Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights

In a world plagued by ethnic and religious clashes, where some strive to impose their beliefs and lifestyles on all, women leaders from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East will speak to the challenges of accommodating diversity while striving for human rights.

Women Learning Partnership (WLP) in cooperation with Cultural Conversations of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University presents “Challenges of Change: Religion, Secularism & Rights“.

The event will be held on September 21, 2010, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm at Kenney Auditorium, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, 1740 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC.

Speakers will discuss the impact of a decade of “clash of civilizations” rhetoric on the intellectual as well as pragmatic work of those who struggle for gender justice and seek to transform cultures of violence into cultures of peace. They discuss the interrelation between violence against women in the home and violence in the community, nation, and internationally. They will share strategies for mobilizing communities to bring about non-violent, positive change.

Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home-so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world….Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Human rights is a universal standard. It is a component of every religion and every civilization.
- Shirin Ebadi

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Registration
Registration: $15 (includes light lunch, coffee and refreshments)
Students: Free (ID required, optional lunch $10)
Seats are limited. Register online.

Speakers:

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh (Iran), Founding Member, One Million Signatures Campaign
Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran/USA), Founder and President, Women’s Learning Partnership
Zainah Anwar (Malaysia), Founder, Sisters In Islam
Karima Bennoune (Algeria/USA), Professor of Law, Rutgers University
Marian Wright Edelman (USA), Founder and President, Children’s Defense Fund
Yakin Ertürk (Turkey), former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Anne Gahongayire (Rwanda), Secretary General, Supreme Court of Rwanda
Pregs Govender (South Africa), Deputy Chairperson, South Africa Human Rights Commission
Asma Khader (Jordan), Secretary General, Jordanian National Commission for Women
Azar Nafisi (Iran/USA), Executive Director, Cultural Conversations, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid (Saudi Arabia), Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund
Jacqueline Pitanguy (Brazil), Co-Founder and Director, Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação (Cepia)
Eleanor Smeal (USA), Founder and President, Feminist Majority Foundation

Chairs:

LaShawn Jefferson (USA), Women’s Human Rights Program Officer, Ford Foundation
Frances Kissling (USA), Former President, Catholics for a Free Choice
Carolyn Long (USA), Director of Global Partnerships, InterAction
Regan Ralph (USA), Executive Director, The Fund for Global Human Rights

For more information: +1-301-654-2774 | wlp@learningpartnership.org | www.learningpartnership.org