Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, opened a weekend symposium at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) with a call to women to unify and become a more powerful force in politics and religion.

The symposium, called Core Connections, brought together distinguished women of varied backgrounds and disciplines to discuss women, religion and public policy. It was a collaboration between the Kennedy School and the Harvard Divinity School.

Edelman, a champion of increased rights for children and the poor, spoke at the ARCO Forum to the 125 women attending the symposium and about 75 Harvard students.

"It is the legacy of seeing a need and responding to it that I value," Edelman said as she described the women of faith who have been her inspiration, including Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune and the biblical Moses' mother and sister.

Edelman's message was one of the empowerment of women, especially in the political realm.

"I want women's voices to be heard in the political process," she said. "We are far from being as powerful as our numbers or our needs require."

She also advocated the empowerment of women in their religious organizations, above and beyond the changes brought on by the women's movement in the 1970s.

"Women must strengthen our voice in religious establishments," said Edelman, who is also an author and the former director of Harvard's Center for Law and Education.