Karen Kedrowski, professor and director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center, gave a lecture Thursday in the Memorial Union regarding how feminism and female rights are addressed in the United States Constitution.
The lecture, sponsored by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, the Political Science department and the Committee on Lectures, was titled “It’s Not Done: Women’s Constitutional Equality” and went through American history from first-wave feminism all the way to the present day.
Paola Martinez, a junior majoring in political science and an intern for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics said in her opening statement that she once took a class taught by Kedrowski.
“Personally, I’ve had the honor to have professor Kedrowski, and it was completely by chance,” Martinez said. “She opened a whole new world of ideas for me… Overall she did inspire me.”
Kedrowski gave an overview of how the U.S. Constitution has affected women throughout history.
“This is only relevant to male citizens,” Kedrowski said, regarding the Constitution.
The majority of the lecture revolved around the Equal Rights Amendment which was originally passed by Congress in 1972. Kedroski referred to this amendment as “the zombie amendment” as it has been around for 50 years and is still in constant debate within the United States government. Americans have most recently seen this amendment in March 2023, when the cloture vote failed regarding the issue.
“I think really the most important question to take away is the understanding that the Constitution does not provide equal rights for women,” Kedrowski said. “It does not have a prohibition against sex discrimination.”
There will be a discussion from noon to 12:45 p.m. Friday at Catt Hall regarding the lecture where students can talk over lunch.
For more information regarding the Iowa State Lecture Series, go to their website.
G. Rodriguez | Sep 22, 2023 at 10:06 am
I would have expected the Catt Center to have evolved beyond its original exclusionary white feminist roots. The ongoing focus on a binary understanding of sex as male and female feels antiquated and overlooks the crucial and timely discussions surrounding gender politics happening in our state. This alone is compelling evidence for reevaluating the center’s name and its commitment to moving beyond the confines of exclusionary white feminism.
While I understand that much of the upper administration aligns with the Republican Party, I would have hoped that at the very least Professor Karen Kedrowski would address the alarming erosion of civil rights for transgender and gender non-conforming citizens in Iowa. It’s disheartening not to see a sense of urgency regarding the actions of the 90th General Assembly (64 of the seats are held by Republicans and 36 by Democrats) and their impact on our state’s LGBTQ+ community. I know that Dr Marcu, the former director of the Women and Gender Equity Center (Sloss House) would not have missed an opportunity to point out this critically important topic to our campus community. Sadly, the good ones always leave ISU.
Changing the center’s name would be a meaningful step towards reshaping its legacy and aligning it with a more inclusive and progressive vision that is absolutely critical for today.