WCW at the United Nations

Research & Action Report Spring/Summer 2006 

  On March 4, 2006, the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) co-sponsored a day-long program, "Violence Against Women: From Critical Concerns to Collective Action" with the NGO Committee for the Status of Women in collaboration with the New York County Lawyers’ Association in New York City. Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., Executive Director of WCW, organized and moderated the panel discussion "Searching for the Roots of Violence: The Research Paradigm." The panelists were Yakin Ertürk, Ph.D., United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women; Charlotte Bunch, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Douglass College, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; and Sealing Cheng, Ph.D., Henry Luce Assistant Professor in the Women’s Studies Department at Wellesley College. Jasmine Waddell, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Fellow at WCW, and Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., Associate Director of WCW, co-facilitated a breakout session, Vulnerable Populations, as part of the day’s program, Creating Positions and Strategies Related to Issues Leading to Leading to Collective Action for Eliminating Violence Against Women. Meena Hewett, Assistant to the Director at WCW, coordinated the WCW participation in the day and Donna Tambascio, Director of Communications at WCW, managed the publicity. Nan Stein, Ed.D, Senior Research Scientist at WCW, Katherine Morrison, Ph.D., Research Scientist at WCW, and Diane Purvin, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow at WCW, attended the sessions and with Erkut and Waddell volunteered to draft position papers that will be incorporated into the document the NGO Committee on the Status of Women will submit to the UN Secretary General for his fall report to the full Assembly.