Yale Bulletin and Calendar
News Stories

"CHALLENGING BOUNDARIES" Law Schoool conference explores key issues facing women today

Feminist scholars and activitists will explore key issues facing women today -- the impact of poverty on families, changing definitions of sexuality, access to health care, transracial adoption, international human rights violations, and labor in the home and in the workplace -- during the "Challenging Boundaries" conference being held Friday-Sunday, Nov. 8-10 at the Law School, 127 Wall St.

Recent developments on the national and international political scene have made this conference particularly timely, say the organizers of the conference, including the following:

• War crimes tribunals are prosecuting war criminals in Bosnia and Rwanda -- actions that are particularly significant in light of the fact that most civilian victims of war crimes are women, say the conference organizers. An "International Human Rights" panel at 1 p.m. on Friday will seek solutions to the problem of human rights violations.
• In August, President Clinton signed a law requiring states to remove obstacles that prevent parents from adopting children of another race -- despite the fact that there is still concern in many quarters about the cultural and ethnic identity of children in multiracial families. On Saturday at 9:30 a.m., a panel on transracial adoption will grapple with this issue.
• The Defense of Marriage Act, allowing states to prohibit same-sex marriages and withhold recognition of such marriages from other states, recently went into effect. On Saturday at 1 p.m. the panel, "Sexuality," will deal with the implications of this law and other issues related to sexual orientation and gender roles.
• During the coming months, the new federal welfare law will change the lives of millions of women and children. Legal scholars and activists will talk about strategies to deal with the repercussions in sessions on "Labor" on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and "Poverty" on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Conference participants include some of the world's most outspoken activists and noted legal scholars on these issues. The keynote address will be presented by Lani Guinier of the University of Pennsylvania Law School at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Four Yale Law School faculty members will take part in the panel discussions: Harlon Dalton, Vicki Schultz, Reva Siegel and Kathleen Sullivan.

The conference is sponsored by the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism; Collective on Women of Color in the Law; Lesbian-Gay- Bisexual Law Students Alliance; Yale Law Women and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale. The conference is open to the public. General registration is $60; $20 for students. Pre-registration is recommended. For further information and registration, call 432-4056.