Connecting the Dots: Gender Equity Events Highlight Common Struggles
Bard College alumna Joelle Simone Powe, right, in discussion with Beverley Manley Duncan after a screening of her documentary, "Beverley Manley Uncensored."
Recently, OSUN’s Gender Equity Working Group organized a diverse series of events to mark Women’s History Month, including film screenings, presentations and panel discussions. The lived experiences that women and girls described in the events throughout March all explored how not being a man severely limits one's opportunities. Speakers and subjects from Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Myanmar offered stories and observations that demonstrated the ways in which women and girls must struggle to navigate society and “show up” as they really are, on local and global levels.
Series events conveyed the bracing sentiment that while March might be International Women’s History Month, the firm grip of gender inequity requires everyday, year-round work to be corrected. Panelists agreed that achieving gender equity is an active, daily struggle toward rectifying systemic power imbalances between men and non-men. Commensurate access to resources and opportunities, an equivalent capacity to live safely and thrive as full versions of themselves, and an equal power of self-determination in making decisions about their futures are all goals of the hard work that feminists must do to make this happen.
OSUN partnered with Myanmar Women in AI and the Myanmar Data Tech Team to explore the ways in which women living in Myanmar face severe limitations on their ability to succeed in the tech industry. Myo Thida and fellow feminist scholars from Parami University and Bard College at Simon’s Rock presented the results of their research on the ways in which Myanmarese women are held back from being able to work under equitable conditions within the tech industry. The team interviewed 30 Myanmarese women involved in the tech industry and found repeated instances of them feeling that domestic duties, such as caregiving, limited their ability to excel in tech.
Amandi Landi from Bard College at Simon’s Rock drew attention to the fact that “Myanmar is very, very rarely mentioned in… literature [on] women and girls in STEM,” and called upon attendees to confront the limitations the misogyny imposes in Myanmar, and globally, in navigating the tech industry.
The student-led Social Issues Club at Parami University hosted a screening of the film “A Good Woman,” and then led a discussion that brought the social position of Myanmarese women to the fore once more. The film highlights the pains, pleasures, and complexities of sexuality and sexual liberation, love, and modesty for women in Myanmar, in addition to highlighting the domestic duties and domestic violence many face. During the discussion, one attendee said that only upper class Myanmarese women have a real chance to evade the alienation that misogyny imposes. Another attendee shared that the struggle of having to choose between committing oneself to caring for one’s children or caring for the feminist struggle is both relatable and universal.
OSUN also partnered with student leaders from Bard College Annandale and BRAC University to feature students Alua Samat (Bard College Annandale) and Halima Hasin and Labiba Rifah Nanjeeba (BRAC University) in a panel focused on concrete ways to achieve better sexual health and sexual education for women and girls. Samat explained how her project, “Not a Shame,” addresses the disparity between sex education in schools in Kazakhstan and in perhaps more liberal European nations like Sweden. She explained how her project uses innovative gaming to tackle issues such as teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse, and sexually-transmitted diseases, which are all linked to a lack of sex education. Hasin and Najeeba discussed their project, “Paper Cranes of Venus,” which works to raise awareness about gender equality (and a lack thereof), sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), consent, and menstrual health among Bihari women and girls in Bangladesh.
Bard College alumna Joelle Simone Powe screened her documentary, “Beverley Manley Uncensored,” and hosted a discussion with attendees and the film’s subject. The documentary chronicles the rich life of Beverley Manley Duncan, former First Lady of Jamaica, founder of the Jamaican women’s movement, author, and Black nationalist. Post-screening discussion subjects ranged from feminism and its role in the “developing world,” to socially constructed gender roles, Black women’s self-presentation choices and Black aesthetics, and colorism, adultery, and power. Attendees shared how moved they were by the documentary, and Manley Duncan spoke at great length about how women can break the glass ceiling of professional life.
The month of events concluded with a lively panel discussion on gender equity work hosted by Camilia Jones, OSUN Faculty and Senior Fellow, featuring current students and alums from across the network. Panelists explored navigating societal pressures around performance and self improvement within the classroom, the workplace, and the domestic sphere, as well as balancing caregiving with career. Panelists commented on the intersection between race and gender and the treatment of Black women within a white supremacist system; alternative emancipation versus active resistance against the patriarchy; and ways to grow gender equity work from the individual level to the community level.
Post Date: 05-17-2023