NEWS RELEASE
February 20, 2008
Thomas Jefferson Hosts Women in Politics Conference
Features “All-Star” Lineup of Speakers
SAN DIEGO -- Thomas Jefferson School of Law's Eighth Annual Women and the Law Conference will bring together a powerhouse roster of inspirational female politicians and political scientists on Friday, February 29, 2008, to examine the role gender plays in U.S. politics.
The public is invited to attend "Women in Politics," the theme of the day-long conference presented by the law school's Women and the Law Project. The first panel will get underway at 9 a.m. at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law campus, 2120 San Diego Avenue, in Room 200 of the Courtyard Building.
Speakers at the 2008 conference who have held political office include Dede Alpert (former state senator); Midge Costanza (former assistant to President Jimmy Carter); Bonnie Dumanis (San Diego District Attorney); Donna Frye (San Diego City Councilwoman and former mayoral candidate); Karen Hewitt (U.S. Attorney); Christine Kehoe (California State Senator); Carol Lam (Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel, QUALCOMM Inc.); and Lynn Schenk (former U.S. congresswoman).
The academic speakers are political science professors who are experts on the role of gender in elections and political appointments and include: Lisa Garcia Bedolla (U.C. Irvine); Barbara Burrell (N. Ill. University); Madhavi McCall (SDSU); Melinda Mueller (E. Ill. University); Valerie O’Regan (Cal State Fullerton); Barbara Palmer (American University); Ronnee Schreiber (SDSU); and Stephen Stambough (Cal State Fullerton).
Panel Moderators include Gloria Penner, KPBS Public Radio; Susan Taylor, NBC 7/39, San Diego, Norma Damashek, president of San Diego’s League of Women Voters and Lorena Gonzalez, CEO of the AFL-CIO.
“We have an all star line-up of speakers,” according to conference co-organizer Professor Julie Greenberg. “It includes women who have held national, state and local offices and political science professors who are nationally known experts on gender and politics, along with well-known moderators.”
The conference speakers will explore a number of topics, including: special challenges facing women politicians; the intersectional effects of race, class, and gender in elections; the role of gender in campaign messages; gender voting patterns; partisan differences in the nomination of women to office; female congressional candidates; and male/female judicial and political voting patterns.
“Women have made enormous strides in the political arena,” said conference Professor Greenberg. “We have come a long way from the days when women served in Congress only when their husbands’ deaths caused a vacancy. With Senator Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president, we may soon surpass the aspiration of the 1960s: ‘A woman’s place is in the House…and the Senate.’
We are still a long way, however, from the day in which the ultimate glass ceiling will be shattered and a candidate’s gender will be considered truly irrelevant in an election,” Professor Greenberg added.
The conference is open to the public, however registration is required. The cost is $35 for the public, $25 for TJSL Alumni and Lawyer’s Club of San Diego members. Students are free and can pay $10 for an optional box lunch. MCLE credit is available.
To register and obtain more information please visit www.tjsl.edu/womenandlaw or contact Randy Ward (rward@tjsl.edu); (619) 297-9700 ext. 1415.
________________________________________
Conference Program:
9:00 - 10:30 a.m.: Women as Leaders
Moderator: Lorena Gonzalez, Secretary-Treasurer, San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council
Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Associate Professor, University of California, Irvine,
Intersections of Inequality: Race, Class and Gender in Politics
Carol C. Lam, Senior Vice-President, Legal Counsel, QUALCOMM Inc., Building Credibility: What Does It Take?
Ronnee Schreiber, Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, Exploring Ideological Differences: Conservative Women Political Leaders
10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.:
Getting Elected and Staying In Office: Special Challenges Faced By Women (Part I)
Moderator: Susan Taylor, NBC 7/39 Anchor
Barbara Burrell, Professor, Northern Illinois University, Female Congressional Candidates in Open Seat Primaries and General
Donna Frye, San Diego City Councilwoman and former mayoral candidate, Special Challenges Facing Female Politicians
Midge Costanza, Former Assistant to President Jimmy Carter, Is the United States Ready For a Woman President? Obstacles Women Candidates Face in a Presidential Race
Lynn Schenk, Former Congresswoman, Is the United States Ready For a Woman President? Obstacles Women Candidates Face in a Presidential Race
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.:
Lunch and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture
Barbara Palmer, Assistant Professor, American University,
Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Success of Women Candidates
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.:
Getting Elected and Staying in Office: Special Challenges Faced By Women (Part II)
Moderator: Gloria Penner, KPBS
Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego District Attorney, Tackling Gender Issues During a Campaign
Christine Kehoe, California State Senator, Women in Leadership Roles: Why Aren’t There More of Us?
Valerie O’Regan, Assistant Professor, Cal State Fullerton, Partisan Differences in the Nomination of Women to Office
Stephen Stambough, Associate Professor, Cal State Fullerton, Partisan Differences in the Nomination of Women to Office
3:45 - 5:15 p.m.:
Assessing the Impact (If Any) of Gender on Decision - Making in Law and Politics
Moderator Norma Damashek, President, San Diego League of Women Voters
Dede Alpert, Former California State Senator, Having Women in Elective Office: Does It Make a Difference?
Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney, Women and Leadership: The Role of Federal Prosecutors in the Legal Community
Madhavi McCall, Associate Professor, San Diego State University, Structuring Gender’s Impact: Judicial Voting Across Criminal
Melinda Mueller, Professor, Eastern Illinois University, Gender Differences in the 2006 House Elections: The Effect of Gender and Rhetoric on the War in Iraq
5:15 - 6:15 p.m.:
Reception in the Courtyard
________________________________________