Five internationally influential women gathered Wednesday
afternoon in Oklahoma Memorial Union for a cultural roundtable
discussion titled “Women in the World.”

The event was a part of United Nations Day 2004, a three-day
initiative aimed at empowering women around the world.

Meg Penrose, associate professor at the OU College of Law, served
as moderator of the discussion.

“My hope is that students will have the opportunity to hear
extremely powerful women’s ideas about empowering other
women,” Penrose said.

Monica Alzate, associate professor at the OU School of Social Work,
spoke as a part of the panel about empowering women in regard to
sexual and reproductive rights, with a focus on Latin America.

She said basic human rights start with bodily rights.

“Power over our own lives is paramount to claiming the rights
we have,” Alzate said. “We have to have the ability to
control our own lives and environment before we can take
action.”

Shannon Howard, founder of a fair trade organization called
Esperanza en Accion, is a female activist in the third world
country, Nicaragua. She addressed the necessity of taking action
against inequality.

“What is most important for people to understand is that
everyone can be an activist, too,” Howard said.
“Americans have more power to do that here in the
states.”

Betty Harris, director of the OU Women’s Studies program,
said there is little discussion concerning international inequality
issues, and she hopes to increase students’ awareness.

As an anthropologist, Harris said she has done a lot of work with
the development of women’s rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“When you get into areas of leadership, there are some
exciting things going on but not without some resistance from the
males,” Harris said.

She said most men in the region are actively resisting equality for
women in the government.

On the other side of the world, women in Japan and Asia are also
struggling for equality, said Elyssa Faison, assistant professor at
the OU Department of History.

“Since the end of the Second World War in Asia, Japanese
women’s rights have been focused on economic gender
equality,” Faison said.

Howard said her organization in Nicaragua was created out of a
similar need for economic equality expressed by the people.

She said not only is the goal to promote the third world
artisans’ work, but also to provide social justice education
for Americans.

“We need to start by empowering people in first world
countries to believe they can make a difference,” Howard
said. “We, in the U.S., might need the most empowering of
all.”
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