1999-2000 Events

Women's Lives Series
"Women and Poverty"

"There are now 3 1/2 million families maintained by women alone with incomes below the poverty level.  If one simply extrapolated the present trends and did not take into account any other factors, all of the poor by the year 2000 would be women and children.  That is the feminization of poverty."

Diana Pearce, "The Feminization of Poverty," 1983

Pearce's provocative thesis guided over a decade of inquiry into the causes of and solutions to poverty in the U.S.  As we approach the year 2000, the Women's Lives Series returns to this thesis as an opportunity to evaluate the realities of poverty for women at the end of the century.

September 30, 1999
7:30 p.m.  Alumnae Hall, HCC

Sr. Patricia Forster and Kathy Tomlin, "Women Religious for Social Justice"
Historically, women religious have been at the forefront of the struggle against poverty.  By interviewing two religious women who have worked on behalf of poor women and children in their communities, this panel examines the unique vantage point a faith perspective brings to the understanding of poverty.

Patricia Forster is a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls, MN and the Pastoral Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for Sacred Heart Parish and East Side, St. Paul, MN.  A former missionary to South America, she is currently working with the Hispanic community on education, housing, and documentation.  Kathy Tomlin educates and lobbies at the state legislature on behalf of the poor, especially women and children.  She works out of the Social Justice Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis.  The panel will be moderated by Sheila Nelson, PHD, of the CSB/SJU Sociology Department.

 

October 14, 1999
7:30 p.m. BAC Auditorium
bell hooks

"Embracing Poverty: Toward a Politics of Communalism" 

Sponsored by the St. Ben's Senate

In her latest research, bell hooks examines images of poverty in popular culture.  Claiming that we tend to view the poor as other to ourselves, she argues we should view the poor as ourselves, so that we can move to a communalism in which we share resources.

Nationally known social critic and Distinguished Professor of English at City College in New York, bell hooks is the author of 20 books including Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism and Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations.

 

November 10, 1999
8:00 p.m. SBH
Randy Albelda

"It's a Family Affair: Women's Work and Poverty"

Feminist economist Randy Albelda provides an economic analysis of why women are more prone to poverty than men, why single mothers fare the worst, and why current welfare policies are inadequate to alleviate women's poverty.

Randi Albelda is Professor of Economics in the College of Arts and Sciences and affiliated faculty with the Public Policy Ph.D. Program and the McCormack Institute's Masters in Public Affairs Program at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.  Widely published, she is the author of Economics and Feminism: Disturbances in the Field and co-author of The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual and Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty.

 

March 2, 2000
7:30 p.m. BAC Auditorium
Angela Davis

"Women in Prison"

Through her own imprisonment, political activist and scholar Angela Davis gained insight into the vulnerability and invisibility of women prisoners.  She witnessed the particular ways in which the rights of women prisoners are violated, prompting her to speak out against the injustices faced by this marginalized group.  Davis calls attention to poverty as a factor contributing to the incarceration of women and to gender and economic biases at work in the criminal justice system.

A philosopher and well known political activist, Angela Davis is Professor of History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Davis's many publications include Women, Race and Class, Women, Culture, and Politics as well as her most recent work, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism.

 

April 4, 2000
4:30 p.m. O'Connell's
Sr. Patricia Schnapp and Mary Whitaker

"Restorative Justice"

Restorative justice is a relationship-based approach to criminal justice that focuses on the impact crime has on the offender, the victim, and the community.  It encourages offenders to take responsibility for their  behavior and for victims to feel heard and validated.  Patricia Schnapp and Mary Whitaker advocate restorative justice as a supplement to the current penal system.  They argue that restorative justice helps overcome the social marginalization of poor offenders that puts them at greater risk for incarceration.

Since 1988 Ms. Scully Whitaker has served as Director of Planning for Female Offenders.  She is responsible for ensuring that an appropriate range of services for adult and juvenile female offenders exists throughout the county and state correctional systems in Minnesota.  Patricia Schapp, RSM, Ph.D. currently teaches English at Siena Heights University.  A longtime chaplain prison volunteer and teacher, she has recently published an article on Catholic perspectives on prison reform in the St. Anthony Messenger.