Mérida, Yucatán — Actress Susan Sarandon, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2010 and who is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations, will join an impressive international slate of women’s advocates here.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the First Feminist Congress of Mexico, the Foreign Ministry and the National Institute for Women (INMUJERES), in coordination with UN Women and the Yucatan government, announce the First International Meeting on Women in the Knowledge and Innovation Economy.
The conference will help construct a new gender agenda focused on the economic empowerment of women and will strengthen Mexico’s leadership in this area.
The meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 25 and Tuesday, Jan. 26 at the Peón Contreras Theater, where government agencies, civic agencies and the private sector will discuss gender equality in the knowledge and innovation economy.
On Monday, former U.S. vice president Al Gore, and Nobel-prize winner Malala Yousafzai, the 18-year-old Pakistani activist concerned with girls’ education, will participate by videoconference.
Participants will include national and international civil society organizations, academics, opinion leaders on gender and members of the federal cabinet.
From the U.S. comes a member of the President Obama’s cabinet: Maria Contreras-Sweet, administrator of the Small Business Administration. Speaking on the topic of empowering women, Tupperware President Rick Goings is a late addition to the agenda. British actress Emma Watson was a late cancellation, citing scheduling conflicts.
Tickets to the conference are not available to the general public, but a live broadcast is viewable online. Also, follow #MECImx on its official Facebook fan page.
