Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2010

This past September, the Wellesley Centers for Women welcomed a delegation from the China Women’s University in Beijing to a roundtable discussion. The dean of the Law School at the China Women’s University partners with WCW in its international work and is a leading member of the Gender and Law Network Consultation that the Centers, led by Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, S.J.D., helped convene with the Ford Foundation–China last year. Visitors to the Centers’ Cheever House were: Huang Haiqun, Vice President in charge of student affairs and college management; Zhang Xiangcun, director of the Publicity Department; Ning Ling, director of Computer Science and associate professor; Li Lianzhi, dean of the Continuing Education School; Wang Qinghe, director of the Logistics Management Department; and Ding Zhangang, associate professor of the Foreign Language Department. The Chinese scholars and administrators met with Charlene Galarneau, Ph.D., Wellesley College assistant professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department and member of the WCW Board of Overseers, and WCW senior research scientists: de Silva-de Alwis.; Sumru Erkut, Ph.D.; Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.; and Nan Stein, Ed.D.; and Wellesley College student Jin Hu. The China Women’s University was founded in 1949 as a school for the cadres of All-China Women’s Federation. Currently it has 3,300 undergraduate students and a branch campus in Shandong Province.

Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, S.J.D., director of International Human Rights Policy Programs at the Wellesley Centers for Women, traveled to Cambodia and India this past June to review and evaluate the impact of the gender and disability project, with support from the Open Society Institute. While in India, the network launched a website developed by the collective which will serve as an important resource tool for the entire Asian region.

In July, de Silva-de Alwis presented at a special roundtable at the United Nations focused on the role of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in empowering women with disabilities. The program was held in collaboration with the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development and the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at UN DESA. Issues presented included: the role of accessible Internet resources for work, health, education, and social networking; how accessible mobile phones change the lives of women with disabilities; breaking disabled women’s isolation with ICTs; accessible workplaces and accessible financial services; and success stories, pending issues, and new solutions offered by industry and service providers. Also in July, de Silva-de Alwis presented on a panel addressing “Women with Disabilities,” which was convened by the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations at the New York headquarters. She shared her expertise on issues concerning women with disabilities and cross-sectionalities of disability rights with women’s and child’s rights.

In September, de Silva-de Alwis presented a keynote address, “Different Models of Antidiscrimination Laws: a Gender Perspective” at the inaugural Anti Discrimination in Employment conference in Beijing, China sponsored by the Ford Foundation. This brought together China’s leading antidiscrimination advocates and lawyers. Also in September, she travelled to Istanbul, Turkey to work with the women’s rights group Karda to help inform the constitutional reform process related to the equal protection clause. Together they examined substantive equality and affirmative action plans for women and politics. The constitutional referendum process has begun and the referendum took place in mid-September

Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D, WCW senior research scientist and director of the Stone Primary Prevention Initiatives, presented “Children’s wellbeing: Sibling relationships among offspring of depressed parents,” a keynote address at the International Conference: Developing Strength and Resilience in Children held in early November in Oslo, Norway. The conference focused on ways to develop good schools promoting children’s wellbeing and mental health as well as ways to prevent mental health problems and illness in children at risk. Presentations showcased research connected to health promotion and prevention; interventions; implementation of theory and methods; and experience-based knowledge. The conference was organized by the Norwegian NGO Voksne for Barn.

Sari Kerr, Ph.D., WCW senior research scientist, is in Finland through fall 2010 working on several research collaborations. She is planning a joint project on the effects of maternity leaves on women’s labor market careers in Finland with researchers at the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. Kerr is also continuing her research initiative on the effects of the Juvenile Punishment System on Young Offenders with scholars at the Helsinki Center for Economic Research. Both projects will seek funding from the Academy of Finland at the end of this year. While abroad, Kerr has given several presentations, including one at the Empirical Labor Economics conference in Barcelona and a seminar at the Labour Institute For Economic Research, Helsinki, both in October. She presented at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland and the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm in November. She has also been invited to offer a seminar at the Government Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki in late November.

Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., WCW associate director, senior research scientist, and director of the Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity project, presented in Istanbul, Turkey at the World Congress on Comparative Education Studies this past June. McIntosh spoke about Interactive Phases of Curricular and Personal Re-Vision in International Contexts. She also spoke to a number of small groups about her work on privilege systems. Also in June, McIntosh presented a plenary session during the annual conference of the Association of Ontario Health Centers in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She spoke about white privilege and co-presented with Notisha Massaquoi, executive director of the only women’s health center in Toronto. She presented again in Toronto to the Ontario Nurses Association in November.