AAUW Oppression of Women Program Mar. 23 at JCC

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Jefferson Community College (JCC) will host a presentation entitled “A Global Perspective on the Oppression of Women and Girls: Stories of Strength and Suffering from Sierra Leone and Malawi” at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 in the Jules Center Amphitheater, Room 6-002, Jefferson Community College. The presentation is free of charge and open to the public.

North Country teachers Heather White and Renee Waterbury traveled to the Republic of Malawi in 2008 as part of team to meet and evaluate the needs of Malawi widows. Both women have been involved in the grassroots formation of the Women of Grace Widows’ Fund Board that continues to create opportunities that enable and empower widows to establish their own self-sufficiency and independence.

In May of 2009, Tammie Miller, branch director of the Fairgrounds YMCA in Watertown, traveled to Malawi with another group of North Country community members. A goal of Tammie and YMCA was to connect the children of Northern New York and Northern Malawi through soccer, a sport that, in Africa, is used to educate children regarding malaria and AIDS and as a catalyst to build community.

Katherine FitzGerald, adjunct philosophy instructor at JCC, spent January through June of 2009 in Sierra Leone where she taught theology and philosophy as a visiting professor at The Fatima Institute (TFI) in Makeni. While in Sierra Leone, she participated in a variety of humanitarian efforts intended to meet the needs of women and girls and explored the role of religion in providing a foundation for—or correcting—the global oppression of women and girls.

All four women endured unique experiences and each will share the stories of strength and suffering they bore witness to during their travels and time spent in Africa.

The mission of AAUW is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research.

“The Jefferson County Branch AAUW is extremely pleased to support this program which will help raise awareness of the issues facing women and girls in other cultures as well as the efforts undertaken here locally to help them,” said Karen A. Carr, AAUW Vice President and Program Chair.

Light refreshments will be served following the presentations. For additional information, please contact Andrea Pedrick at 315-786-2236 or apedrick@sunyjefferson.edu or Karen Carr at 315-786-2404 or kcarr@sunyjefferson.edu.