The film director and chief executive officer of the Women and Girls Foundation, based in Pittsburgh, will speak March 6 at the 2014 Audrey-Beth Fitch Women’s Studies Conference.
This year’s conference title is“Employing a Critical Lens: Engaging with Film to Explore Media, Politics and the Military.” Events will take place in the north wing of the Cal U Convocation Center and are part of the University’s celebration of Women’s History Month.
All events are free and open to the public. Cal U students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend. No registration is required.
Heather Arnet of the Women and Girls Foundation, which works to promote equality in the region, will participate in a question-and-answer session following the Cal U premiere of the film “Madame Presidenta: Why Not U.S.? — Vamos Meninas!” which means “Let’s Go Girls.”
The film, which will be shown from 9:30-11 a.m., is based on Arnet’s trip to Brazil to explore the election of that country’s first female president, in 2010.
Other conference highlights:
- 9 a.m. Continental breakfast.
- 12:15-1:45 p.m.: Screening of “The Invisible War,” an Academy Award-nominated film about sexual assault in the U.S. military.
- 2-3:15 p.m.: Presentation by Faith J. Dickinson, founder and president of Women in Film and Media Pittsburgh.
- 3:30-5 p.m.: Screening of “Miss Representation,” which explores how the media portrays women and girls.
Women’s Studies, the Women’s Center, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the Provost’s Office and the President’s Office are sponsors of the 2014 Audrey-Beth Fitch Women’s Studies Conference.
‘Monologues’ Again at Cal U
Also as part of its Women’s History Month celebration, Cal U again will present Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues.
The 11th annual production of the award-winning play will be presented at 7 p.m. March 12-14 in the Performance Center, inside the Natali Student Center.
Based on interviews with more than 200 women, the play is a series of heartfelt, poignant and sometimes hilarious vignettes celebrating women’s bodies and female sexuality. Since its debut in 1996, it has been performed at hundreds of college campuses across the United States and in cities around the world.
Tickets will be on sale beginning March 5 in the Natali Student Center; from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. daily and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays at the Women’s Center in Carter Hall, G45; and at the door. Cost is $5 for students and $10 for non-students.
Ten percent of the proceeds will support V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that is marking its 16th anniversary this year. The rest is donated to local women’s initiatives.
So far, nearly $20,000 has been raised at Cal U through Vagina Monologues performances.