Sixty-eight top scholars and activists met in Austin to discuss diverse agenda
AUSTIN, Texas – Professor Zipporah B. Wiseman and English Professor Susan Sage Heinzelman brought sixty-eight of the top feminist legal scholars and activists from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, Berkeley, and other schools and foundations to Austin to discuss the different feminist strategies employed in the struggle for gender equality. The two-day event, Subversive Legacies/Learning From History/Constructing the Future, assessed the recent legacies of feminist policies, jurisprudence, activism, and scholarship, and reflected on what achieving gender equity might look like in the twenty-first century.
The participants discussed diverse topics such as women and work, sexual harassment, subversion in literature and film, domestic violence, and the future of women in sports. At the keynote speech, Adjunct Professor Sarah Weddington, ’67, introduced Susan Estrich, professor of law and politics at the University of Southern California, and noted author and political commentator. Estrich gave the Alexander Watkins Terrell Centennial Lecture. “We need to use the power we have and help each other move forward,” she told the capacity audience.
“It was thrilling to have so many women scholars, faculty, and students here at UT Law School, thinking about issues such as what is feminist theory, and where it is going, and how it can affect all of our lives. We are grateful for Dean Powers' generous support that made the event possible,” Wiseman said.
Conference tapes are available at the Law School Library. The conference was sponsored by UT Law, UT’s Cowboys’ Lecture Fund, UT’s Women’s Studies Program, and the Texas Journal of Women & Law. Its organizing committee included faculty members Karen Engle, Sarah Buel, Norma Cantu, and Gretchen Ritter of the Government Department.
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To view portions of the conference online, visit: http://www.utexas.edu/law/conferences/OLD-subversive/schedule.html