(In)visible Women: Females in the Homeless Crisis

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The UNIS Human Rights club hosted its 21st annual Conference at UNIS and UNHQ (UN Headquarters) on January 10 and 11, 2019. The topic was Defending Women’s Rights: Gender Justice. On Thursday January 10th, the conference opened with a welcome message from our Executive Director, Dr. Dan Brenner. Then students attended workshops which were centered around different aspects of issues as they pertain to women.

Kristen Meola of the (In)visible Women group lead workshops for visiting high schools about women in the cycle of homelessness in urban areas. She taught alongside Annabel Palma, former NYC Council member of 13 years and current Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives at the Department of Social Services. Together, they educated the audience about discrimination against homeless women in our city and why it is more challenging to be homeless as a woman. There is the burden of child care, lack of affordable housing and proper health care, domestic abuse and the mental illness that stems from this, social stigma, and job discrimination. The workshop also focused on solutions, such as better-funded transitional all-female shelters. Ms. Palma shared her own poignant story of homelessness as a single mother, and students and faculty were  touched. Both seminars ran over their time constraints due to the inundation of curiosity from guest students. Ms. Palma does incredible work and (In)visible Women NYC would like to extend our gratitude to her for taking time help to spread our group's message.