Women have made enormous strides in the political arena. 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. This year’s Women and the Law Conference hosted by the Women and the Law Project at Thomas Jefferson School of Law brings together an inspirational panel of female politicians and political scientists to examine the role gender plays in U.S. politics.
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.
Speakers at the 2008 conference who have held political office include Dede Alpert (former state senator); Midge Costanza (assistant to President Carter); Bonnie Dumanis (San Diego District Attorney); Donna Frye (San Diego City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate); Karen Hewitt (U.S. Attorney); Christine Kehoe (state senator); Carol Lam (Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel, QUALCOMM Inc.); Sharon Majors-Lewis (Judicial Appointments Secretary to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger); 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 (National Public Radio/KPBS); Susan Taylor, NBC, San Diego,
Norma Damashek, The League of Women Voters and Lorena Gonzalez, AFL-CIO.
To register and obtain more information, please visit www.tjsl.edu/womenandlaw or contact Randy Ward (rward@tjsl.edu); (619) 297-9700 ext. 1415.
AGENDA
EIGHTH ANNUAL WOMEN AND THE LAW CONFERENCE
AND 2008 RUTH BADER GINSBURG LECTURE
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
San Diego, California
February 29, 2008
8:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 Opening remarks
Rudy Hasl, Dean, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Julie Greenberg, Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
9:00-10:30 Panel 1: Women as Leaders
Lorena Gonzalez, AFL-CIO, Moderator
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?”
Sharon Majors-Lewis, Judicial Appointments Secretary to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Achieving Racial and Gender Diversity on the Bench: Why it Matters”
Ronnee Schreiber, Assistant Professor, San Diego State University, “Exploring Ideological Differences: Conservative Women Political Leaders”
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:15 Panel 2: Getting Elected and Staying in Office: Special Challenges Faced by Women (Part I)
Susan Taylor, NBC, San Diego, Moderator
Barbara Burrell, Professor, Northern Illinois University,
“Female Congressional Candidates in Open Seat Primaries and General Elections”
Donna Frye, San Diego City Councilwoman,
“Special Challenges Facing Female Politicians”
Midge Costanza, Former Assistant to President Jimmy Carter, and
Lynn Schenk, Former Congresswoman,
“Is the United States Ready for a Woman President? Obstacles Women Candidates Face in a Presidential Race”
12:15-12:30 Break
12:30-1:30 Lunch and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture
Sandra Rierson, Assistant Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Introduction
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture:
Barbara Palmer, Assistant Professor, American University,
“Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling, Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Success of Women Candidates”
1:30-2:00 Break
2:00-3:30 Panel 3: Getting Elected and Staying in Office: Special Challenges Faced by Women (Part II)
Gloria Penner, National Public Radio/KPBS, Moderator
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, and
Steven Stambough, Associate Professor, Cal State Fullerton, “Partisan Differences in the Nomination of Women to Office”
3:30-3:45 Break
3:45-5:15 Panel 4: Assessing the Impact (if any) of Gender on Decision-Making in Law and Politics
Norma Damashek, The League of Women Voters, Moderator
Dede Alpert, former California State Senator,
“Having Women in Elective Office: Does it Make a Difference?”
Karen P. Hewitt, United States Attorney, Southern District of California, “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 Justice Topics”
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 Reception
