The partnership for the empowerment of women between Penn and the United Nations did not end with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon’s visit to the University in April.
The School of Nursing announced last Thursday that it will open a Center for Global Women’s Health next month in connection with UN Women — a UN entity dedicated to empowering women that was created this year.
The research center will be established effective July 1.
“The School of Nursing faculty and administration have been very interested in global health ever since Dean [Afaf] Meleis arrived [to the school of nursing in 2002],” Nursing professor Lynn Sommers, who will direct the center, wrote in an email. “Our research centers are at the core of our scholarly efforts at the [School of Nursing] and we have a strong faculty in the area of women’s health.”
According to Sommers, Meleis was a driving force behind the Center’s establishment, as someone who “has advocated for global health for women and girls as an international leader.”
The Center will help bring together scholars of global women’s health to address health and empowerment worldwide, Nursing professor Marilyn Stringer said.
UN Women was established as part of the UN reform agenda in October 2010 and aims to bring together formerly separate UN entities to fight for “gender equality and the empowerment of women,” according to its website. Sommers was present for the recent inaugural reception of Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, as Under-Secretary General of UN Women.
The subject has been at the forefront of discussions at Penn. At this year’s Global Colloquium of University Presidents, both Penn President Amy Gutmann and Ban spoke on the importance of the issue of female empowerment.
There is still a “wide gulf between aspirations and reality,” Ban said when he visited Penn. He expressed his hope that universities, including Penn, would join him in support of women’s rights.
“I’m excited,” Stringer said. “Global women’s health is something that has been understudied. I am glad we are getting the opportunity to be leaders in this subject.”
Nursing Professor Barbra Wall is optimistic about what the Center’s creation will mean for the school. “The School of Nursing is known for its research, and the Center is going to be only enhancing that reputation even more. Even more importantly is the influence it will have on health policy,” she said. “[It] will be creating new nursing knowledge and that is really so exciting.”
At the Penn Nursing’s Health Cities: Health Women conference in May held in New York City, two-time Pulitzer-Prize winner in journalism Nicholas Kristof spoke of the center’s potential. “The truth is [that] it’s harder to help people than it looks,” Kristof said. “Anyone who has traveled around the world has seen projects that have not gone as planned … but those people have also seen programs that make such a big impact. And that is one reason why the research that is going to come out of [the Center for Global Women’s Health] is so important.”
Students were enthusiastic about the center’s creation as well. “The possibility of studying, researching and implementing a practice here in the U.S. that could make an impact globally on women’s health is an exciting prospect,” rising Nursing junior Elizabeth Hutnick said.
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