Students to Attend Women's Forum

Fifteen Harvard women will travel to Simmons College today to attend the First Massachusetts Conference on Women, where they'll see a satellite hook-up with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and others.

Melissa R. Gerling '98 said students are attending because they are concerned about women's rights.

"People decided it would be a good idea because a criticism of women's groups is that they hold conferences and then never follow up on them," she said.

The conference is a follow-up to the women's conference held in Beijing last September and is titled "Bringing Beijing Home."

Noting that conferences such as the one in Beijing have traditionally been held by older women, Gerling said she feels young women's concerns are often overlooked.

Speeches by Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, which will be broadcast from the White House to 400 sights around the nation, are the conference's highlights.

The event is sponsored by Massachusetts Action for Women. It also includes workshops on women's health, education and empowerment.

The keynote speaker is Assistant Secretary General Rosario Green, who is the special adviser on gender issues to the secretary general of the United Nations.

The Harvard delegation is sponsored by the Institute of Politics.