A Meeting of Women Minds: International Congress and Feminist Bookfair
Women scholars and professionals from a wide range of fields will gather in Dublin, Ireland next July 6-19, 1987 for the Third International Interdisciplinary Congress of Women.
The congress has been held every three years since 1981 to bring together women from the humanities, social sciences, arts, economics, politics, and other fields. The theme of this year's congress will be "Women's Worlds: Visions and Revisions," a theme deliberately open to permit a wide range of discussion on feminist theory and practice. The principal language will be English, but organizers hope to arrange translation into other languages.
A special note to all publishers and distributors: the Congress will host a Feminist Book Fair during the meeting.
For details about the cost, stand layout or for more information about the conference, contact:
Third International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women
44 Northumberland Road Dublin 4, Ireland
International Women's Centers Meeting
A meeting of women's centers throughout the world was an idea that came out of the workshop on women's centers held in Nairobi in July 1985. Participants decided to hold the conference in Mexico arid chose the date so that the.meeting could take place concurrently with the Fourth Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Meeting.
The meeting will tackle some of the common questions and problems faced by women' centers throughout the world: financing and budgeting; internal democracy vs. an efficient pace of work; collective structures vs. hierarchical ones; how centers can run in agreement with feminist principles; problems of specialization among women staff members; and relations with external governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Presently, three women's centers in Latin America are planning the meeting: the Women's Support Center in Colombia and the Women's Studies Center in Mexico and The Support Center for Battered Women. Planning is being coordinated with 11 other women's centers in such far-reaching places as Kenya, India and France.
Women's centers interested in participating are asked to write a letter addressing the following questions :
- Name, address, telephone number and contact person for your center;
- A description of how your center began and its main objectives;
- How your center is organized, in terms of the number of staff, types of work they do, and conditions of work;
- Your sources of finance;
- Types of services your center offers;
- Key problems you encounter, and an assessment of your success in meeting your objectives.
The letter can be mailed to the Isis International office in Santiago, Chile, which is coordinating with the planning committee:
Isis International
Attn: Ana Maria Gomez
Casilla 2067
Santiago, Chile
First Latin American and Caribbean Women's Film and Video Festival
Cocina de Imagenes (Cooking Up Images) is the title of the first Latin American and Caribbean Women's Film and Video Festival to be held from 1 to 8 October 1987, in Mexico City. Why this title? Angeles Necoechea, of Zafra Cine Difusion, festival coordinator, explains: "Even though cooking sometimes bores us, the kitchen is the warmest place in the house and, in some way, kitchens are also laboratories for images. This warmth is what we want for this festival where we will be able to see what women are talking about and how they are doing it."
Women video and filmmakers from the region are invited to participate. The festival is intended for productions dating from the 1970s to the present. Films may be short or full -length,16 or 35 mm, documentaries or fiction. The objective is to make known the greatest number of films and videos produced by women during this period. However, since the festival will last one week only, it will be necessary to pre-select the productions. During the festival, a series of meetings will also be organized to promote the exchange of ideas and experiences among the participants.
Important dates to remember for those wishing to participate: Productions should be received by the organizers between 20 May and 1 August. The very last date possible for receiving the material is 11 August as the selection of films and videos and the festival program will be finalized between 15 August and 1 September.
You can contribute to the success of the festival by publicizing it in your country. For more information and for the application form to participate, write to:
Cocina de Imagenes
Zafra AC Cine Difusion
Leonardo da Vinci 82
Mixcoac 03910, Mexico D.F.
Tel: 563 07 09 or 563 25 93
Telex tptpme -177319
The Fifth International Women and Health Meeting
Women health activists, researchers, and practitioners from all over the world will gather in San Jose, Costa Rica next spring for the Fifth International Women and Health Meeting. The Centro Feminista de Informacion y Accion (CEFEMINA) is coordinating the planning for the conference, which is scheduled to take place from May 23 to 28, 1987. This marks the first time the meeting will be held in a Third World country; the previous four meetings have been held in European cities.
The conference will focus on five main themes: population policies and reproductive rights; community health; environmental health hazards; drugs; and the health care system. The organizers welcome any suggestions for specific workshops to be organized under these categories as well as general input into the planning of the conference. Meetings will be held in Spanish, French or English, with simultaneous translation available for plenary sessions. Childcare facilities for participants' children will be provided.
The conference organizers also urge women who want to attend to begin fundraising immediately to cover travel costs and expenses. Those who can are encouraged to help raise funds for women who cannot cover their own costs.
Eleven national and international women's organizations, including Isis International and the Latin American and Caribbean Health Network which we coordinate, are sponsoring the conference. The others are Peru Mujer, Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promocion y Accion de la Mujer, Women's Global Network on Reproductive Rights, International Baby Food Action Network, Health Action International, SOSHIREN Tokyo, Isis WICCE, Dispensaire des Femmes, and the Boston Women's Health Book Collective.
Please contribute your ideas to the conference planning or enter your name for registration by filling out the following questionnaire (next page) and returning it to CEFEMINA.
U.S.A.: Weaving Women's Colors
The National Women's Studies Association in the U.S., a national grouping of women interested in feminist education "both inside and outside the classroom" will hold its ninth annual conference from June 24 to 28, 1987. Called "Weaving Women's Colors: A Conference on the Intersection of Race and Gender," the conference will bring together the association's membership of educators and activists, black, white and native American women, lesbians and heterosexuals, and women from different regions of the U.S. to explore concepts, issues and action on the theme of women of color.
Proposals for presentation are now being considered: the conference announcement lists several dozen thought provoking suggestions such as "Sexism in the anti-racism movement," "Racism in the anti-sexism movement," and "Who chooses for poor women?" Conference organizers stress that all proposals "proceed from a perspective inclusive of the diverse population of women" and encourages creativity in presentation, such as different forms of artistic expression, in order to promote a dialogue.
The conference will be held at Spellmen College in Atlanta, Georgia, a college founded for black women in 1881 by two women who "believed in the freeing power of the mind -- a power not limited by sex, race, or class."
To participate, contact:
National Women's Studies Association, 87
P.O. Box 21223
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia 30332
(404) 727-7845
