The role of the League of Women Voters in consolidating women`s political power will be among the topics addressed at a weekend conference organized by Loyola University.
Featured speakers will include Susan Lederman, president of the League of Women Voters; Miriam Lazo, an administrator with the Nicaraguan Institute of Social Security and Welfare; and Shinae Chun, director of the Illinois Department of Labor.
”We hope the conference offers women a chance to talk about where women fit in today, socially, politically and spiritually, from a feminist standpoint,” said Carolyn Farrell, Loyola`s associate vice president for Mundelein.
The conference was planned as part of the affiliation agreement between Loyola and the formerly independent all-women`s Mundelein College last year.
Lederman, a professor of public administration at Kean College of New Jersey, has presided over the 100,000-member League of Women Voters since 1990.
The League may be best-known for its sponsorship of debates among presidential and other candidates, but it was organized in 1920 to provide newly enfranchised women a networking organization that offered a way to get involved in local and national politics. Throughout its history, the organization has remained steadfastly non-partisan, even to the degree of not openly encouraging women in politics, Lederman said.
League leadership is reconsidering its stance in light of a recent study that found that the most common experience among female elected officeholders was membership in the League, Lederman said.
”Women have learned to become active political participants by getting involved with the League,” Lederman said. ”And we have been more interested in encouraging our members to participate.”
Lederman said she also plans to speak about her organization`s international work.
Lederman said the League`s main goal is still to bring more American women into public life.
”I hope a lot of young women will attend the session,” she said. ”Many women are now seeking to make their mark in the private sector, and I will encourage them to get involved in public sector, which needs their talents.” The weekend conference will open at 7:30 p.m.Friday with a one-woman performance by dramatist Billie Jean Young.
The three-day conference will take place at Loyola University, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd., in the Skyscraper Building. Tickets are $25; $15 for students. For registration information: 312-508-8430.
