Stand for Women Conference
Friday & Saturday
April 5-6,2013
Pullman Plaza Hotel
Huntington, WV

Hosted by the Marshall University Women’s Studies Program

I search your profile for a translation. I study the conversation like a map ’cause I know there is strength in the differences between us and I know there is comfort where we overlap.

The words of folksinger Ani DiFranco capture the theme of the 2013 Stand for Women Conference, “Weaving Communities, Crossing Boundaries.” Following the theme of this conference, we seek to draw connections between the issues of women’s lives be it race, class, disability, age, sexual orientation, transgender identity, citizenship status, body size, and much more.

Questions that could be fruitfully explored include, but are not limited to:

• What do intersections have to do with feminism? Or with our lives as women and girls?
• Have you ever found yourself frustrated with the way generalizations about women and girls don’t really describe your own experiences?
• Maybe you’ve asked yourself, how do the parts of my identity relate to each other?
• Have you experienced being asked to focus on one aspect of who you are, and to ignore other aspects? Maybe you’ve seen that some versions of feminism pit your identity as a woman or girl against your other identities, or against other women?
• How do our identities get in the way of crossing boundaries? How do I participate in widening the gap? How does the way we choose to be (as individuals) actually undermine changes we want to see in the lives of women?
• What parts of my identity are relevant to feminism as a movement to end the oppression of women and girls? Why are some parts seen as relevant while others are dismissed or discounted in feminist organizing? What am I dismissing? Why am I dismissive? What components of my identity are roadblocks to communication, relationships, or movements?

If you haven’t asked yourself such questions, why not? If not now, when? Intersectionality affirms that the strength of women is in the many facets of our lives and our histories. Join us to explore these issues and more as we more fully weave our communities and cross boundaries.

Proposal Guidelines:

We are seeking academic and creative work from faculty, staff, students and community members.

• For individual submissions, please send an abstract of 300 words.
• For a panel, please include a cover sheet with the names of panelists (we can provide a chair/commentator), and a brief 200-word summary of the overall themes of the panel.  Under the cover sheet include 300-word abstracts from each proposed panelist.

Proposals should be sent as an attachment to: womenstu@marshall.edu.  Please put “Stand Conference Proposal” in the email subject line.
Deadline for proposals is February 15, 2013.

If you have any questions about the conference, contact
Greta Rensenbrink, Director of Women’s Studies (rensenbrink@marshall.edu).