Kathleen O'Shea is an internationally known advocate on behalf of women on death row in the United States, but this is only one aspect of her fascinating and inspiring activist career. While she is in Hamilton, March 13-16, this social worker and author will be speaking to the Elizabeth Frye Society downtown, giving three public presentations on campus and speaking to two classes about the plight of incarcerated women.

O'Shea was invited by McMaster assistant professor of history, Karen Balcom, as a guest of the women's studies program. Balcom said it was not difficult to find many interested co-hosts including the Anti-Violence Network, and Hamilton's Elizabeth Frye Society. O'Shea will be speaking to classes from the School of the Arts, social work, political science and women's studies.

O'Shea's book, Women and the Death Penalty in the United States: 1900-1998, takes an unflinching look at the stories of hundreds of condemned women, many of them recounted – for the first time – in the prisoners' own words. But O'Shea's personal work goes far beyond this historical report on the fates of female prisoners in the U.S. Since her first encounter four years ago with a woman on death row, O'Shea has emerged as a dedicated advocate for this handful of forgotten souls. Receiving no remuneration for her work, O'Shea travels tirelessly across the country to educate the public about the inhumane treatment of death row inmates, produces a newsletter that brings prisoners and supporters into desperately needed fellowship, and personally responds from her own resources to many of the needs of women behind bars.

A former nun who taught school children in Chile under Pinochet's oppressive regime, O'Shea continues to answer the call she received as a child to be a missionary to those in need. “I just can't imagine someone coming in my path who has the problems that these women have and me not responding in some way.”

O'Shea wants to help these women feel they are not forgotten, to put human faces to their stories and advocates that we treat prisoners as human beings while they await execution. She will be speaking to Catherine Graham's Women and Activist Theatre class today (March 13) from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in MDCL 1110 (open to the public) and available for discussion after her “Domestic and incarcerated women” presentation at an Anti-Violence Network sponsored coffee hour March 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon in TSH 719.

Her key address will be a public talk on “Women on Death Row in the United States”, Tuesday, March 14 from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

More information can be obtained by contacting Karen Balcom at balcomk@mcmaster.ca .