With the U.S. economy at a stable level, some Americans tend to focus less on the welfare of other countries, said Gaby Weiner.

This is partly why she wants draw Americans’ attention to the issue of feminism and education of Europe.

“America seems to be withdrawing inside itself, and it needs to know what’s going on in other countries,” she said. “I suppose a lot of Americans have their roots in Europe as well, and so this might help them understand where they came from better.”

Weiner, a professor of teacher education and research at Umea University in Sweden, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight in the reconstructed one-room schoolhouse located at 209 N. Annie Glidden Road.

The speech, “Teacher Education, Europe, Gender and Feminism,” will focus on the effects of feminism in Europe before the European Union & formed of

12 countries in 1993 with the addition of Sweden in 1995 & and recent developments in teacher education reforms in Great Britain and Sweden.

“It’s partially looking at what the issues in those countries with feminism are,” she said. “When the feminism movement came to the United States and

England, it didn’t really pick up in any other European countries.”

Weiner explained that feminism plays a major role in education throughout Europe.

“My speech will not only look at gender itself but how it affects education,” she said. “Feminism has a presence in most European countries and so teachers have to understand that. If you’re going to talk about feminism as a teacher, then you need to have more knowledge of feminism in that country.”

Weiner is co-editor of the Open University Press series Feminist Educational Thinking. Her most recent work is, “Closing the Gender Gap: Postwar Educational and Social Change.” Her past works include “Feminisms in Education: An Introduction,” “Equal Opportunities in Colleges and Universities”

and “School Effectiveness for Whom? Challenges to the School Effectiveness and the School Improvement.” Currently, she is working on a book concentrating on gender issues in teacher education.

Refreshments will be served at the lecture. For more information, call the Blackwell Museum at 753-1236.