Contact: Nicole King, 815-964-5819, nicole@profam.org

ROCKFORD, Ill., and WASHINGTON, April 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- In the last election, proposed restrictions on "reproductive rights" led Democrats to accuse Republicans of waging a "war on women," a war which many believe cost Mitt Romney the female vote.  Since November, in the pages of TIME and The Atlantic, on CNN and FOX alike, women like Anne-Marie Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg have continued the argument over whether it is workplace environments or women themselves who are keeping women out of the top positions in politics and the corporate world.  But is there really a "war on women?"  And if so, are the issues those raised in November, or are there other, deeper concerns at stake?

Join the editors of The Howard Center's quarterly, The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy, on Capitol Hill this Friday, April 12 for a symposium addressing the question: "The 'War on Women:' Does It Exist, and If So What Is Its Nature?"  Moderating will be Dr. Allan Carlson, President of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society and Editor of The Family in America.  Our featured speakers will be Kay Hymowitz of The Manhattan Institute, author most recently of Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys; Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow at The Beverly LaHaye Institute, think tank for Concerned Women for America; Ross Douthat, columnist for the New York Times and author most recently of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics; and Dr. Ryan MacPherson, Senior Editor of The Family in America and chair of the History Department at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. The symposium will be held from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, room 201.  The event is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided. To register, call Nicole King at (815) 964-5819 or email Nicole@profam.org.

The Family in America is the nation's hardest-hitting journal of family policy research, bold argument, and clear-sighted analysis.  Recent issue themes have included: "The Vanishing American Middle Class" (spring 2012), "A Reassessment of the 1950's" (summer 2012), "The Family and Poverty" (fall 2012), and "The 'New' Feminism at 50" (winter 2013).

For more information or to subscribe to The Family in America, go to www.familyinamerica.org.  To register for this free event, please call Nicole King at (815) 964-5819 or email Nicole@profam.org.

Interested in hearing more great speeches about the natural family?  Join us for  World Congress of Families VIII: "Happy Families, Healthy Economy: A New Vision for National Prosperity and Social Progress:" which will bring together thousands of global leaders, scholars and activists in Sydney, Australia, May 15-18, 2013 to encourage and defend the natural family.  To register for WCF VII, click here or visit, www.worldcongress.com.au.

Sessions will include: The Causes and Cost of Family Breakdown -- What Families Are Best for the Economy? -- Will the Human Family Survive: Can We Prosper with Small Families? -- Philosophical Roots of the Cultural Revolution -- Secular Humanism and Family Values -- Demographic Winter -- Masculinity and Femininity -- The Impact on Children of Legalizing "Same-Sex Marriage" -- Economic and Social Costs of Abortion -- Healing Post-Abortion Trauma -- Work of the Home: A True Profession -- AIDS Prevention through Strengthening Families -- Marriage as An Instrument of Human Development -- Promoting Families In the Mainstream Media and Online Media -- Consumerism and The Soul -- Defending Faith In An Age of Christophobia -- The Pornography Industry -- Reaching the Next Generation with a Pro-Family Message.

Additionally, there will be a number of special sessions including business, parliamentary and youth forums, workshops on parenting, family life and marriage, and leadership training.  To register for WCF VII Sydney 2013, click here or visit, www.worldcongress.com.au.

For interview requests contact Larry Jacobs at The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, in Rockford, Illinois, 815-964-5819, larry@worldcongress.org or Don Feder, Communications Director, dfeder@rcn.com.

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (www.profam.org) is located in Rockford, Illinois and is an independent, non-profit research and education center that provides sound scholarship and effective strategies to affirm and defend the natural family, thus renewing a stable and free society.  The Howard Center is the publisher of the journal, "The Family In America" and is also the organizer of the World Congress of Families (WCF) project which is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Dr. Allan Carlson, President of The Howard Center.  To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families - Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009).  World Congress of Families VI was held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.  World Congress of Families VII  will be held in Sydney, Australia, May 15-18, 2013, www.wcfsydney2013.org.au.