Racism, Sexism, & Homophobia." Rev. Monroe is a religion columnist, public theologian, and motivational speaker. As an African American feminist theologian, she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. Presently,  Reverend Monroe writes a biweekly column, “The Religion Thang,” for  In Newsweekly, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender newspaper that  circulates widely throughout New England, and a monthly online column, “Queer Take,” for The Witness magazine, an Episcopalian journal that examines church and society in light of faith and conscience.

Monroe is a doctoral candidate in the Religion, Gender and Culture program at Harvard Divinity School and a Ford Foundation fellow. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Monroe graduated from Wellesley College and the Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University and served as a pastor at an African American church in New Jersey before coming to Harvard.

This event was sponsored by the President’s Office of Diversity Services, the Office of Retention Services, and the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights.

Celebration of International Women’s Day, March 8

On March 8, Laura Roskos, Visiting Scholar at CWHHR and Coordinator of the Massachusetts CEDAW Project, moderated a panel discussion at Simmons College among panelists including Rev. Irene Monroe, Public Theologian and Journalist; Rev. Cheng Imm Tan, Director, Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians; and Susan Roosevelt Weld, Co-founder, MassAction for Women . The event, a celebration of International Women’s Day, marked the tenth anniversary of the UN Beijing Conference on Women.

National Coming Out Day, October 11

Cheryl Jacques, former Massachusetts State Legislator, spoke on “The Gay Rights Movement: Where We Are and Where We Are Going” to mark national Coming Out Day on October 11, 2005. The talk, at Suffolk University, was co-sponsored by the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights. Jacques solidified her position as a national leader in the lesbian and gay civil rights movement during her tenure as President and Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, which she helmed during the successful defeat of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment.

Professor Speaks About Breast Cancer Survival, October 18

Carol Dine, who survived childhood abuse and three bouts with breast cancer, tells of her travails in her new book, Places in the Bone, which she discussed at a book signing and reception at Suffolk on Oct. 18, 2005 co-sponsored by the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights. “I poured my heart and soul into this book,” said Dine, an adjunct professor in Suffolk University’s English Department. Places in the Bone tells of her life in a neatly crafted series of powerful and emotional vignettes. In the 1980s and early ’90s, Dine fought breast cancer. In order to confront her disease, particularly the pain of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, she turned to writing. Dine is the author of two books of poetry and is widely published in literary magazines, including The Bitter Oleander, Blue Mesa Review, Prairie Schooner and Salamander. She received the Frances Locke Memorial Award from the Bitter Oleander Press for a poem from her series based on the art of Van Gogh, and she is the recipient of the Sword of Hope Award from the American Cancer Society for her journal, Treatments. She has also been a poet in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Ragdale, and the Wurlitzer Foundation.