When addressing global problems, one must start with local conversations.

The International House is hosting its inaugural Global Issues Conference Friday, focusing exclusively on International Women’s Rights.

The conference kicked off Thursday night with a screening of the documentary “Half the Sky,” which is based on a book written by Pulitzer prize-winning couple Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn. The film opened a conversation about the plethora of daily struggles and constant fight against oppression that women face around the globe.

Lauren Longino, coordinator for the I-House, said viewers did not watch the entire four-hour documentary, but discussed a variety of international women’s issues covered in the film, including gender-based violence, sex trafficking, women’s education, maternal mortality and women’s economic empowerment.

Longino said sex trafficking will be the prominent issue discussed by Friday’s keynote speaker Stacia Freeman, U.S. director of Hope for Justice.

“Many times you think of [sex trafficking] as something outside the United States, but there is a lot that is fed into the United States as well,” Longino said. “I think it will be very interesting to hear her perspective on sex trafficking and how it has become present in Tennessee, and what to be looking for, how to recognize it and what we can be doing in Tennessee.”

Hope for Justice is a national organization that trains workers to identify, rescue and restore victims of human trafficking from three regional offices in the U.S., United Kingdom and Cambodia.

Part of Freeman’s lecture will focus on social media’ s influence in the spread of sex trafficking in rural areas outside the urban rings associated with local and international trafficking.

“When I started working in this field about nine years (ago), we used to say if you have a major interstate running through your area, you’re probably touched by sex trafficking, and because of internet now, rural areas aren’t being sheltered from it,” Freeman said.

Freeman said she attributes sites like Craigslist and dating platforms as prime resources for trafficking rings, creating a need for awareness for a generation “driven” by social media and focused on social justice.

“I think we have a responsibility to teach young people about responsible use of social media and how they can stay safe by making good choices and who they’re engaging with on the Internet,” she said.

According to a 2011 study from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Vanderbilt University, Knox County was one of four counties that reported more than 100 cases of minor trafficking.

Catherine Harrison, a junior in political science and economics, said she chose to attend the documentary screening after her current academic studies shed light on trafficking trends within the United States, particularly in Tennessee.

“Seeing the familiar streets in Nashville featured in trafficking documentaries seemed unreal,” Harrison said. “It opened my eyes to the issue that often goes unseen, and I am happy to see that the I-House has chosen to highlight it.

“I think the more people know about and recognize it, the better we can combat it.”

Harrison currently acts as president of “She’s the First,” a campus organization that sponsors education for young girls in developing countries.

In fact, the organization’s mission was inspired by Kristoff and WuDunn’s novel and subsequent movie, prompting Harrison and her fellow officers to attend the screening as a group.

For Harrison, enhanced opportunities for women can’t rely on establishing equality, bur rather societal development within a woman’s home country.

“When we send a girl to school, she has the chance to live healthier, delay marriage and childbirth, resist abuse and exploitation, secure a better job, earn higher wages and ultimately break the cycle of poverty,” Harrison said. “It creates a positive ripple effect that benefits everyone.”

The International Women’s Rights Conference will take place Friday in the International House from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

For more information on keynote speaker and Hope for Justice, visit http://ihouse.utk.edu/meet-our-keynote-speaker/.