International Symposium to Explore Global Impact of #MeToo

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 7, 2019) — Next month, the University of Kentucky will bring people from around the world to campus to explore the global impact of the #MeToo movement.

The two-day, international symposium, "Comparative Perspectives on #MeToo," will be held April 8-9, in Room 330AB of the Gatton Student Center. The event will bring together scholars, students and activists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America to discuss the impact, scope, connections and challenges associated with #MeToo and similar movements. 

"The issues behind #MeToo and similar movements have affected women and others in higher education and other settings for a long time, yet we rarely have the opportunity to discuss these issues across nations, languages and other differences," said Cristina Alcade, associate dean of inclusion and internationalization in the UK College of Arts and Sciences and co-organizer of the symposium.

The event will provide a space for dialogue and learning, offering opportunities to learn about the histories, challenges and goals of movements and efforts around the world that address gender inequalities and how these intersect with one another. The symposium will also provide opportunities to plan future collaborative efforts between scholars and institutions.

"One aspect of the symposium that is unique is that we will not have keynote speakers," Alcade said. "Instead, scholars from around the globe will contribute to the discussions through panels, in which there will be plenty of time for those attending to also interact with panelists and one another."

Some of the panel topics will include: "Power and privilege in the workplace," "Men and women as victims, offenders and allies," and "Government, higher education, and NGO responses to different forms of harassment." 

The symposium is sponsored by the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the UK Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women, the UK Center for Research on Violence Against Women and the UK Office for Institutional Diversity.

Registration is free, and the deadline to register is March 15. For more information, visit www.as.uky.edu/international-symposium.