EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATES: May 14-16, 2014

EVENT: National experts will join University of Michigan researchers at a three-day conference focusing on potential practice and policy changes that would enable impoverished women to seek economic security and mobility and reduce the barriers to good jobs.

Women comprise the majority of U.S. citizens living in poverty, and multiple barriers restrict their ability to escape poverty. This conference will develop policy recommendations regarding these barriers, as well as possible supports.

The featured keynote speaker is Sheryl WuDunn, co-author with Nicholas Kristoff of “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.” Her talk, which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. May 14 at Rackham Auditorium.

During the following two days, researchers Barbara Gault of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Ruth Milkman of City University of New York and U-M’s Sandra Danziger and other academics will engage in dialogue with practitioners and labor leaders, including Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Cindy Estrada of the UAW, Kim Bobo of Interfaith Workers Justice and Pamela Moore of Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation. A panel of Michigan state legislators and executive branch representatives will discuss policy implementation.

LOCATION: Rackham Graduate School, 915 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor. Central Campus map: http://campusinfo.umich.edu/article/central-campus-map

SPONSORS: U-M’s Center for the Education of Women and Re:Gender, a national coalition of institutional centers conducting research on women

INFORMATION: www.cew.umich.edu