March 1, 2002

Loyola celebrates March as Women's History Month with special events

Loyola alumna addresses gender, equality, and women issues

Kim Gandy, L'78, a distinguished law graduate and former New Orleans senior assistant district attorney, will speak at the School of Law on Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Frederick J. Gisevius, Jr., Moot Court Room 308.

Gandy will speak on issues of concern to women. The lecture celebrates March as Women's History Month and is presented by Loyola's School of Law, the Women's Resource Center, the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, and the Association of Women Law Students.

Loyola will present Gandy with a plaque to recognize her efforts to eliminate gender bias on local, state, and national levels.

Gandy, who serves as president of the National Organization for Women, began her involvement with the organization in 1973. Due to this involvement, she was inspired to attend law school and actively promote gender equality. In her private practice, she litigated child support, domestic violence, and discrimination cases. She was appointed to the Louisiana Child Support Task Force, served on the New Orleans City Planning Commission, and was a senior assistant district attorney in New Orleans. She has founded and directed several support programs for women, including the Metropolitan Battered Women's Program, the Louisiana Women's Lobby Network, and the WomenElect 2000 Project, which tripled the number of women in the Louisiana's legislature and pushed the women's vote to elect the first woman lieutenant governor. Gandy also drafted Louisiana's first Domestic Abuse Assistance Act and the Louisiana Child Support Enforcement Act, and she served on the drafting committees for national legislationthe Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

The Guerilla Girls focus on art, films, theater, and politics

Formed in 1985, The Guerilla Girls is a group of anonymous women activists who fight for gender and racial equality by appearing publicly, wearing fake fur gorilla masks. The group will perform on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in Roussel Hall.

Members are artists, curators, art historians and other women who have seen and experienced discrimination. They know firsthand the near total exclusion of the work of female artists and artists of color in museums and galleries. Although the group's focus began with the art world, it has expanded to include the worlds of film, theater, and politics.

The name of the group allows them multiple levels of meaning of who and what they are about. They wear gorilla masks to hide their identities yet the spelling of the name 'guerilla' represents their activist role. Being masked also allows them to join a long tradition of masked avengers like Robin Hood and Wonder Woman.

They have examined different aspects of sexism and racism in the culture at large, not just the art world. They use tactics such as posters, billboards, bus ads, magazine spreads, letter-writing campaigns, and holding rallies to lead to discussion of sexism and racism. Topics have included the Gulf War, the homeless, rape, Clarence Thomas, and anorexic models in women's fashion magazines. Because of their success in New York City where the group began, groups in other cities are following The Guerilla Girls' example.

For more information, call Susanne Dietzel, director of Women's Resource Center, at 865-7880.