Tennessee isn’t dead last when it comes to equality for women in the U.S. but it’s close. The Women’s Fund of Chattanooga is leading the effort to move the state from 49 to one by focusing on the areas that will improve the status women in Tennessee.
On Thursday, Sept. 28, Emily O’Donnell, executive director of the Women’s Fund, will present a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminar titled “Taking Tennessee Women From 49 to 1.”
The event will take place from 8:30-10:30 a.m. on the fifth floor of the Edney Building (Market and 11th Streets). Registration begins at 8:15. Attendees will earn two hours of general CLE credit.
The cost for the seminar is $45 for members of the Chattanooga Bar Association (CBA), $65 for non-members and $25 for support staff.
O’Donnell will discuss the ways in which the Women’s Fund is leveraging its relationships with partners in Chattanooga and across the state to address the root causes of inequality.
These efforts include fighting for equal pay, asking lawmakers to pass the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act, promoting the safety of women by addressing domestic violence and human trafficking and advocating for access to health care, family planning and education.
The Women’s Fund has worked for three years to strengthen laws against human trafficking. During that time, Tennessee moved from unranked to number one in the country in anti-trafficking laws.
The Women’s Fund has also helped to improve Tennessee’s ranking in the following by:
-- Passing bills to improve rape-kit collection and testing across the state
-- Helping pass a mandate that requires schools to teach domestic violence awareness in middle and high schools
-- Supporting a bill that required 12 hours of jailing for anyone arrested for domestic violence to allow victims to reach safety
-- Working to defeat a law that jails mothers for drug addiction while pregnant
-- Writing and passing a bill to protect victims of domestic violence from being evicted for the abuse they suffer
Information: (423) 756-3222, emily@chattanoogawomensfund.org.