Title:First University-Wide Women’s Forum Inspires and Empowers

Above: Panelists for “Georgetown Update: The Past, Present, and Future” included law professor Jane Aiken, Rosemary Kilkenny (L’87, Parent’06), former law dean Judith Areen, and Ambassador Melanne Verveer (SLL’66, G’69, Parent’94)

Nearly 500 attendees gathered at the InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C., on May 3 and 4 for the first university-wide Women’s Forum, sponsored by the Georgetown University Alumni Association and the Georgetown Law Center. The annual event has been held for Law Center alumnae and students since 1992.

The forum expanded to be more inclusive and to recognize a growing, nationwide movement to champion women’s issues.

Citlalli Alvarez (C’15) and Ebony Howard (L’07) on the “Hoyas for Racial Justice” panel

“This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, when a highly diverse group of women are joining forces to demand equal opportunities and equal pay and to prevent discrimination and sexual assault,” said Melanne Verveer (SLL’66, G’69), executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, announcing the event earlier this spring. Verveer formerly served as the nation’s first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues.

The 2018 Women’s Forum included distinguished speakers, panels, workshops, and networking opportunities. Its programming showcased women leaders from across the professional spectrum, among them television commentator Greta Van Susteren (L’79, L’83, H’13), Jennifer Stybel (C’03) of Project Entrepreneur, former Icelandic government minister Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir (MSFS’94), and four-time Olympic medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar (L’97).

“We want this event to produce a network of women who support and amplify each other’s work,” said Julie Farr Connolly (C’88, Parent’18, ’21), one of the organizers and now executive director of the alumni association.

Georgetown partnered with Intelligence Squared U.S. (IQ2US) Debates to host a kickoff event at the Newseum the evening of May 2—a debate titled “Negotiations Can Denuclearize North Korea.” It was the first-ever all-women debate hosted by IQ2US Debates.

The following morning’s opening keynote featured Sally Yates, former acting U.S. attorney general and distinguished lecturer from government at the Law Center, in conversation with Miriam Vogel (L’01), her former associate deputy attorney general.

Yates recalled that in 1989, during her early days at the Justice Department, her supervisor would not assign her to the criminal division because “he thought it would be too rough-and-tumble for me there.”

Yates’s story mirrored the impetus to establish the Women’s Forum at the Law Center—to highlight women lawyers’ progress and to tackle persisting challenges. The initial forum was spearheaded by then-Dean Judith Areen, one of only a handful of female law-school deans in the country when she was appointed in 1989. Areen was a featured speaker at this year’s forum, along with law professor Jane Aiken, who chairs the university’s new Gender Equity Task Force.