Schedule at a Glance

Friday, November 11
Hannah's Off The Square
111 W. Mulberry, Denton, TX 76201
(940) 566 - 1110

6:00-8:00pm
Ms. Magazine and UNT FMLA: Pre-Conference Community Reception
RSVP for Friday Night Event to scglobalconference@feminist.org

Saturday, November 12
University of North Texas University Union
410 Ave. A, Denton, TX   76203

9:15 – 11:00am
Welcome/Opening Plenary
Activists Organizing Worldwide for Women's Rights, Reproductive Rights, Human Rights, Economic Justice, and the Environment

Crystal Lander, Campus Program Director, Feminist Majority Foundation

Denise Rodriguez, Regional Coordinator and Student Activist, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)

Rachael Lehman, Instructor, Texas Woman's University

Nicholey Schwab M.A., Associate Professor of Spanish, University of North Texas

Misty Mills, FMLA President, Tulsa Community College

11:15am-12:45pm
Breakout Session #1

Human Trafficking and Globalization in a New Millennium

Poverty, women's low social status, and expanding markets for cheap labor and limiting access to birth control are at the heart of human trafficking. Learn more about international efforts to combat the exploitation of women trafficked to work in sweatshops and for sexual and domestic servitude; including the relocation of women and families from rural areas to urban work centers for exploitative work. Speakers will also discuss the constraints the current U.S. administration is applied to foreign NGOs that work with victims of trafficking.

• Discussant: Kara Sweidel, FMLA President and Feminist Activist, Texas State University
• Bill Bernstein, Deputy Director, Mosaic Family Services
• Tina Patterson, President, United Nations Association Dallas
• Kimi Lynn King J.D./Ph.D., Professor, University of North Texas
• Catherine Tower, Graduate Student, Texas Woman's University

Trading Lives: The Passage of International Trade Agreements and Their Impact on Human Rights, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights, Wages, and the Environment

From coffee to computers, women workers provide the labor that creates the goods that appear in the world's supermarkets and department stores. Women workers are good for trade, but is trade good for women workers? Learn about the effects of globalization on laborers around the world, the environment, and human rights. Identify strategies to combat economic policies that threaten the health of the environment and hinder women's and human rights.

• Discussant: Tabitha Sharp, PhD. Candidate, Texas Woman's University
• Martha Ojeda, Director, Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
• Denise Rodriguez, Regional Organizer, United Students Against Sweatshops
• Debra Thomas J.D., Board Member, The Chiapas Project
• Aimee Berger, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Texas Women's University

Film Festival

Sustainability, Justice, Civic Engagement — these topics and more are tackled by the Media That Matters Film Festival. The Media Rights Foundation' s fifth annual Media that Matters Film Festival has chosen 16 innovative shorts that brings to discussion issues such as gender identity, free trade, interracial relationships, and abuse within the criminal judicial system. Festival filmmakers are seasoned professionals as well as talented youth media producers with important stories to tell.

• Discussant: Elizabeth Brookbank, Campus Organizer, Feminist Majority Foundation
• Media That Matters Film Festival

Human Rights as an Umbrella of All Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.  It is within this framework that social justice activists are working both domestically and globally to eliminate poverty, fight sexual orientation discrimination, end gender-based violence, and work together to build a progressive movement for positive US foreign policy.  This umbrella is large and diverse, and equally strong and resilient.  Leaders and activists will discuss the diverse social justice human rights framework and its applications to various movements.

• Discussant: Mayra Guevara, FMLA Co- President, Texas Woman's University
• Sandy Spencer Ph.D., Director of Women's Studies, University of North Texas
• Suzanne Swink, MA Candidate, American University
• Elizabeth Healy, Chief Executive Director, Human Rights Initiative
• Rachael Lehman, Instructor, Texas Woman's University

2:15pm-3:45pm
Breakout Session #2

UNited for Equality: the United Nations and its Impact on Human Rights

Learn about the impact that the United Nations (UN) and United States have on each other in respect to women's rights as panelists examine UN conferences and U.S. foreign policy. More specifically, speakers will share insights into the current administration's role in undermining reproductive rights and access to safe and legal abortions at several of these conferences.

• Discussant: Sophia Pieh, FMLA Community Outreach Chair, University of North Texas
• Tina Patterson, President, United Nations Association Dallas
• Crystal Lander, Campus Program Director, Feminist Majority Foundation
• Martha Ojeda, Director, Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras

Transforming Contraception and STI Prevention into Human Rights: AIDS Condoms, Abortion, and Birth Control

Access to contraceptives and reproductive health services should be a right for every women, but we know that access safe and legal abortions, healthy forms of birth control, effective condoms, and health services is limited at best. Activists share thoughts and experiences on how current U.S. abstinence-only policies are hindering the global fight against HIV/AIDS and how the Global Gag Rule and defunding UNFPA is leading to material mortality and limiting access to vital reproductive health care for many families around the world.

• Discussant: Candice Berkebile , FMLA President, University of Texas- Arlington
• Suzanne Swink, MA Candidate, American University
• Gayle Loeffler, Chair, Dallas-Texas Sierra Club Population Committee
• Samantha Sewell, Intern, Feminist Majority Foundation
• “Love, Labor, Loss” – Governess Films

Transnational Activism: Local Activist Go Global

Can we transcend the boundaries that separate struggles? And if we can, how do we build trusting relationships and cultural sensitivity when approaching global communities outside of the United States? This interactive presentation features local activists discussing the importance of a global focus to our local and national activism. Speakers will share their experiences working with Austin-Tan Cerca de la Frontera (Austin-So Close to the Border), the American Friends Service Committee Border delegation program.

• Discussant: Fran Jackson, FMLA Recruitment Chair, University of North Texas
• Josefina Castillo, Program Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee
• Judy Rosenberg, Board Member, Women on the Border
• Lindsey Parks, Student Activist, University of North Texas

Theocracy in Action: Religious Fundamentalism as a Tool of Oppression

Panelists will examine fundamentalist movements in major world religions and their effects on women, particularly when such movements become entangled in politics. Connections will be made connecting US fundamentalist movements in the US to domestic and foreign policy; specifically when they influence the control of women, particularly in the areas of education, freedom, health, and reproductive rights.

• Discussant: Karin Swenson, FMLA Co- President, Texas Woman's University
• Claire L. Sahlin Ph.D., Director of Women's Studies, Texas Woman's University
• Emile Sahliyeh Ph.D., Director of International Studies, University of North Texas
• Kathy Miller, President, Texas Freedom Network

4:00-5:30pm
Closing Plenary

Never Go Back: What's at stake in the fight over the Supreme Court
Dr. Sarah Weddington, Professor, Attorney, Speaker, and Writer

Book signing for Dr. Weddington immediately following the closing plenary

6:30-8:30 pm
Feminist Leadership Institute (FLI)

The FLI will focus on educating student leaders on ways in start and maintain their feminist student groups by providing a chance to gain and share knowledge about a variety of issues. This workshop will cover topics such as: how to strengthen your student group, how to navigate campus media, how to facilitate discussion on a variety of feminist issues, keys to organizing in the south, and possible career paths in feminism.

To attend the FLI, RSVP to scglobalconference@feminist.org