PRESS RELEASE
International Women’s Day 2016 at Woman -Founded University to Feature Experts Zoomed in from around Globe
One expert is increasing girls’ education levels in Malala Yousafzai’s province in Pakistan, near Afghanistan; others do similar work in Africa, Australia, in a Native American tribe and in Chicagoland.
In conjunction with United Nations Women’s ‘Planet 50 -50 by 20 30, Step It Up for Gender Equality’ campaign.
CHICAGO, Feb. 26, 2016 - Women’s advocates from Australia, Africa, Pakistan and various U.S. locations will participate in an event heralding International Women’s Day, and encouraging women’s further progress on gender equality, on March 8 at National Louis University. The event, which organizers are excited to initiate in Chicago and hope to make an annual observance, aligns with the United Nations’ urging of women’s equality first declared at the historic Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995. Reflecting UN Women’s 2016 tagline of “Planet 50 - 50 by 2013, Step It Up for Gender Equality,” speakers will touch on three areas in which UN findings say more work is needed to get women to 50-50 equality: education, business/career and decision-making. The audience will get a grasp on the issues, such as that the United States fell to 28th place for gender equality, behind countries such as Nicaragua, the Philippines and Rwanda, on the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap report (http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2015/rankings/) but that, within the U.S., Illinois ranks third (http://progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2015/08/24/whats-status- womens-equality-illinois).
Speakers at the event, which will be held at National Louis University’s Wheeling, Ill., USA campus, include the following:
On the topic of education: Stephanie Charging Eagle , tribal education specialist, Dupree, South Dakota, USA, helps Lakota Sioux women pursue higher education while preserving native traditions and language. Sharon Hughes, an author in Melbourne, Australia, had to persist through discouragement in order to write children’s books for her own aboriginal people. She promotes literacy in the aboriginal community.
Dr. Khalid Khan , secretary of the higher education department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan (Malala Yousafzai’s province) champions access to education for girls and women.
Sharon Hughes , author from Melbourne, Australia: Encouraging adult and family engagement in learning to promote total literacy for all people.
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2016 International Women’s Day – Step-It-Up for Equality
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