Urgent Museum Notice

Historic Convening of Women Supreme Court Justices from Canada, Israel and the United States at NMWA

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.

WASHINGTON—On Sunday, March 16, 2014, Sophie L’Hélias-Delattre and François Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United States, partnered with the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) on a historic gathering featuring Justice Abella, Supreme Court of Canada; Chief Justice (ret.) Beinisch, Supreme Court of Israel;and Justice Ginsburg, Supreme Court of the United States in an invitation-only evening honoring their careers and groundbreaking accomplishments.

Presented in conjunction with Women’s History Month, the event reflects NMWA’s commitment to presenting programs that foreground women, who through their actions or by example, have contributed to advancing ideas and solutions to society’s most pressing issues, particularly those affecting women and girls.

NMWA’s Alice West Director Susan Fisher Sterling welcomed more than 160 audience members before turning the program over to Sophie L’Hélias-Delattre who introduced the distinguished panel and spoke of the significant international impact of each participant’s life and career. Judy Woodruff, co-anchor of the “PBS NewsHour,” moderated a lively and engaging conversation, which covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from public assumptions about gender, ethnic and social bias to comparisons of justice systems across the three countries. Each also spoke on challenges they faced throughout their careers as women in jurisprudence.

The conversation was followed by a reception and an elegant seated dinner for the program attendees in the museum’s Great Hall hosted by Ambassador François Delattre, Sophie L’Helias Delattre, Ellen and Bob Bennett, and the Honorable Mary V. Mochary. 

The program was taped by CSPAN and will be aired later this spring. See http://www.c-span.org/video/?318316-1/women-judiciary for dates and times.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, NMWA is the only museum solely dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing and literary arts. The museum’s collection features 4,500 works from the 16th century to the present created by more than 1,000 artists, including Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Alma Thomas, Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois, Chakaia Booker and Nan Goldin, along with special collections of 18th-century silver tableware and botanical prints. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. For information, call 202-783-5000 or visit www.nmwa.org. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for visitors 65 and over and students, and free for NMWA Members and youths 18 and under. Free Community Days are on the first Sunday of the month. For more information about NMWA, visit www.nmwa.org, Broad Strokes Blog, Facebook or Twitter.