On Sunday May 20th Oakwood will host an Intergenerational Conference on Gender Equality from 9 am to noon.  This event, which has been coordinated by the school’s Human Rights Interns, is cosponsored by: The FDR Library, Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Valkill, Dutchess County Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Association of the Mid-Hudson Valley, as well as Oakwood’s Gay Straight Alliance and Poughkeepsie Day School’s Gender Studies Club.   

The conference is an outgrowth of the school’s World Human Rights Day event last December.  At the event, student Human Rights interns Abbie Tulloch ’19 and Daphne Ballesteros ’20 helped moderate a panel with law Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall from John Jay College.  Their workshop came up with a suggestion to have an intergenerational meeting on gender issues and the Oakwood students decided to organize and host the event. 

The day will include activities and break out workshop sessions, all of which have been designed and will be led by students.  Topics to be discussed include: Title IX, Cultural Expression of Gender, STEAM/ STEM, and Media Representations of Gender.

Oakwood’s Human Rights interns work with the United Nations Association (UNA) of the Mid-Hudson Valley.  Interns are chosen by the UNA board of directors through a yearly application process which aims to involve youth locally in discussions of international politics and affairs.