In honour of Rhonda Copelon
On 6 May 2010, Rhonda Copelon, American feminist lawyer, advocate, scholar and friend died of ovarian cancer. Rhonda was on the International Advisory Council of the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, was one of the founders of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice and worked for many years with the Center for Constitutional Rights in NYC. In 1983 Rhonda was also a founding faculty member of the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School and for 18 years was Professor and founding Director of the International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic at CUNY. Rhonda was a pioneering legal advocate and visionary, a force of nature and a dedicated activist. Her death is a huge personal loss for all of us and for the field of gender justice.
On Friday, Brigid Inder, Executive Director wrote the following: “ What to say about Rhonda- she was incredible! Kelly Askin and I shared a wonderful lunch with her in March at her apartment. She cooked, we drank wine, we talked for well over 2 hours about the future of gender justice, the gaps and unfulfilled areas of jurisprudence, the barriers, the opportunities. It was a special meal and I think we all knew it at the time. Rhonda was strong, clear, articulate, as passionate as always, energetic and insightful.
Rhonda was a brilliant woman, thoughtful, loyal beyond words and always generous.”
We will post more reflections on Rhonda after her funeral which will be held in New York on 21st May.
In the meantime, we honour Rhonda by sharing these links about her life and work.