Celebrating International Women’s day at AALEAD

To review how far women have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development, International women’s day is celebrated globally every year on March 8th. AALEAD Girls Leadership program invited Danielle Geong from Feminist Majority Foundation as a guest speaker on March 10th 2010, to talk about women rights particularly API women leaders and their struggle and youth activism.

The workshop aimed at introducing the International Women’s day to the students and to encourage them taking lead in their schools and communities. While discussing about the importance of International women’s day, students were asked if they have any female role model in their lives that they admire. We also had presentations from students on Judy Chu (First Chinese American woman ever elected to the congress), Aung San Suu Ky (Elected prime minister of Burma in 1990), Queen Liliuokalani (last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands who was forced to give up her throne in 1898), Maya Lin (famous Chinese American architect, who designed the Vietnam War Memorial at the age of 21).

Students also had a chance to discuss about the issues that they are facing either at school or community level. So they wrote letters to the congresswoman Elenor Holmes Norton. Over all it was very informative and inspiring session and students really enjoyed writing the letter and the idea of taking responsibility in order to make a change in the society.

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