Women’s Herstory Month Highlights Historical Achievement and Monumental Victories

From March 3 through March 30, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) and the BMCC Women’s Resource Center will present Women’s Herstory Month, “Looking Back, Moving Forward: Women and the Right to Vote.”

“Every March marks Women’s Herstory Month, a celebration and acknowledgement of how far women have come in this country today, what it took to get us here, and what we still have left to accomplish,” says Tammie Cinder Velasquez, manager of the Women’s Resource Center.

The year 2020 marks the 100^th anniversary of the passing of the 19^th amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote, which is also the inspiration for this year’s national Women’s Herstory Month theme.

“BMCC decided to go with the theme, ‘Looking Back, Moving Forward: Women and the Right to Vote,’ to highlight the incredible historical achievement of women’s suffrage while also acknowledging that many women of color were not included in that victory, including those who were leading the front lines,” Velasquez said.

The theme is twofold, she explains. “It encourages us to ‘look back’ to educate and highlight the history that is often forgotten in the suffragist movement as well as the monumental victory it accomplished, but also to ‘look forward’ at the continued importance of voting and the power women’s experiences and voices have to transform the direction the country can take with the power of the vote.”

March 3: Kickoff with speakers from the UN and other leaders

The monthlong celebration of women’s leadership in the global fight for equal rights will kick off on Tuesday, March 3 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Richard Harris Terrace at 199 Chambers Street.

A  keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Ameena Ali, UN Women-Gambia Special Envoy to Maternal Health.

Dr. Ameena Ali is a Naturopathic Doctor specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has worked in organic medicine, home-birthing and the maternal education of women for the last 29 years. In 2018, she was appointed as a Special Envoy to UN Women Gambia. She also develops solutions for elders to be able to age-in-place, through her efforts as a member of The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People.

Dr. Ali’s talk will be followed by a panel including Reshma Patel, who helps social-impact organizations implement technology solutions and promotes civic engagement as a volunteer with the League of Women Voters NYC.

Panelist Lisa Daniell is the Operations Manager for Women’s Press Collective, an all-volunteer membership association organizing for independent community-based media

Panelist Ursula Bustillos Dazais founded the sustainable multidisciplinary think tank Portal Urbano, establishing platforms in studios, homes, cultural centers and universities for people to share knowledge and learn from one another.

Events presented through the rest of the month range from panel discussions to poetry to film screenings.

Events that cross disciplines and borders, to raise awareness of women’s issues 

A sampling of the thought-provoking and inspiring events that are part of Women’s Herstory Month 2020 includes the March 11 panel and film event: “The Full Set: Nails, Citizenship and Belonging in the Asian and African Diasporas.”

Highlighting connections between African-descended and Asian-descended communities in the United States, that panel will be paired with an interactive, pop-up nail salon run by student nail artists who will facilitate guests in a discussion of race, identity, belonging and other topics.

Another linked event that day is a screening of the acclaimed 2019 documentary Nailed It, which uncovers the history of the Vietnamese nail salon and takes viewers from Los Angeles to the Bronx as they meet the people behind this $8 billion industry.

On March 17, the panel discussion “From the Franchise to the Gender Gap – Women and the 2020 Presidential Election” will examine the gender gap in electoral preferences from the time of women’s suffrage up to the 2018 midterms. Panelists will also discuss their expectations for the “women’s vote” in the 2020 presidential election.

On March 26, award-winning journalist and maternal advocate Kimberly Seals-Allers will talk about the social change app IRTH, which she developed to provide families of color with hospital and physician reviews filtered to help screen for bias.

For more information on these events and others, contact the Women’s Resource Center at (212) 220-8165.