Co-Founder of Jamaican Self Help delivers Margaret Laurence Lecture: “Women and God-Talk”
Students, community members, faculty and staff came out the evening of Thursday, November 10 to hear Rosemary Ganley, co-founder of Jamaican Self Help deliver the 23rd annual Margaret Laurence Lecture at Trent University, entitled “Women and God-Talk: Feminist Theologies Challenge Patriarchy” at the Champlain College Lecture Hall CCS 307.
"I hope students become hopeful from the work being done within the great religions, that is not known and needs to be known,” said Ms. Ganley. “I hope they realize that they can remain in their religious tradition and be active feminists.”
Ms. Ganley was impressed with the diverse group in attendance – the “unity across the ages” - and commented on the talent and accomplishments of the faculty in the Gender & Women’s Studies Department.
Co-founder of the international development agency Jamaican Self Help and the past assistant editor of the award-winning independent newspaper, Catholic New Times, Ms. Ganley is interested in the intersection of religion and politics. She has taught feminist theologies in Jamaica and Peterborough at both the academic and popular levels. She was a leader of workshops on faith, fundamentalism and feminism at the NGO Forum of the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
Ms. Ganley won the Canada 150 Medal in 1992 for outstanding community service and was awarded the YWCA Woman of the Year award in 1985 from Margaret Laurence herself. A retired high-school teacher of English literature, Ms. Ganley served on the national board of Amnesty International Canada, and is currently active with the Women’s Events Committee of Peterborough, a coalition of 20 women-focused organizations. Along with co-founder of Jamaican Self Help, Mr. John Ganley, Ms. Ganley was recently inducted into the Peterborough Pathway of Fame for 35 years of leadership in the organization.
The Margaret Laurence Lecture is an annual public lecture, funded by the Margaret Laurence Lecture fund and the Canadian Studies Directorate, Heritage Canada. It is intended to bring distinguished speakers to Trent to address topics related to Margaret Laurence's own intellectual and political passions, specifically women's involvement in peace, ecology, literature, and/or feminism.