Traveling lecture series named for Anita Hill starts on Jan. 30

Brandeis will host first 'Anita Hill Annual Lecture on Gender Justice' Juhu Thukral

Juhu Thukral

Photo/Mike Lovett

Anita Hill

The feminist activist group Soapbox Inc. that sponsored last year’s “Anita Hill 20 Years Later” conference will now sponsor a traveling series, the “Anita Hill Annual Lecture on Gender Justice,” inspired by that conference.

Soapbox Inc. works primarily with women's studies programs at universities across the United States and with community foundations, activist groups and corporations.

The Office of the Provost, in conjunction with the Office of the President, Women’s and Gender Studies, African and Afro-American Studies and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, will on Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. host the first lecture at Brandeis, where Hill serves as senior advisor to the provost and professor of social policy, law and women’s studies. She has received awards for dedicating her life, in the wake of Justice Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, to encouraging those who have suffered harassment and discrimination to speak out. In 2011, she was honored with the “Sex, Power and Speaking Truth: Anita Hill 20 Years Later” conference, held at Hunter College.

It will be held at a different college or university each year.

Juhu Thukral was chosen as the inaugural speaker from a strong and diverse pool of applicants. She’ll present “Gender. Sex. Money. New Frontiers in the Fight for Sexual Rights,” in Rapaporte Treasure Hall. A reception will follow.


Thukral, the director of law and advocacy at The Opportunity Agenda, has worked to protect the human rights of women for over 20 years. She was the founder and director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City, where she continues to act as senior adviser and a founding steering committee member of the NY Anti-Trafficking Network. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of low-income and immigrant women in the areas of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, economic security and criminal justice. Thukral has repeatedly shown courage and leadership in defending the human rights of women engaged as sex workers. 


The goal of the series is to expand the public discourse and debate on issues of gender justice and make it a more comprehensive, national conversation.

Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences

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