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Rosa Julieta Montaño Salvatierra of Bolivia, honored with the International Woman of Courage award for 2015 by the U.S. State Department, visited IU McKinney for a panel discussion on March 10.

Salvatierra is a lawyer and is the founder and director of Oficina Jurídica para la Mujer, an organization that has provided services to more than 30,000 women in Bolivia and has influenced nearly every piece of legislation that has advanced women’s rights over the past 30 years. Through Salvatierra’s advocacy, stricter penalties for rape and sexual assault have been put in place, reproductive rights have been expanded, and gender parity laws have been advanced.

Salvatierra spoke about the struggle to have gender violence recognized as the social problem that it is, instead of allowing the prejudice to persist that women are innately inferior to men and that women are responsible for the violence perpetrated upon them.

Also on the panel were Kathleen Surina Grove, ’77, director of the Office for Women at IUPUI, and Kelly McBride, executive director of the Domestic Violence Network. The panelists were introduced by Professor George Edwards, director of the law school’s Program in International Human Rights Law.

This marks the second year in a row that the recipient of this honor has visited IU McKinney. Judge Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar of Guatemala’s High Risk Court Tribunal visited the law school in 2014.

The International Women of Courage Award annually recognizes women around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk.