Here
we are, staff and teachers of the Women's Studies Department, sharing
a potluck dinner in Marilyn's dining room.
At Vanier, we organize courses and activities around women's issues
for the community; we also meet periodically to discuss books, dialogue
with speakers, go for hikes, undertake facials, and generally amuse
ourselves and expand our horizons.
On this occasion, Greta Hofmann Nemiroff tells us about her experiences
at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality,
Development and Peace in September 1995. On behalf of the Joint Chair
of Women Studies, Carleton and Ottawa Universities, and of the Sisterhood
is Global Institute, Greta gave two presentations. She comments:
While I have always been interested in women's lives everywhere, I wasn't
always certain about how I "fit in" to the global picture.
My experience in Beijing, where I met, listened to, and spoke with women
from all over the world, gave me a strong sense of our commonalities
and our differences. Today, my courses at Dawson College on women and
development are based on the interest and connections established in
1995. And in my current position as president of the Sisterhood is Global
Institute, I have the honour and pleasure of developing program proposals
with women who had come to the Beijing conference from Nepal, Lebanon,
Bangladesh and Jordan. I am increasingly convinced that until all women
are liberated, none of us is free.