Former congresswoman talks at luncheon

In the second day of its fall conference, the Trustees' Council of Penn Women sponsored a luncheon Friday, featuring University alumna and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. Margolies-Mezvinsky discussed her recent efforts as department chairperson of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women over the summer in Beijing. The discussion offered the Council more information about a conference that received little coverage despite a storm of controversy over a conflict with the hosting Chinese government. Margolies-Mezvinsky focused her talk on her experiences and on the document produced by the conference addressing the 12 major categories of problems facing the world's women. She said the conference, which was broken up into a Nongovernmental Organization of more than 30,000 women and a smaller Official Conference, was very different from the sessions she had become accustomed to in Congress. "I had come from Congress where everyone was trying to take credit for what they didn't do and the State Department where everyone was trying not to be blamed for what they did do," said Margolies-Mezvinsky. "What happened when we got there was that we realized that we could get things done. We did what women do best, we got things done." The former congresswoman said she felt the most progress was made in the areas of microeconomics and small loans to women, with significant gains in the area of human rights and health care. She added that she believes the goal of women should be empowerment. "If you look at countries were women are empowered, more money is spent on child care and health care," she said. "Women must draw the line in the sand, and when it is crossed, they must say, 'Put a sock in it -- you crossed the line.' " Looking to the future, Margolies-Mezvinsky hopes people will say that changes in the role of women in the world began at Beijing. "The White House has created a committee to make sure this document sticks, and for the first time, each of the 12 categories has a commitment clause," she explained. Meanwhile, the women who attended the Nongovernmental Organization Conference have committed themselves to increasing female voter participation, and each has taken on a phrase of the document to bring to life in her own community.