MRS. CLINTON TO CHAIR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
WASHINGTON, March 23, 1998 -- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will serve as the honorary chair of the Second International Conference on Women in Agriculture, being held in Washington June 28-July 2. A follow-up to the Beijing women's conference, the event is expected to draw 1,200 delegates from more than 50 countries.
"On my travels around the world representing the United States, I have been so pleased to see the pivotal role women are playing not only in the traditional family experience, but also in the stability of their countries' economies," Mrs. Clinton said. "This is particularly true in the area of agriculture, where women's expertise in farming, research and policy is affecting the very feeding of the world."
Among the topics to be covered at the conference: access to capital, distance learning and telemedicine, cooperative value-added processing, caring for children and the elderly in rural communities, and migrant labor issues.
The conference is being sponsored by the President's Interagency Council on Women. Jill Long Thompson, Undersecretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the conference chair.
"Rural women make up more than one-quarter of the world's population," Mrs. Long Thompson said. "Because of the vital role they play in agriculture and in their communities, their success is important to us all."
More information about the conference is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/icwa/, or by calling Jim Brownlee at 202/720-2091.
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You may also contact USDA at ICWA or write Jill Long Thompson, 1400 Independence
Avenue, S.W., Room 211-W, Washington, D.C. 20250-0107, for conference information.