NewsRelease

Former President of NOW Patricia Ireland to Speak Sept. 18

GREENSBORO -Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization of Women (NOW), will speak at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Sept. 18 at 3:30 p.m. in the Elliott University Center Auditorium. Sponsored by the Center for Women's Health and Wellness and the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Currently the CEO of the YWCA of the USA, Ireland is an international activist for women’s rights and acclaimed author of “What Women Want.” In the book, Ireland speaks frankly about her own journey to discovering empowerment both political and personal: from being a teenage bride and a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines, to becoming a successful corporate lawyer and the leader of the country's largest organization for women's rights.

Ireland led NOW, the largest and most influential feminist organization in the United States, from 1991-2001. Under her leadership, NOW mobilized advocates to elect a record number of women to political office, to work more closely in coalitions with other social justice and civil rights groups, and to champion international issues relating not only to women's rights, but human rights. She led NOW in organizing a record-breaking crowd of 750,000 in the Washington, D.C. "March for Women's Lives."

Active on the international level since 1975, Ireland's most visible recent work has been with African women, attempting to stop the genital mutilation of women and girls there and in Asia and the Middle East.

For more information, call 336-334-5673.

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