Athena Society -- International Women's Day Luncheon -- The Global Status of Women

I was delighted that the Honorable Betty Castor and Doris Weatherford invited me to participate in the Athena Society's International Women's Day Luncheon as a panelist to discuss my work in Moldova and in Macedonia.

There was only one problem, the luncheon was during my class period.  Thanks to the generosity of several Athena Society members, my students were sponsored and had the opportunity to attend the luncheon as well. Students were spread out among the tables - so each had the opportunity to learn more from the community leaders at their table as well as from the panelists.

 It was an honor to participate in the panel, moderated by historian Doris Weatherford.  The panelists included (as described in the program announcement):

"Nancy Natilson, a former banker, has worked on international projects for women since 1996.  Specializing in both microfinance and reproductive health, she has been a consultant on three continents with projects in Bosnia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Vietnam and more.

"Margaret “Peg” Ostrenko spent three years as a civilian contractor with the US Army in Iraq and the French army in Afghanistan. An expert in communication, Peg previously was employed by Bell South, the Miami Herald, and Tampa-area universities.

 and me -- Judithanne McLauchlan "a professor of political science at USF St. Petersburg and a Fulbright Scholar.  She’ll speak of her experience in two eastern European nations, the ancient nation of Macedonia and the former Soviet Republic of Moldova."

As you can see, the panelists were from different fields and covered many regions of the world. Together, we discussed "The Global Status of Women."

(For more about the Athena Society, see http://www.athena-society.com/)

In my brief remarks, I discussed the work that I did in Moldova and in Macedonia and provided a brief overview of the status of women in each country.

For more about my work during my Fulbright in Moldova, you can see my blog: http://jainmoldova.blogspot.com/

For one example of my work with students there, see this post about one of the campaign commercials a group of my women students produced in my campaigns workshop:

http://jainmoldova.blogspot.com/2010/11/campaigns-course-student-video.html

You can also see my USF students visiting the only shelter for survivors of domestic violence in Moldova (during my 2013 Study Abroad course) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=102&v=PTGYORHag3k

For more about my work in Macedonia, see my blog: http://jainmacedonia.blogspot.mk/

For more about the work of students in my "Democracy and Civil Society" class at the University of Tetovo, including with Peace Corps Volunteer Maria and her colleagues at Forumi Gruas, the women's legal clinic - as well as events we organized together with Zonta Macdonia and Zonta Pinellas to raise awareness of the need to Say No to Violence Against Women, see

 http://jainmacedonia.blogspot.mk/2017/05/say-no-to-violence-against-women-tetovo.html

http://jainmacedonia.blogspot.mk/2017/05/tetovo-some-highlights-of-my-time-at.html

I also announced our upcoming event for International Women's Day -- featuring law professor from Macedonia

See http://jainmacedonia.blogspot.mk/2018/04/usfsp-womens-herstory-month-event_5.html

Members of the Athena Society greeted the students before the meeting began

Doris Weatherford, signing one of her may books about women in politics

Students in  my Women and the Law class read excerpts of Doris Weatherford's book about the Women's Suffrage Movement. Too bad we did not have longer for a mini-lecture or an "author meets critic" session

After the luncheon, we met as a  seminar and discussed students' progress with their research posters for our USFSP Women's HERStory Month event.  We were delighted that we had the opportunity to meet the Honorable Alex Sink