Document Actions

Women in Politics: Changing the Face of Power

Download the 2008 Conference brochure (PDF)

Registration form

The Seventh Annual International Women’s Day conference at Simon’s Rock, “Women in Politics: Changing the Face of Power,” will explore the ways that women are shaping today’s political landscape, both globally and locally.

Some of the questions animating the conference include:

  • Do women take different paths to political power than men, and if so, how do their different journeys affect their styles of leadership?

  • What makes some women choose to work within existing political systems, while others decide to try to work for positive change by pushing against the system?

  • What are women’s political priorities in the U.S. and abroad, and how can women use their political power to work towards the achievement of these goals?

The conference will take place on Saturday, March 8, 2008, and will be co-sponsored by Bard College at Simon’s Rock and Berkshire Women for Women Worldwide (formerly known as the Berkshire Chapter of UNIFEM). 

Confirmed speakers, panelists and moderators include:

  • Governor Madeleine Kunin, former Governor of Vermont and U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland;

  • Suzanne Bump, Secretary for Labor and Workforce Development in the Cabinet of Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts;

  • Mary Marcy, Provost, Bard College at Simon's Rock

  • Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education at Harvard University, Director, Bard Center for Education and Democracy, and Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Bard College at Simon's Rock

  • Ambassador Anda Filip, Director, Office of the Permanent Observer, United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Union

  • Reverend Katharine Henderson, Executive Vice President of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City and author of the recently published God’s Troublemakers: How Women of Faith are Changing the World;

  • Helen R. Desfosses, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy and Africana Studies at the University of Albany, SUNY; President of the Albany Common Council, 1997-2005

  • Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies, Princeton University

  • Susan Arbetter, host of “New York Now” on WMHT-TV;  

  • Michele Wucker, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York City, 2007 Guggenheim Fellow and author of Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right; 

  • Leslie Wolfe, Executive Director of the Center for Women Policy Studies, Washington D.C.; and

  • Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Pittsfield City Councilor and co-founder of WHEN, Women Helping Empower Neighborhoods.

Special Guest Appearance by local singer-songwriter Renee Harvitt.

As in past years, our 2008 International Women’s Day conference promises to be another landmark event for our community.  For registration information email iwd@simons-rock.edu or call (413) 528-7394.