CBA Record April-May 2018

CBA HOSTS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH LUNCHEON ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY WITH TINA TCHEN Celebrating Progress

By Daniel A. Cotter Editorial Board Member O n March 8, International Women Day, The Chicago Bar Association hosted aWomen’s History Month Luncheon, “Celebrating the Progress of Women Lawyers,” featuring Tina M. Tchen, a Partner at Buckley Sandler. After a warm introduction by CBA Secretary Lynn Grayson, Tchen gave her remarks. She began by recognizing some of her mentors under whom she “learned to be a lawyer,” including Joan Hall, Dawn Clark Netsch and Judge Ann Claire Williams (ret.). Tchen recognized the efforts of the women pioneer lawyers in Illinois, including Myra Bradwell and her efforts to be admitted to the Illinois Bar, citing the quote from the Supreme Court opinion, Bradwell v. State of Illinois: The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. Thanks to Bradwell and others, a law passed in Illinois allowing women the ability to choose their careers, and in 1890, Bradwell was admitted to the bar. Tchen served as an Assistant to President Obama, Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama. In those roles, Tchen championed women’s and girls’ rights, and mentioned that from 2011 on, President Barack Obama included in every multilateral meeting women’s economic empowerment as a core part of the economic agenda. Citing the statistics that 1 in 3 women worldwide have been abused, that 12 mil- lion girls annually marry before the age of 17, and the increased usage of gender-based violence in terrorism, Tchen discussed the creation of the White House Council on Women and Girls on March 9, 2009.

Finally, Tchen spoke about the Time’s Up movement’s Legal Defense Fund, which provides legal support to women and men who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace but who could not otherwise afford legal assistance. Since January 1, the fund has raised $21 million, and 1,700 claimants have sought help. The legal defense fund is housed in the National Women’s Law Center, which can be found at www.nwlc.org. The legal defense fund was spearheaded by actors and others in the entertainment industry, top PR profes- sionals, and by Tchen and fellow attorney, Roberta Kaplan. Tchen closed by answering several questions, concluding an inspiring key- note and call to action on International Women Day.

She noted the golden key is education to addressing many issues, because the fast- est way to destabilize a country is through prevention of girls going to school. Cur- rently, more than 98 million girls around the world are not in school. She noted one African proverb, which states that “educat- ing girls is like watching your neighbor’s garden- it does not do any good.” In 2013, Malala, the young lady who is an activist for Pakistani female education, visited the White House during the shut- down. Shortly after, the Let Girls Learn initiative was launched to address the edu- cation of adolescent girls around the world. Tchen mentioned several other efforts including the United States of Women and its Civic Nation Voice. At last July’s summit, more than 1,000 women attended.

20 APRIL/MAY 2018