December 1975 through December 1976 was declared by the United Nations to be International Women's Year in order to recognize women on a national and international level. It was supposed to be marked by programs affiliated with the widening awareness of women’s issues. As a part of its commemoration of International Women's Year, the Research Center on Women sponsored a week-long series of events highlighting past contributions and future potential of women in a number of areas such as communication, sports, business, education, politics and the arts.
Here is the cover from Alverno's International Women's Year Celebration brochure.
Pictured is Sister Joel Read speaking at the opening invitational dinner for Alverno's observance of the International Women's Year on November 11, 1975.
Below is a long 3-page Alverno press release describing activities planned for the International Women's Year Observance during the week of November 11-14, 1975.
As a part of its International Women's Year Observance, the RCW conducted interviews of members of the Alverno Community representing foreign cultures. It was hoped that these comments would help broaden an awareness of the status of women around the world. Below are photographs of some of the women interviewed with the cultures they represented along with excerpts from their interviews. Interviewed, but not pictured below, was Laila Aaen, former Sociology faculty, representing Norway.
Hilda Houston, former nursing faculty,
representing England
Lisa Jany, former student,
representing Brazil
Jan Kennedy, former library director,
representing Australia
Estelle Lau, former history faculty,
representing China
Navenka Bralich Davis, former student,
representing the former Yugoslavia
Karmelita Momcilovic, former student,
representing the former Yugoslavia
