UMass alumna Madeleine M. Kunin (’56) will speak about her latest book, The New Feminist Agenda: Defining the Next Revolution for Women, Work and Family, on Sept. 18 at 5 p.m. in Gordon Hall 302-304.
Kunin served as governor of Vermont from 1985 to 1991, and during the Clinton administration was deputy secretary of education, then ambassador to Switzerland and Lichtenstein. She is now a Marsh professor of political science at the University of Vermont and is a commentator on Vermont Public Radio.
In The New Feminist Agenda, Kunin highlights the advancements that feminists made in the 1960s and 1970s and shows how those have allowed for improved rights and freedom for women in the United States today: Women now comprise nearly 60 percent of college undergraduates and half of all medical and law students. Most women today work outside the home, and families with two wage earners are the norm. While women have changed, though, social structures surrounding work and family have remained static. Affordable, high-quality childcare, paid family leave, and equal pay for equal work are still out of reach for most women.
Kunin — the first woman governor of Vermont and the only female in U.S. history to be elected governor three times — believes it’s time to usher in a new social revolution that will make it possible for all women to move forward. By examining five decades of women’s history in the United States and the current state of women’s rights in other countries, Kunin looks ahead at what will be possible when women and men together demand government and workplace reforms that will improve the lives of women and their families.
A reception and book signing will follow Kunin’s talk.
This event is hosted by the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) and co-sponsored by the Center for Research on Families; the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center; Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at UMass Amherst; and MotherWoman.
CPPA is the hub of interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching and engagement at UMass Amherst. Its faculty and alumni are effective policy leaders, from the local to the global levels, in addressing topics such as family and care policy, environmental issues, emerging technologies, social inequalities and governance. The CPPA program is the 2011 recipient of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s Social Equity Award, created to honor a public administration, affairs or policy program with a comprehensive approach to integrating social equity into its academic and practical work.