Last updated 2/16/15 The 3rd Annual Celebration of Speech Saturday, March 7, 2015 12:00 – 8:00 pm 2015 Theme: What Is Feminism? For millennia women have protested, mobilized, testified, advocated, pushed the limits, and risked it all on behalf of women’s rights and for the betterment of the planet. While it is important to celebrate this powerful history, we must also recognize that there has never been a consensus about what it means to be a woman and what the aims of a women’s movement are or should be. Indeed, some women and even women’s rights movements have themselves been perpetrators against other women. When differences in experiences and visions are ignored or dismissed, those who strive for change unwittingly cause harm in the lives of others. When people engage with those differences—by listening, empathizing, reflecting, and growing—hope for greater justice and peace is born. Today we honor women who have used their voices, sometimes on behalf of, and other times in heroic opposition to, other women. In doing so, we model the power and possibility that emerges when we courageously listen across differences. 11:40 am Pre-‐event performance outdoors on the steps Contemporary Speech by Alice Rich Wanamaker 11:45 am Doors Open 12:00 pm Welcome Remarks Laura Greenfield Founder and Executive Director Women’s Voices Worldwide, Inc. 12:15 pm Session 1: Many Visions This opening session introduces the idea that “feminism” and women’s rights are contested terrain even among women, and that women have always differed and continue to differ in their views on what feminism is, who counts as a woman, and what kind of change they aspire to create. Historic Speech Re-‐enactments: Carolina Lattanzi (Italy, 1771 -‐ 1818) was a radical voice during Italy’s revolutionary triennium as her patriotism boldly included a call for women to claim greater rights than men. Her speech “The Slavery of Women” (1797), which denounced the “slavery” of women by their fathers, husbands, despots, and religious systems, was shunned by the press but became one of the most well-‐known and important emancipatory works of the period. Read by: Rosie McMahan Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (United States, 1825 – 1911) was an African American abolitionist and a prolific orator and writer who co-‐founded the National Association of Colored Women. She delivered her speech “We Are All Bound Together” (1866) at the National Women’s Rights Convention in New York organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, in which she courageously spoke of how the women’s rights movement failed to account for the experiences of “colored” women. Read by: Serena Harris Last updated 2/16/15 Zainab Fawwaz (Lebanon, c. 1850 -‐ 1914) was a prolific writer who created the first known anthology of influential women in the Arab world. Her piece “Fair and Equal Treatment” (1891), which was emblematic of her staunch defense of women’s equal rights to education and participation in the public sphere, drew criticism from religious and political quarters of the time. Read by: Jamila Gore Xu Yucheng (China, Dates unknown) published “Speech to the Women’s World” (1907) in the China New Woman’s Magazine. She argued that to achieve freedom women must find self-‐respect and self-‐esteem through education. At a time when other women’s rights advocates described men as the “oppressor,” Xu argued that men did not experience true freedom either if women were not equally free. Read by: Jennifer Shiao Page Laura Cornelius Kellogg (a.k.a. “Princess Wynnogene”) (Oneida/Iroquois Nation, 1880 – 1947) was an advocate for the renaissance and sovereignty of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, and fought for communal tribal lands, tribal autonomy, and self-‐government. The founder of the Society of American Indians, Kellogg expressed astonishment in her Interview in the Washington Herald (1915) that white women were only now demanding rights that Indian women had in fact enjoyed across history. Read by: Jocelyn Cuffee Mia McKenzie (United States, 1976 -‐ ), who describes herself as a “black feminist and freaking queer,” is an award-‐winning writer and founder of the hit blog “Black Girl Dangerous,” which seeks to amplify the voices, experiences, and expressions of queer and trans people of color. Her piece “Why I’m Not Really Here for Emma Watson’s Feminism Speech at the U.N.” (2014) criticizes the widely-‐praised speech for its failure to accurately analyze men’s privilege and it’s inattention to the racism, transmisogyny, economic oppression, ableism, and other critical factors that shape women’s oppression. Read by: Melanie Wilkerson Contemporary Speeches: Speech Competition Winner: Seventeen-‐year-‐old Sydney Blomstrom of Easthampton, MA argues that the stigma against “feminists” as bra-‐burning liberals discourages potential feminists from across the political spectrum from taking up important work for women’s rights. Featured Speaker: Lorelei Erisis is Vice President of the Board of Directors at Transcending Boundaries, Inc., a Northampton nonprofit that provides education, activism, and support for persons whose sexuality, gender, sex, or relationship style do not fit within conventional categories. She is a transgender performer, writer, activist, and Pageant Queen who trained in improvisation and sketch comedy at the renowned Second City in Chicago and Los Angeles. Interlude Performer: Ku’umba Women’s Choir is a community choir open to all women, run through the Northampton Community Music Center and directed by the Grammy Award Winning artist Evelyn Harris. -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ 1:30 pm Session 2: Women, War, and Violence A case could be made that violence against women is the common denominator motivating all feminist work. Indeed, gender oppression is violence—whether physical, psychological, or metaphorical. However, women are not all targeted by violence in the same ways or to the same degree. This session reveals how being “blind” to each other’s differences can in fact perpetuate the very violence we may seek to eradicate. Last updated 2/16/15 Historic Speech Re-‐enactments Akiko Yosano (Japan, 1878 – 1942) was a prolific poet, advocate of women’s writing and education, and pacifist whose criticism of the growing militarist culture in Japan during the late Meiji period made her a controversial and radical figure. Her poem “Thou Shalt Not Die” (1904), published at the height of the Russo-‐Japanese war, became an anti-‐war anthem and was turned into a song. Read by: TBA Muadi Mukenge (DRC, dates unknown) is the Regional Director for Sub-‐Saharan Africa at the Global Fund for Women. In her piece “What the World Must Know about the Congo” (1998) she calls upon Western governments to stop sending arms to military groups in the Congo, which enables horrific violence against women and genocide. Read by: Christine Ingraham Margot Wallstrom (Sweden, 1954 -‐ ) served as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict for the United Nations from 2010 – 2014. An advocate of promoting women’s participation and leadership in peace-‐ and security-‐related work, her speech “Ending Sexual Violence: From Recognition to Action” (2010), delivered at the Women and War conference in Washington, DC, called upon world leaders to take action to put an end to sexual violence as “collateral damage” of war. Read by: Donna Jenson Laverne Cox (United States 1984 -‐ ) is an actor and activist who made history as the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy in the acting category and to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Her speech “On Bullying and Being a Trans Woman of Color” (2013), describes the disproportionate level of violence targeting trans women of color, a phenomenon she ascribes to a collective trauma stemming from slavery and Jim Crow: fear surrounding the white supremacist emasculation of Black male bodies. Read by: TBA Stephanie Woodward (United States, 1988 -‐ ) is a disability rights activist and lawyer who seeks to end domestic violence against women with disabilities. Her piece “Stop Telling Me that I’m Pretty for a Girl in a Wheelchair: How Your Words Contribute to Violence against Women with Disabilities” (2014) is a reflection on her own experience with domestic violence and how messages that devalue people with disabilities contributes to their increased vulnerability to be targeted by violence (and to stay in violent relationships). Read by: AnnaMaria Kiaresh Lauren Chief Elk (United States, dates unknown) is the co-‐founder of the Save Wiyabi Project, an advocacy group working to end violence against Native American Women. Her piece “There is No ‘We’: V-‐Day, Indigenous Women, and the Myth of Shared Gender Oppression” (2014) criticizes Eve Ensler and the One Billion Rising Campaign (a global initiative to end gender based violence) for erasing the experiences of Indigenous women, bulldozing existing grassroots efforts by Indigenous women, and attempting to silence Indigenous women from dissenting. Read by: Melanie Wilkerson Contemporary Speeches Speech Competition Winner: Fifteen-‐year-‐old Naomi Cope of Orange, MA argues that to be a feminist is to support equal rights for all, and accordingly to support the contemporary #BlackLivesMatter movement which seeks to end police violence against people—including women and girls—of color. Featured Speaker: Strong Oak Lefebvre is a Prevention Education Coordinator at the New England Center for Women in Transition, a domestic and sexual violence program in Greenfield, MA. She is also a Circle Keeper of the Visioning B.E.A.R. Circle, which seeks to prevent sexual violence in Native American communities. Last updated 2/16/15 Interlude Facilitator: Lynne Marie Wanamaker is a nationally recognized expert in empowerment-‐based, social-‐justice informed violence prevention strategies. She is also an experienced movement instructor and martial artist who believes all people have a right to joyful movement and that mindful physical activity in a trauma-‐aware setting can help survivors heal from violence.
-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ (2:45 pm) Session 3: Women and Political Power If violence against women is caused by an abuse of power, then what does it mean for women to be powerful? This session explores how women have interpreted the potential of their political leadership differently—from assuming positions historically held by men, to seeking to transform patriarchal structures themselves. Historic Speech Re-‐enactments Malak Hifni Nasif (Egypt, 1886 – 1918) was an Egyptian feminist who contributed greatly to the intellectual and political discourse on the advancement of women in the early 20th century. She wrote and spoke prolifically, standing in contrast to other Egyptian feminists at the time who interpreted feminism through a decidedly western lens. Her speech “If I Had the Right to Legislate” (1909), presented to the Egyptian Legislative Assembly, articulated 10 key plans for improving women’s lives. Read by: Priyanka Krishnamoorthy
Amy Jacques Garvey (Jamaica, 1896 – 1973) was one of the key political leaders, archivists, and interpreters of the Garvey (“Back to Africa”) movement and was a forceful advocate of women's rights. Her piece “Women as Leaders” (1925) called on women to assume their “holy” influence beyond the home, including through formal political positions, and encouraged Black women to draw strength from their admirable history of perseverance through slavery, deprivation, and other indignities.
Read by: Toni Reynolds Dame Enid Lyons (Australia, 1897 -‐ 1981) was the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives, the first woman to be appointed to the Federal Cabinet, and a sometimes controversial speaker. Her “Speech to Parliament Upon her Election” (1943) laid out her views on what it meant to be a woman in that role, both calling upon her male colleagues to change how they listen, but also espousing her traditional views on the family and women’s affinity with domestic life. Read by: Jean Koester Doria Shafik (Eqypt 1908 – 1975) was one of the principle leaders of the women's liberation movement in Egypt in the 20th century. She managed to secretly bring together 1500 women from Egypt's two leading feminist groups and organized a march on and break into parliament to present the male parliamentarians with a series of demands related to women’s socioeconomic rights. Her speech “Let’s Go and Demand Our Rights” (1951) did not lead to immediate improvements; however, as a direct result of her efforts, Egyptian women were granted the right to vote by the Egyptian constitution five years later. Read by: TBA Doris Tijerino (Nicaragua 1943 –) was a key figure of the Sandinistas, or the FSLN, a revolutionary group that in 1979 overthrew a 46-‐year dictatorship in Nicaragua. Defiantly defending the safe house of an FSLN directorate, she was captured and subsequently tortured by the National Guard. She was later freed by an FSLN raid. After the revolution, she became the Head of Police, the only woman in the world at that time to be in charge of a national police force. An excerpt from her autobiographical text “Inside the Nicaraguan Revolution” (1978) provides an account in her own words of her revolutionary work. Read by: Michelle Joffroy Last updated 2/16/15 Mariko Mitsui (Japan, dates unknown) was a feminist politician who worked to increase the representation of women in politics. She won international notoriety when she was elected as a candidate from the Socialist Party to fill a vacancy in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. “The Day Women Launched into Politics” (1987) was her first public speech before the Assembly. She argued that women’s issues represent a social and public policy problem that should matter to everyone, not just women. Read by: TBA Louise Arbour (Canada 1947 –) was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She made history with the indictment of a sitting head of state, Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, as well as the first prosecution of sexual assault in the articles of crimes against humanity. In her “Remarks to the Vital Voices Conference” (1997) she speculates as to the unique value of having women in power, particularly as it relates to large scale violence. Read by: Sarah Pirtle Featured Speaker: Liz Friedman is Program Director and Founder of the Post Partum Support Initiative at MotherWoman. She will speak about the experiences of mothers in this community and their current legislative advocacy work in support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in Massachusetts. She may also have a surprise in store for the audience… -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Snack break: Join us in the welcome area for hot beverages and nourishing morsels provided by our sponsors: River Valley Market, Haymarket Café, State Street Fruit Store, Mt. Tom Ice Cream, and Big E’s Supermarket! -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ (4:00 pm) Session 4: Women and Economics Whether power is understood as holding a political position, being able to self-‐determine, or being able to influence one’s environment, all women do not share the same relationship to power. This session reveals how economic systems function not only to disenfranchise women from their power, but in fact targets different women differently, and with different (violent) consequences. Historic Speech Re-‐enactments Johnnie Tillman (United States 1926 – 1995) was a Black welfare recipient and reform activist who founded one of the first grassroots welfare mothers’ organizations and later became the chair of the National Welfare Rights Organization. Critical of the approach of the middle-‐class male staff, she advocated for women welfare recipients to have a greater voice and aligned with other feminist organizations. Her piece “Welfare is a Women’s Issue” (1972) tried to broaden the horizon of the feminist movement by redefining poverty as a women’s issue. Read by: Valerie Joseph Domitila Barrios de Chungara (Bolivia, 1937 -‐ 2012) was a renowned Indigenous union leader, feminist, and revolutionary who led the hunger strike in 1978 that brought down the dictatorship of General Hugo Bánzer, paving the way for the return of Bolivian democracy. In her autobiographical text “Let Me Speak!” (1978), she talks about the hardships of the women of the Bolivian mines, and critiques the international economical structure that exploits Bolivian women. Read by: Madeleine Marquez Last updated 2/16/15 Lilly Ledbedder (United States 1938) was the plaintiff in the employment discrimination case against Goodyear Tire heard before the Supreme Court in 1998, which denied her claim because she did not file suit within 180 days of receiving her first pay check. She went on to become a women’s rights activist and in 2009 the U.S. Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which loosens the timeliness requirements for the filing of a discrimination suit. In her “Address to the DNC” (2012) she celebrates the significance of the Act. Read by: Kira McCoy Dolores Huerta (U.S., 1930 -‐ ) is a labor leader and civil rights activist with a life-‐long commitment to ending economic injustice. Passionate about the plight of farm workers, she co-‐founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cezar Chavez, through which she became an instrumental lobbyist who helped lead the passage of numerous historic labor laws, including an act that granted farm workers in California the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages. Her words on the “Epidemic in the Fields” (2014) were given as an interview on Dateline in which she describes the ways in which women farm workers, particularly undocumented workers, are especially vulnerable to sexual violence. Read by: Mikaela Gonzales Brinda Karat (India, 1947 -‐ ), who became the first woman member of the Communist Party of India (2005), is a politician and activist particularly concerned with workers’ and women’s rights. Her speech “India’s Sterilization Horror” (2014) condemns the practice of paying poor Indian women to undergo sterilization, as well as the exploitation of poor health workers who perform the procedure. Read by: Keshia Pendigrast Contemporary Speeches: Featured Speaker: Mia Kim Sullivan, Esq. is the Director of the Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP) Program at Hampshire College. She previously worked as a staff attorney on a wide range of poverty law and civil rights issues at legal services organizations in Massachusetts and Michigan, engaging in litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy, and community organizing. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and serves on the board of the National Women’s Health Network and the Legacy Council of Third Wave Fund. Interlude Performer: The Raging Grannies are an international organization of senior women dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and social and economic equality through humor and song. -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ (5:15 pm) Session 5: Women, Religion, & Culture This session explores how people often interpret religious doctrine and cultural traditions as reasons for maintaining systems that oppress women, while simultaneously women may cite these same religions and cultures as providing the values that justify transformative change. Historic Speech Re-‐enactments: Regina Jonas (Germany, 1902 -‐ 1944) was the first officially ordained woman rabbi in Jewish history. In “Can Women Serve as Rabbis?” (1930), she built a case based on her belief that gender equality could be deduced from the Jewish legal sources and that therefore the female rabbinate should be understood as a continuity of tradition. In 1942 Jonas was deported to the concentration camp, Theresienstadt. Even there she worked as rabbi, preaching and counseling. She later died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Read by: Lisa Thwing Last updated 2/16/15 Jahan Ara Shahnawaz (India and Pakistan, 1896-‐1979) was influential in the Muslim community in India and Pakistan where she advocated for women’s rights. During her political career, she became one of two women who were eventually elected to the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and Central Legislature. As a legislator, she introduced the “Charter of Women’s Rights” (1954) during which she argued that rights granted to women in Islam could not be denied to women in an Islamic State. Read by: Kavita Bhandari Maria Clara Bingemer (Brazil, dates unknown) is a Professor and Dean of the Center for Theology and Human Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro. She serves as an advisor to the progressive Brazilian Catholic Bishops’ Conference on issues of justice for women. Her text “Women in the Future of the Theology of Liberation” (1990) argues for the value of recovering the history of Christianity from a woman’s point of view, bringing to light the women depicted in the Bible as building the history of salvation. Read by: Annie Rodriguez Hsiu-‐lien Annette Lu (Taiwan, 1944 -‐ ) is a pioneer feminist of postwar Taiwan’s women’s movement, a leader of the democracy movement, and the first popularly elected female vice-‐president of Taiwan. She has done considerable work on behalf of female victims of sexual assault and domestic violence and sought to revise gender-‐biased family law. In her speeches “Buddhism and Soft Power” (2002) and “Remarks at Zonta International” (2003), she argues for feminine forms of power to ensure peace, arguing that those forms of power are compatible with Buddhism. Read by: Priyanka Krishnamoorthy Shelina Zahra Janmohamed (United Kingdom, dates unknown) is a writer and commentator on Muslim women’s issues, and has been named as one of the UK's 100 most influential Muslim women. In her Al-‐Jazeera Op-‐Ed “Calling All Feminists: Get Over the Veil Debate, Focus on Real Problems” (2013), she argues that when western feminists center their work on helping Muslim women to see the veil as a tool of oppression, they not only patronize Muslim women who wear the veil by choice, but they distract attention away from needed work on poverty, education, violence, and so on. Read by: Isidora Germain Chimamanda Adichie (Nigeria 1977 -‐ ) is an award-‐winning novelist and frequent public speaker, whose work, often set in her home country of Nigeria, addresses themes of family, religion, politics, race, gender, class, conflict, and immigration. In her speech “We Should All Be Feminists” (2013), she argues that “culture” should not be used as an excuse to subjugate women, because culture is created by people and therefore can be changed by people. Read by: Ify Arinze Contemporary Speeches: Speech Competition Winner: Dianne Germain, of Easthampton, MA delivers her original speech from her perspective as a Sufi woman, a mystic in the Islamic tradition, about how women have the sacred opportunity to be an example of good “adab”: being truthful from one’s core outward. Featured Speaker: Dr. Tanya Williams, Deputy Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Community Engagement, Union Theological Seminary, New York City Interlude Performer: Evelyn Harris, Grammy-‐Award winning artist, formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Last updated 2/16/15 (6:30 pm) Session 6: Women’s Bodies and Mother Earth Culminating the day, this session honors both the metaphorical relationships as well as the physical interconnectedness between women’s bodies (and systems that objectify and violate women’s bodies) and the Earth (and those same systems that exploit the earth’s resources and harm the environment). Collectively, the speakers call on women to recreate the dominant narratives that exploit them. Historic Speech Re-‐enactments Amelia Earhart (United States 1897 – 1939) was the first female aviator to fly a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. An advocate for women pursuing traditionally male-‐dominated fields, her speech “A Woman’s Place in Science” (1935) argues for women’s increased involvement in science because scientific developments have affected women’s lives more than any other group. Read by: Hannah Davidson Margaret Sanger (United States 1879 – 1966) was a sex educator and nurse who coined the term “birth control,” opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Her speech “Woman and the Future” (1937) discussed the meaning and significance of “control.” Read by: Becca Greene Van Horn Marina Silva (Brazil, 1958 -‐ ) is a Brazilian environmentalist and two-‐time presidential candidate who ran under the Green Party (2010), during which she won the popular vote, and the Socialist Party (2014). Her pro-‐environmentalist stance has earned her numerous international awards and distrust by Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector. Her “Opening Speech” (2014) at the 3rd Adaptations of the Future Conference, delivered during her presidential campaign, argued for a new understanding of sustainability that considers not only the environment but also the redistribution of wealth, wise use of resources, and cultural diversity and inclusion. Read by: Annie Rodriguez Wangari Maathai (Kenya 1940 -‐ 2011) was a world-‐renowned environmentalist and women’s rights advocate who founded the Green Belt movement, encouraging Kenyan farmers (70% of whom are women) to plant trees to stop soil erosion, provide shade, and create a source of firewood and income. The movement led to the planting of over 15 million trees across 30 countries. Her speech “Speak Truth to Power” (2000) tells the story of her development of the movement, and calls on women to have courage in the face of the threats directed against them for their activism. Read by: Lucy Mule Vandana Shiva (India 1952 -‐ ) is a prominent environmentalist and ecofeminist committed to peace, sustainability, and social justice. Understanding biodiversity as intimately linked to cultural and knowledge diversity, she recently launched a global movement called Diverse Women for Diversity. Her speech “Empowering Women” (2004) discusses the impact of globalization on women in agriculture, arguing that women have paid the highest price. Read by: Keshia Pendigrast Audrey Shenandoah (Onondaga/Iroquois Nation, 1926 – 2012) was an esteemed clan mother from the Haudenosaunee tribe, also known as the Six National Iroquois Confederacy. She was revered for her knowledge of the culture and language and helped develop the first uniform written version of the Onondaga language. She traveled the world to spread the word of peace and a concern for the environment. “Cry of the Earth” (2004) is a selection of comments she shared as part of a Wisdom of the Elders program, in which she brings a message about how we should all care for “our mother, our earth.” Read by: Jocelyn Cuffee Last updated 2/16/15 Contemporary Speeches Speech Competition Winner: Elizabeth Solomon is a Northampton-‐based mother, writer, and entrepreneur. She will speak about the power of mothering and birthing as both a specific experience and a metaphor for resisting society’s attempts to disconnect women from their bodies and their intuitive and creative gifts. Featured Speaker: Jessa Orluk is the Reproductive and Environmental Justice Alumni Fellow for the Population and Development (PopDev) Program at Hampshire College, which is a center for thinking, learning, and advocacy on population and the environment. PopDev champions social justice including reproductive and sexual freedom, environmental and climate justice, peace, and immigration rights. They uphold the rights of women and advance a broad understanding of gender. -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Reception (8:00 pm) Please join us in the welcome area for a celebratory reception sponsored by Dean’s Beans Coffee and Big E’s Supermarket!