Program for our International Women's Day Opening

Annual International Women's Day Celebration:
Women, Water & the World

Wednesday, March 16, 7-9pm
International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut St.
Free, event will include refreshments

Join us for this exciting event celebrating the lives of women globally! This year we will examine the connection between water and women's lives across the globe.

Event will include:

Performance by the Anna Crusis Women's Choir
Art by the Women's Caucus for Art Philadelphia Chapter
Panel discussion featuring Smita Gupta, Marni Sommer, Andrew Lamas, Lity Paxton

Contact Information shown@sas.upenn.edu

Event Sponsors: Penn's Provost Office for the "Year of Water," Penn Women's Center, Center for East Asian Studies, Middle East Center, South Asia Center, African Studies Center, United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia & International House Philadelphia

Smita Gupta is simultaneously a Senior Economist at the Institute for Human Development, New Delhi since 2000 and a Gender Analyst at the Indian School of Women’s Studies and Development, New Delhi since 2006. Her main areas of research are political economy, employment, public finance, decentralization, agriculture, natural resource economics, gender studies and tribal issues. She worked on a comparative study of seven states on Empowering Local Governments and has completed a Study on Gender Issues in the People’s Plan Campaign in Kerala. She undertook two studies for the Planning Commission on Water Policy in Chhattisgarh and the Manipur State Development Report. She has a number of articles on the nature of Federalism and Fiscal Policy, the Agrarian Crisis, The Tribal Question, etc. She has worked on pro-people policy and legislations with mass organizations and Parliamentarians. She is a part of the Left movement and is currently engaged in a large survey on the resurgence of the putting out system and on microfinance.

Marni Sommer, DrPH, MSN, RN, has been working in global health and development on issues ranging from improving access to essential medicines to humanitarian relief in conflict settings. Dr. Sommer's particular areas of expertise include conducting participatory research with adolescents, understanding and promoting healthy transitions to adulthood, the intersection of public health and education, gender and sexual health, and the implementation and evaluation of multi-level interventions. Her doctoral research explored girls' experiences of menstruation, puberty and schooling in Tanzania, and the ways in which the onset of puberty might be disrupting girls' academic performance and healthy transition to adulthood. Dr. Sommer's current research focuses on the intersections of gender, health and education for girls transitioning to adulthood in sub-Saharan Africa.

Andrew Lamas's scholarship focuses on the theoretical and practical dimensions, as well as the philosophical and religious bases, of social justice and economic democracy in the context of urbanization. He was a founding member of the Center for Community Self-Help, which provides financing for for small businesses, nonprofits and homebuyers in North Carolina, especially to low-wealth minorities and women; and the Reinvestment Fund, which provides financing for affordable housing and community development in the Greater Philadelphia area. He is also currently involved in the Bread & Roses Community Fund, and several other organizations. Andrew Lamas teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, in the Urban Studies Program. He also lectures in other schools and programs at Penn, including the Wharton School and the School of Social Policy & Practice, where he teaches courses for students pursuing degrees and careers in economic development, community development finance, NGO/non-profit leadership, and related fields. He participates in the Global Gender Group sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program, and he is an Affiliated Faculty of Women's Studies and the Alice Paul Center as well as a Faculty Affiliate of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center. Annually, since 2003, he has taught a term-long course for high school students through the volunteer faculty program at Masterman High School. For more than twenty years, he has been the coordinator of a cooperative, feminist, softball league for girls and young women (grades K-12) in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Mount Airy.