On March 3, Amnesty International hosted the third annual International Women’s Day Symposium in Babbio Atrium to raise awareness of a wide variety of women’s issues. Amnesty and other student organizations worked together as a community to create a more inclusive and equal campus.
In order to address this inhumane deprival of human rights, several Stevens organizations along with Planned Parenthood came together to educate students about particular women’s issues that mattered to them. Each organization set up a booth with displays and activities related to their chosen topic, and promoted a way to take action against the issue. Organizations that participated and their respective topics included the Diversity and Inclusion Committee (minority women), Alpha Phi Omega (domestic violence), Kappa Sigma (child marriage), Stevens Panhellenic Council (child marriage), SIT Blossoms (sex selective abortion), Theta Phi Alpha (menstruation taboo), Sigma Delta Tau (financial literacy of women and Jewish Women International), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (women in STEM), National Society of Black Engineers (access to education and tutoring in the community), Filipino Association at Stevens Tech (transwomen’s rights in the Philippines), Glamour Gals (elder isolation/abuse), Engineers Without Borders (indigenous women’s rights), and SAVE (climate refugees).
Blossoms, an Asian interest sorority interest group, commented that they sought to empower Asian women against sex selective abortion, an issue prevalent in Asia. FAST commented that they sought justice for transgender people in the Philippines by presenting the story of Jennifer Laude, a Filipina woman who was murdered by a United States Marine. Amnesty International presented about the rights of indigenous people, and they encourage students to sign the petition that will be sent to the Indian Health Service to demand rape kits at https://act.amnestyusa.org/page/29666/.
Following the symposium, a panel of speakers addressed women’s sexual and reproductive rights through the lens of universally-recognized human rights. Present were Diya Basu-Sen, the Executive Director of Sapna NYCS, a non-profit focused on improving the lives of South Asian immigrants; Karla Torres, ART Human Rights Policy Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights; Devangi Raval, Domestic Violence Advocate at Women Rising; and Casey Olesko, the Communications Director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey.
“Access to affordable and relevant health services and to accurate, comprehensive health information are fundamental human rights. Yet intersecting determinants such as gender-based discrimination, lack of access to education, poverty, violence against women and girls, and intersecting identities can all prevent these rights from being realized for women and girls,” said Penelope Halkiadakis, President of Amnesty International.
Rachel Kondrat, the Community Outreach Chair for Amnesty explained that this year there were several participating for the first time this year, “for example Glamour Gals and the Diversity and Inclusion committee,” and that clubs choose the topics using a list of recommended topics from which Amnesty International focuses on. “The main goal is to promote action; each table has action opportunities: signing a petition, collection drives, small games,” she explained, “there’s even photo activism and volunteer opportunities that you are able to sign up for.”
Together, the women brought together expertise on a wide array of subjects, including education, health, and law, all from the perspective of women’s rights, to discuss women’s sexual and reproductive health, and how to get women the resources they need to break free from the prejudices that hold them back.
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