International Women's Day

This year was FEMA's first appearance at International Women's Day. Women of all ages and cultures were there. Many interested people came to our booth and inquired about our programs (and of course there were a few who had even taken classes at FEMA in the past). Also, many other girls & women's rights organizations took our brochures and were interested in self-defense classes, or even partnering with us.

All in all, it was quite a refreshing event. The keynote speaker, Robin Morgan, was awesome. I was reminded that women started the peace movement and we are the majority of the human species yet still not respected as we should be. I also learned that in many African languages, the word for woman is the same word as farmer. And until the 1940's genital mutilation was legal in the United States-- any woman who was caught masturbating or was thought to be in a romantic relationship with another woman was at risk!

I am really glad I went, it was good networking for our school as well as informative. Thank you to Shimei's Chrissy and Airn for helping out in the afternoon. To quote Robin's closing remarks, "We will be post-feminism when we are post-patriarchy."

- Shanna Swanson