Radcliffe Hosts Worksho on Women's Rights

In an attempt to bring the excitement of September's U.N. World Conference on Women to Harvard, students participated in a day-long conference Saturday in the Lyman Common Room.

The event was intended as a follow-up to the U.N.'s Fourth World Conference on Women, according to GSAS student Amy J. Luckey, one of the event's eight coordinators.

The goal of the workshop was to "bring Radcliffe women together who have a shared interest in women's lives both on campus and even at a world level," said Luckey. "Today we're strategizing for how we can work for political change."

The conference was co-sponsored by the Association of Black Radcliffe Women, Latinas Unidas, Lighthouse Conference, Radcliffe Union of Students and the Radcliffe Vice President's Office.

Keynote speaker Diane Balser discussed the U.N.'s fourth world conference on women and the women's movement in the United States.

Participants then took part in a series of small group discussions on their perception of the women's movement and issues of political action.

"We've had some very good discussions about what we like about being women and what's challenging about being women...being a woman in the work force, women and self-expression,...women's health and personal safety and issues of international feminism," said Evelyn L. Wright, a GSAS student and another coordinator.

Naomi K. Seiler '98 said she attended the conference because she did not want to get "too separated from real people and real actions and what can be done for women, especially less privileged ones."

Some conference attendees said they credited the event for bringing together women from many different backgrounds.

Luckey said the participants found that they had "a lot of commonalities and common concerns," despite the fact that they came from a "variety of backgrounds and personal interests."

Others noted the importance of such discussion groups to help generate discussion of women's issues on campus.

Luckey said she hopes the conference will be a "springboard for other activities," such as "working on campus for women faculty hiring [and] getting involved in the 1996 election in campaigning or even more importantly voter registration."

"I think there needs to be more talk of feminism on the Harvard campus," Amy B. Isikoff '97 said. "I think that it's always important to get women together to talk about what's going on because we're usually thinking about the same thing.

Some conference attendees said they credited the event for bringing together women from many different backgrounds.

Luckey said the participants found that they had "a lot of commonalities and common concerns," despite the fact that they came from a "variety of backgrounds and personal interests."

Others noted the importance of such discussion groups to help generate discussion of women's issues on campus.

Luckey said she hopes the conference will be a "springboard for other activities," such as "working on campus for women faculty hiring [and] getting involved in the 1996 election in campaigning or even more importantly voter registration."

"I think there needs to be more talk of feminism on the Harvard campus," Amy B. Isikoff '97 said. "I think that it's always important to get women together to talk about what's going on because we're usually thinking about the same thing.