The Wo/Men’s Leadership Forum at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA celebrated International Women’s Day with a full schedule of dialogue and artistic expression about empowering women to lead. Women and men from St. Mary’s, as well as the surrounding community of Moraga, gathered in De La Salle Hall to learn about the ways in which “building bridges” (the theme of the day) between women, between men, and among men and women, encourages each individual to connect with others in a way that promotes equality. Is this one sentence? I didn’t understand what the subject of the verb “encourages.” As Frances Sweeney, St. Mary’s Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, described in her welcome to participants, “Building Bridges is about meeting in the middle” and finding ways to “adjust” in order to truly connect with others in working towards social justice.
Shinnyo-en Foundation staff Abby Nathanson and Jason Boyce attended the Wo/men’s Leadership Forum and participated in the events. SEF sponsored registration for ten women from the community to attend the Forum and the Wo/men’s Leadership Forum director invited SEF staff to attend as guests. Some of the highlights included workshops offering many perspectives on leadership and diversity, including “The Rhythm of Leadership,” “Changing the World with the Tabla Drum” and the “Men as Allies Panel.” In “The Rhythm of Leadership” as well as “Changing the World with the Tabla Drum,” participants each played their own drum and pieced together a metaphor for leading and following through various rhythmic patterns. In the ensuing discussion on the metaphor of rhythm, participants reflected on the experience of non-verbally communicating with others through instruments. Many were struck by the ease with which turn-taking happens in a group of mostly strangers. The group concluded that creating harmony, within the drum circle as well as in life, means listening carefully to one another, anticipating next steps, and knowing when to lead and follow within a group.
During the “Men as Allies” Panel, eight St. Mary’s undergraduate men were asked to share their experiences of allyship with women on campus. The men, who were predominately men of color, spoke about their experiences of marginalization and the repercussions on the women in their lives. Many cited a socio-culturally constructed paradigm of ‘men as powerful and women as weak’ as the framework through which they learned about acceptable dynamics of power between men and women. Several of the panelists endured a difficult personal journey navigating their own masculinity as gay or bi-sexual youth and as a result, came to question many of the masculine stereotypes associated with men. These experiences encouraged them to deepen their understanding about feminine stereotypes and helped many of the panelists learn to understand “women’s ways of knowing and being” in the world. The panelists offered advice to other young men in the audience, suggesting that men learn to question their own stereotypes about notions of masculine and feminine and practice providing strong and sincere support for women on campus.
SEF supported 10 women from the MOMS Program (Maximum Opportunities for Mothers to Succeed, through the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office) to attend the Forum as another way of building bridges between St. Mary’s and the local community. Women from the MOMS Program, previously incarcerated, are now in the process of working to gain skills and resources to provide for their families and become productive members of society. During the Forum, MOMS discussed their desires to become strong leaders for themselves and their families. Many of the women in the MOMS Program took the opportunity to reflect on their goals and passions and shared their thoughts about the ways in which these could eventually become actualized.
SEF support of the St. Mary’s Wo/men’s Leadership Forum is one of many events in 2010 focused on empowering women. This, along with First Lady Maria Shriver’s Day at the Museum in Sacramento, CA, on March 4, 2010, lead up to the SEF co-sponsorship of the First Lady’s Women’s Conference in October 2010 in Long Beach, CA.