Free and open to the public, the lecture will take place in Swan Hall on the URI Kingston campus. The event is the annual Eleanor Carlson Endowed Lecture and sponsored by the URI Honors Program, the Women’s Studies Program, and the Women’s Council for Development.
Heymann holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Social Policy at McGill University and directs the Project on Global Working Families at Harvard University. She has served in an advisory capacity for the U.S. Senate and the World Health Organization, and she has written for UNESCO and the International Labor Organization, among other global bodies.
“It’s dramatic to see how the United States measures up globally,” said Heymann. “It stands virtually alone when it comes to lacking paid parental leave, lacking paid sick leave, lacking guarantees of any time off during the week, among other basic protections. The policy vacuum affects the lives of millions of Americans – and disadvantages women and low-income workers the most.”
Heymann has authored more than 100 publications, including Forgotten Families: Ending the Growing Crisis Confronting Children and Working Parents in the Global Economy (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies: From Analysis to Action (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2001).
Following the lecture, the Women’s Council for Development will host a dessert reception in the Alumni Center at 8:30 p.m. The reception is free to those attending the lecture. Contact Sarah Howard at 401-874-2438 or showard@advance.uri.edu for more information.
In 1988, Eleanor M. Carlson pledged $1 million to the URI Women’s Studies Program. The donation established four endowments in her and her late husband Oscar’s name, one of which is the endowed lecture series.
For additional information about the lecture, contact Jody Lisberger in the Women’s Studies Program at 401-874-5150 or jodylis@verizon.net.