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San Jose State University

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

March 2011

March 3, 2011                        WOWI Word Night

5:00 pm in the Student Cafe

Women On Women’s Issues (WOWI) hosts a spoken word open mic night.

March 5, 2011                        Womyn United: 2^nd Annual Womyn’s History March

10:30 am – 2:00pm from Roosevelt Park to San Jose City Hall

Presented by South Bay International Womyn’s Day Network.  March from Roosevelt Park (East Santa Clara and 19^th Streets) to San Jose City Hall (5^th and Santa Clara Streets).  Drum circle and dance rally to follow.  For more info and to get involved email iwdsouthbay@gmail.com

March 7, 2011                        Women in Local Politics:  Councilmember Rose Herrera

1:30 – 2:30pm in the Pacifica Room, Student Union

San Jose City Councilmember Rose Herrera speaks for Women’s History Month.

March 7, 2011                        Women’s Studies Open House

2:30 ­– 4:30 pm in the Pacifica Room, Student Union

This event is an opportunity for friends of the Women’s Studies Program to mix, mingle, and celebrate! Refreshments will be provided.

March 8, 2011                        Womyn’s Vision for San Jose

1:30 pm at City Hall of San Jose

Womyn United presents Womyn’s Vision for San Jose, during the City of San Jose’s City Council Meeting.

March 10, 2011            Save Ethnic Studies Tour

4:00 pm in Engineering Room 189

CFA Latina/o Caucus Presents Save Ethnic Studies Tour.  Guest speakers will include teachers from the Tucson Unified School District and members of “Save Ethnic Studies”.  The tour addresses Arizona’s recently passed House Bill 2281, which outlaws the teaching of Ethnic Studies in school.

March 10 at 6:00 pm            Vagina Monologues

and March 11-12 at 8:00 pm at Morris Dailey Auditorium

V-Day SJSU Presents Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues.  The proceeds of the V-Day SJSU 2011 will benefit women and children in Haiti and local nonprofit organizations.  Admission is $8 for students and $10 general admission.

March 16, 2011            Engaging Men’s Capacity to End Gender Violence

12:00 pm in the Pacifica Room, Student Union

Dr. Jason Laker will speak to attendees about the components of masculine gender roles, how these connect to violence, and how to apply this knowledge toward achieving a positive and violence free future together.

March 17, 2011            Sowing the Seeds of Justice: The Story of Cruz Reynoso

6:00 pm at Morris Dailey Hall

A screening of the film “Sowing the Seeds of Justice” followed by a conversation with Cruz Reynoso and film maker Abby Ginzberg.  Suggested donation $5 for students and $10 general admission. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

March 22, 2011            Working for Reproductive Justice

2:00 pm in MLK 255/257

Allana Moore, “Why Midwifery Matters”

Pati Garcia, “A History of Self-Help Reproductive Movements”

March 22, 2011            Know your Own: A Smart Sex Workshop

6:00 pm in the Guadalupe Room, Student Union

With Doula/Sexuality educator Pati Garcia

All events are open to the public.

Hisaye Yamamoto, one of the first Asian American writers to earn literary distinction after World War II with highly polished short stories that illuminated a world circumscribed by culture and brutal strokes of history, has died. She was 89.Yamamoto had been in poor health since a stroke last year and died in her sleep Jan. 30 at her home in northeast Los Angeles, said her daughter, Kibo Knight.

Often compared to such short-story masters as Katherine Mansfield, Flannery O’Connor and Grace Paley, Yamamoto concentrated her imagination on the issei and nisei, the first- and second-generation Japanese Americans who were targets of the public hysteria unleashed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Yamamoto was 20 when the attack sent the United States into war and her family into a Poston, Ariz., internment camp. Her most celebrated stories, such as “Seventeen Syllables” and “The Legend of Miss Sasagawara,” reflect the preoccupations and tensions of the Japanese immigrants and offspring who survived that era. Among her most powerful characters are women who struggle to nurture their romantic or creative selves despite the constraints of gender, racism and tradition.

“She wrote in a true voice,” said Wakako Yamauchi, the Japanese American dramatist who wrote “And the Soul Shall Dance” and had known Yamamoto since childhood. “She wrote about what she knew and that was about us — Asians, Japanese Americans. Her stories were wonderful, beautiful legacies.”

A private, somewhat taciturn woman with a wry outlook, Yamamoto began writing in the 1930s and published her earliest stories in such prestigious journals as Partisan Review as well as in anthologies, including “The Best American Short Stories of 1952.” But she did not receive serious critical attention until the 1970s, when Asian American scholars began to study her work.

“She was the opposite of the self-promoting writer,” said UCLA English professor King-Kok Cheung, recalling a woman who often responded cryptically, if at all, to questions and lacked flair in public readings. Yet Yamamoto was, Cheung notes, “a very unusual writer, especially given the times, when it was so hard for a Japanese American, not to mention a woman, to publish.”

Obituary continues at the Los Angeles Times

San José State University students and community members will hit center stage dressed in red and black, ready to spread awareness about violence and abuse toward women and girls through their production of Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues. The benefit production will run at the historic SJSU Morris Dailey Auditorium on Thursday, March 11, 2011 at 6:00 p.m., Friday, March 12th at 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, March 13th at 8:00 p.m. Tickets for the event are $8 for students and $10 for general admission. For ticket information please call 800-745-3000 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com.

The Vagina Monologues celebrate the global movement of V-Day, which strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence. SJSU is joining this global movement as part of the V-Day 2011 College Campaign. Each year V-Day increases awareness by focusing on a specific group of women in the world who are resisting violence with courage and vision.

In 2011, V-Day’s Spotlight Campaign will be on the Women and Girls of Haiti. The Spotlight will highlight the high levels of violence against women and girls in Haiti, and will focus on the increased rates of sexual violence since the devastating earthquake that took place in January 2010. All funds raised through the Spotlight Campaign will be used to support a revolutionary national campaign in Haiti lead by a coalition of women activists – including longtime V-Day activist Elvire Eugene – that will address sexual violence through art, advocacy, safe shelter and legal services.

The proceeds of the V-Day SJSU 2011 will benefit the women and children of Haiti, as well as local non-profit organizations whose programming supports survivors of violence and work toward the ending of violence against women and girls. [Read more →]

Women’s Circle

2/23:  Self vs. other-care

3/2:   Communicate our needs

3/9:   Juggle multiple roles

3/16:  Manage emotions

Wednesdays, 1:30 – 2:50 pm

Admin, Rm 201

Contact Ellen or Neda (924-5910) to RSVP.  Space is limited.

Newsreporter Amy Goodman interviews Egyptian Feminist Nawal El Saadawi.  An excerpt:

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: We are in the streets every day, people, children, old people, including myself. I am now 80 years of age, suffering of this regime for half a century. And you remember, Mubarak is the  continuation of Sadat. And both Sadat and Mubarak, you know, their regime worked against the people, men and women. And they created this gap between the poor and rich. They brought the so-called business class to govern us. Egypt became an American colony. And we are dominated by the U.S. and Israel. And 80 million people, men and women, have no say in the country.

And you see today that people in the streets for six days, and they told Mubarak to go. He should have gone, if he respects the will of the people. That’s democracy. Because what’s democracy? It’s to respect the will of the people. The people govern themselves. So, really, we are happy.

But what I would like to tell you, the U.S. government, with Israel and Saudi Arabia and some other powers outside the country and inside the country, they want to abort this revolution. And they are creating rumors that, you know, Egypt is going to be ruined, to be robbed, and they are also preventing—we don’t have bread now, and the shops are using this to raise the price. So they are trying to frighten us. They have two strategies: to frighten the people, so we say, “Oh, we need security, we need Mubarak,” because people are living in fear. But when I go to the streets, there are no fear, you know, but when I stay at home and listen to the media, I feel, “What’s going to happen?” But when I go to the streets, to Midan Tahrir, and see the people, the young people, the old people, the men, I feel secure, and I believe that the revolution succeeded. So, they are trying to abort the power outside and inside. But we will win.

NAWAL EL SAADAWI: We are in the streets every day, people, children, old people, including myself. I am now 80 years of age, suffering of this regime for half a century. And you remember, Mubarak is the continuation of Sadat. And both Sadat and Mubarak, you know, their regime worked against the people, men and women. And they created this gap between the poor and rich. They brought the so-called business class to govern us. Egypt became an American colony. And we are dominated by the U.S. and Israel. And 80 million people, men and women, have no say in the country.And you see today that people in the streets for six days, and they told Mubarak to go. He should have gone, if he respects the will of the people. That’s democracy. Because what’s democracy? It’s to respect the will of the people. The people govern themselves. So, really, we are happy.But what I would like to tell you, the U.S. government, with Israel and Saudi Arabia and some other powers outside the country and inside the country, they want to abort this revolution. And they are creating rumors that, you know, Egypt is going to be ruined, to be robbed, and they are also preventing—we don’t have bread now, and the shops are using this to raise the price. So they are trying to frighten us. They have two strategies: to frighten the people, so we say, “Oh, we need security, we need Mubarak,” because people are living in fear. But when I go to the streets, there are no fear, you know, but when I stay at home and listen to the media, I feel, “What’s going to happen?” But when I go to the streets, to Midan Tahrir, and see the people, the young people, the old people, the men, I feel secure, and I believe that the revolution succeeded. So, they are trying to abort the power outside and inside. But we will win.

Interview continues at Democracy Now

In 10 short years, Wikipedia has accomplished some remarkable goals. More than 3.5 million articles in English? Done. More than 250 languages? Sure.

But another number has proved to be an intractable obstacle for the online encyclopedia: surveys suggest that less than 15 percent of its hundreds of thousands of contributors are women.

About a year ago, the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that runs Wikipedia, collaborated on a study of Wikipedia’s contributor base and discovered that it was barely 13 percent women; the average age of a contributor was in the mid-20s, according to the study by a joint center of the United Nations University and Maastricht University.

Articles continues at NYT

Women’s Studies Alumni Teresa Pedrizco will offer this four-hour seminar in Spanish on Domestic Violence and Creating Healthy Relationships.

• Did you know that:  1 in 4 women experience domestic violence?
• 1 in 33 men have been sexually assaulted?

1 – 5pm January 30, in Redwood City.  $150 registration before Jan 24, $200 after.  Space is limited…. call 408.807.5955 or email tpedrizco@yahoo.com.

Winning the Vote:  A Special Evening Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Woman’s Right to Vote in California

Join us at this special event that will honor the courageous individuals who fought for Woman’s suffrage in California.

The evening will feature a viewing of the University’s rare exhibit highlighting the western state victories, which provided the foundation for the Susan B. Anthony Suffrage Amendment as well as other important Suffrage artifacts from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Additionally, Robert P.J. Cooney, author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement will discuss his book that documents this historical achievement.  This event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters San Jose/Santa Clara and the San Jose State University Special Collections Department

February 23, 2011
5pm-8pm
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library
150 East San Fernando Street
San Jose, CA 95112
5th Floor, Schiro Room

5:00 – 6:00pm Reception and viewing of San Jose State’s unique collection of artifacts and exhibits relating to the Suffrage movement in California and the country

6:00 – 7:00pm Robert P.J. Cooney, author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement will discuss the color, passion, and excitement of this important part of American history

7:00-8:00pm The League of Women Voters honors the Women’s Studies programs at Evergreen College, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University as well as History San Jose and the Santa Clara Library

Confirm your seat at this special event: league@lwvsjsc.org

Please forward to your student lists:

Take advantage of the opportunity to study this spring in a small seminar with Women’s Studies Professor Shahin Gerami.   WOMS 189, Gender and Sexuality in Islam is a seminar introducing the variety of gender roles and expressions of sexuality within contemporary Islam.  Readings consist of a sample original texts and a selection from popular novels.

Please spread the word!

WOMS 189  Gender and Sexuality in Islam (Add code 26635)
TTh 10:30-11:45 / DMH 126
Questions?  Email: shahin.gerami@sjsu.edu

Hello,
Last minute (sorry!) forwarding an event taking place this Thursday for any interested.  Stanford student and fellow youth activist, Aurora Victoria David has put together some great research about the conditions facing Filipinas in Hong Kong. Spread the word!

[Okada lounge is on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto]