This was a Sydney Ideas event co-presented with the Writing Hub, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
As momentum builds in a US Presidential election year, women's issues are emerging as a key campaign agenda in response to resurfacing debates over reproductive rights, equality, and general wellbeing. Recent legislation in conservative states points to an attack on women that goes well beyond the usual issues of abortion and birth control to call into question basic freedoms, such as access to health care, the right to equal pay for equal work, and protection from domestic violence.
Leola Reis has been at the fore of these debates in her role as Vice President of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood Southeast and has witnessed firsthand the power of language to effect legislative decisions. She joined George Pullman, Professor of Rhetoric at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA; and University of Sydney academics interested in gender, rhetoric and politics: Dr Rebecca Sheehan, Dr Susan Thomas, and Dr Benjamin Miller for an another informative and thought-provoking Sydney Ideas forum.