Keynote Speaker — Bella S. Abzug
Bella is one of the twentieth century's best known and most-respected public figures. Her six years in congress (1971-77) were only one highlight in a lifetime of public service, dynamic leadership, and pioneering activism for the legal, social, political and economic rights of women and minorities.
Bella Abzug played a major role in the United Nations “Decade of Women” observances while still in the House of Representatives, and served as Congressional adviser to the U.S. delegation at the 1975 U.N. women's conference in Mexico City. Her involvement in these issues deepened in 1980, when she was a leading NGO (“non-governmental organization) observer and speaker at the U.N. women's conference in Copenhagen. Global women's issues truly took center stage for her in 1985, when, as a key NGO leader in the U.N. women's conference in Nairobi, she organized a panel—“What If Women Ruled the World?”—at which more than a thousand diverse women from around the globe aired their concerns about women's status worldwide.
Galvanized by her involvement in global women's and environmental issues, Bella joined with U.N. women activist and longtime associate Mim Kelber to found the Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), an international network with consultative status at the United Nations. Under Bella's leadership, WEDO has launched a national campaign in the U.S. in partnership with Greenpeace and grassroots women's cancer groups.
While Bella volunteers most of her time to efforts on behalf of international women's issues, she also maintains a law practice and involves herself in a wide range of public service activities. For two years she has chaired the New York Commission on the Status of Women, where her achievements included a ground-breaking hearing, co-sponsored by WEDO, on links to breast cancer and the environment.
Today, Bella continues to win acclaim as a writer, public speaker, and leading figure in the global women's movement. She is one of the most admired women in American history.
