Vision 2020 will take its message of advancing gender equality to Edinburgh, Scotland next month when founder and co-chair Lynn Yeakel moderates a panel discussion on "The Impact of Women's Leadership in Global Conflict" at Scottish Parliament.
The prestigious panel discussion on June 14 will be the culmination of a three-day conference, "Women and Warfare: From Troy to the Trenches," at The University of Edinburgh, June 12-14, 2013, that will examine the diversity of roles women have played in warfare from antiquity to current conflicts.
Vision 2020, a project of Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, was invited to participate in the conference by Yvonne McEwen, an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for the Study of Modern Conflict and a Vision 2020 International Delegate.
The panelists for the discussion at Scottish Parliament include a Vision 2020 Delegate from Texas, Col. Kimberly Olson (USAF, Ret.), President and CEO of Grace After Fire, an organization that serves women Veterans in that state.
Other panelists include Megan Bastick, a lawyer and the Gender & Security Fellow with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, an intergovernmental organization of which the United Kingdom and the United States are members; Tom Clonan, PhD, Irish Times security analyst, a retired Irish Army Captain and internationally recognized expert and scholar on terrorism and combat, including women in combat; and Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Professor of Nursing and Sociology, and Director of the School's WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership.
"Vision 2020 is honored to participate in this conference that will acknowledge the substantial contributions that women have made throughout history as leaders, caregivers, participants and journalists during times of conflict," said Yeakel, Director of the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership in Drexel University College of Medicine.
"The panel discussion at Parliament will look to the future and discuss how women's growing political and organizational leadership may impact potential conflicts around the world.
"In addition, we look forward to sharing our experiences in working to advance American women's economic and social equality. The international conference is an ideal opportunity to promote greater understanding of the global barriers placed before women today."
Drexel's Institute for Women's Health and Leadership includes the Legacy Center, the repository for the records and heritage of Drexel University College of Medicine. One of the College's predecessor institutions was the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical college for women in the world. Collection materials from the Legacy Center are included in the Royal College of Surgeons' exhibition Women in Warfare, which will open in conjunction with the conference in Edinburgh.