Baroness to Speak on Women in Politics

by Julia Musker, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

Baylor University's department of history and department of political science will host Baroness Knight of Collingtree, Jill Knight, as part of Women's History Month. The lecture, "Women in Politics: A Woman in the House of Commons Who Escaped to the House of Lords," will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, at the Mayborn Museum SBC Theater.

Knight served as a member of the House of Commons from 1977-97, Member of the Council of Europe and the Western European Union from 1977-88 and was reappointed to both in 2000 as Peer of the Realm.

Her honors include Dame Commander of the British Empire, M.B.E. for political and public service and Life Peer, and she is currently a member of the House of Lords.

"When Jill speaks at Baylor on women in politics, she knows whereof she speaks," said Dr. Patricia Wallace, professor of history at Baylor. "Most of her life, from 1966 to the present, has been spent in Parliament. I know of no woman in American history who can boast of a longer tenure in politics. Even Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate, was in office only 32 years."

For more information about the lecture, contact Wallace at (254) 710-6296.