MEChA de UCLA organizes week to empower women

A series of events this week aimed at empowering women at UCLA will culminate in a celebration at the Student Activities Center on Friday.

Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán de UCLA, also known as MEChA, hosted UCLA’s second annual Semana de la Mujer this week.

The UCLA organizers used the event to lead into this year’s International Women’s Day because they wanted to focus on issues of gender equality.

MEChA de UCLA presented an event each day this week to observe the economic, political and social achievements of women. The events were designed to be inclusive of all those who identify as women.

“We all face struggles not just in one category, we carry different identities … (There are) not only women, but women of color and queer women,” said Roxana Martinez, an organizer of the event and a second-year political science student.

Martinez joined with five other female UCLA students to help plan the week’s events. All six students are first-generation students of color who felt inspired to bring the internationally observed International Women’s Day to students at UCLA.

“I always had a sense of empowerment, and I came to (the) university and met women with the same sense of empowerment,” said Evelyn Aldapa, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies student and one of the six students on the team.

The women made an effort to publicize the event with the spelling of “women” as “womyn.”

“Woman is spelled with the word ‘man’ in it, suggesting being man is the default and being woman is someone on the side,” said Kathryn Maese-Loutzenheiser, a third-year geography and Chicana/o studies student who helped organize the events.

The week started with a workshop, in partnership with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Campus Resource Center, called “Identify Yourself.”

The event explored the experiences of queer women of color, as participants sat in a circle and identified themselves the way they see themselves. During the second part of the event, students talked about how they are perceived by society.

The organizers said they tried to focus on being inclusive with each of the week’s events.

“Each event presented a marginalized community within the marginalized community of women,” said Kimberly Soriano, one of the organizers of the week.

A workshop on Tuesday provided students with information about forced sterilization in Peru and illegal abortion in Chile, said Yaneth Lopez, one of the six organizers and a second-year geography student. The event also provided a space for students to safely and openly talk about sexuality and sexual freedom.

On Wednesday, the organizers showed “Mi Vida Loca,” a film they said offered a good representation of women and empowerment in the Los Angeles area. After the film, the audience members talked about their reactions to the film and how they could better embrace women empowerment.

During one event, Soriano spoke to the group about her personal experiences involving women empowerment.

The second-year Chicana/o studies student said she is confused by what she calls “cultural schizophrenia,” the act of playing different roles when with different people.

Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success at UCLA co-sponsored Thursday’s event – a panel of undocumented women who spoke about their experiences.

On Friday, the event will end with a “pachanga,“ which is Spanish slang for “celebration,” in which female dancers, musicians and poets will perform.