The Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) will hold a major event – “Empowering Women: A Tale of Two Generations” – on Saturday, September 15, 2012, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The full-day event will celebrate the achievements of the women’s movement of the ’60s and ‘70s, evaluate where we are today and discuss how the feminists of yesterday and today move forward together to continue the struggle for women’s rights.

The event will be held at Alverno College, and VFA will honor Alverno for its history of providing innovative higher education for women at a special luncheon.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) will welcome attendees to the event.

The first panel discussion of the day is titled, “Are We There Yet?” It will feature two women who worked at Newsweek 40 years apart. Lynn Povich was one of the 46 Newsweek female employees who sued the publication for sex discrimination in 1970. Jesse Ellison is one of the current young writers at Newsweek who wrote a ground-breaking feature story on women’s equality at the publication in 2010. They will discuss what has changed and what hasn’t for women in the last 40 years from the perspective of two different generations. Povich is the author of The Good Girls Revolt, the story of the Newsweek suit, which will be published in September, 2012.

Other panel discussions will take a historical view of the women’s movement and evaluate where we are today. Speakers will also look at the impact that second wave feminists in the Midwest had on major employers, including Sears and AT&T. A panel of young feminists will look to the future.

Among the participants will be Muriel Fox, Mary Jean Collins, Sheila Tobias, Lois Herr, Heather Booth, Kathleen Falk, Anne Ladky, Mary Anne Sedey, Judy Goldsmith, Katherine Turk, Betsy Hoody and Lindsey Horvath.

A cocktail reception and dinner will reunite and recognize second wave feminists, especially those from the Midwest. If there are feminists you think should be honored (whether alive or deceased), please provide their names, contact information (if available) and a brief description of their feminist activity and email it to vfa.midwest@yahoo.com.

VFA is a non-profit organization for those who pioneered the Second Wave of the feminist movement in the 1960s and ‘70s. Its goals are to document the history of the movement; to rekindle the spark and spirit of the feminist revolution; and to ensure that the ideals of feminism continue to reverberate and influence others, including younger generations.

More details and a registration form are available on the event website, www.vfa-midwest.org.