The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/international-womens-day/)
In an International Women’s Day talk, Indigenous scholar and activist Michelle Schenandoah ’99 unpacked the historical disempowerment of Indigenous women, including in Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s ’54 legal decisions.
Tursunay Ziyawudun, a Uighur Muslim who survived China’s Xinjiang concentration camp, spoke to Cornellians on Monday about international solidarity and her experience of human rights violations at the hands of the Chinese government.
My biggest pet peeve about International Women’s Day is the social media “thank you” posts. The “Thank you to all the amazing and strong women in my life” posts that almost always include a picture of your mother, sister, best friend and grandma but leave out so many other important people. It especially bothers me when someone who is particularly anti-feminist or spends time working against women has the audacity to do the same thing.
I know this is a week early, but considering that my column is titled Womansplaining, there is no way that I’d pass up on a chance to write a column about International Women’s Day ––and more broadly, Women’s History Month. This year’s United Nations’ theme for International Women’s Day is “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World.” That is a long (and very important!) title, emphasizing the importance of elevating women into leadership positions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. There is obviously no perfect feminist (contrary to my Instagram bio where I self proclaim myself the “professional feminist”) and no right way to advocate for women or gender justice. However, if you’re thinking about ways to be a gender advocate on campus this month, here are eight ways to be a “better” Cornell feminist.
Take a class in feminist, gender and sexuality studies.
If you’ve met me at any point in the last three years, you probably know my mantra: “Every person should have to take a feminist, gender and sexuality studies course on campus before they graduate.” Throughout my FGSS career, I have studied Beyonce’s impact on feminism, marital rape laws, the Disney princesses, Nigerian feminist poets, Greek life on college campuses and influencer culture. Every aspect of your life, past or present, has to do with gender.
In the world of academia, women are often under-represented in their field. In light of International Women’s Day, the Sun has highlighted three female professors who have made significant contributions in their field of science and continue to do so, despite facing setbacks.
Cornell’s Smart is Strong organization hosted their third annual conference yesterday. The event featured a panel of four female speakers who encouraged attendees to “be the change” and to celebrate women every day.
This “Edit-a-Thon” was part of an international campaign to improve coverage of female artists, writers and performers. Cornell participated in the movement by hosting the Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon in Olin Library on International Women’s Day.
Although there is still work to be done to achieve full representation across the science and engineering fields, Cornell is already ahead of the curve in achieving a 1:1 ratio of women to men in engineering disciplines
“Women have been the recipients of the word ‘should’ and it shows the constraints that women face,” said Shaibyaa Rajbhandari ’18.
“International feminism must recognize the cultural differences and variations in lived experiences,” said Elise Czuchna ’18.