(SAN FRANCISCO, CA.)- The Women’s History Month Celebration took place at city hall yesterday, co-hosted by the Executive Director of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women Dr. Diana Aroche and Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The celebration opened with two demonstrations.
One was from the Red Lightning Woman Power group, an intertribal singing collective that spoke of the “Relocation Act of the 50s and 60s that brought their people to San Francisco” in order to honor Native American history.
Video Credit: YouTube
The other performance was executed by representatives of Tiger Palm, a Shaolin Kempo organization that provides training to youth in District 10.
Photo Credit: YouTube
Dr. Aroche, as the moderator for the event, introduced the celebration next and emphasized how "rising in power is about women stepping into leadership and shaping policy, building movements, strengthening communities, redefining what leadership looks like for generations to come”. She went on to say that women are “politicians, defending court cases, and passing laws and at the end of the day, trying to tuck their children in back at home”.
She also drew attention to the recent events surrounding Delores Huerta, a labor rights activist who recently revealed the sexual abuse she endured from co-founder of the United Farm Workers union Cesar Chavez. Dr. Aroche recognized the impact Huerta has had on UFW workers.
Mayor Lurie continued the introduction, celebrating the March 18th publication of the Women’s Agenda for San Francisco. The aim of this new document is to serve as “a citywide framework designed to advance gender equity and improve outcomes for women, girls, and non-binary people across the City and County of San Francisco”.
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar was featured as a speaker for her efforts in championing women’s rights and protections within San Francisco. She acknowledged that we live in “a time of reckoning…We are facing a federal administration that are hell-bent on erasing our wins surrounding voting rights, healthcare, and protections in the workplace and from abusers”. In contrast to this, Supervisor Melgar emphasized all the good that San Francisco is doing to support women in particular, and used as a case study her story as a child immigrant from El Salvador to become an active member of the government.
Furthermore, the call from all the Supervisors for the Citywide Action Plan on a Women’s Advancement and Gender Equity Agenda was put forth by Supervisor Melgar, as it lays out initiatives on health, safety, civic advancement and community engagement, and economic mobility and security.
Photo Credit: YouTube
5 awardees also had the chance to speak due to their service to the community in a variety of ways. Those who were honored included Olga Talamante for empowerment, Leah Mordehai and Emily Gorodetskiy for human rights, LaVerda Allen for workplace equity, and Dr. Nicole Barnett for “woman changing the world”.
Aisha Rae McCulloch, San Francisco Vice Youth Poet Laureate, gave a spoken word poetry performance to close out the celebration. In her closing lines, she said, “We raise our voices, we shout and release oxygen, which is to say we are the one thing our society needs”.
Overall, the celebration was a diverse display of San Francisco female empowerment alongside a representation of the numerous current and upcoming policy efforts for the benefit of women. This event joins others within that have occurred in the area, such as San Francisco's Black History Month celebration or Sacramento's Pi Day Tradition.
Submit comments and story ideas to Enya Niebergall at enya.n@lead4earth.org
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