Vanier College celebrates its 35th International Women’s Week

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Sex workers, intersexuality, women in sports, women in veils, women in engineering – they are all up for discussion during the 35th annual Vanier College International Women’s Week, from March 3 to 7, 2014.  Every day offers fascinating guest speakers, films, discussions and presentations.

Tattoo artists will share their experiences as women tattoo artists; a game designer will speak about women, gaming and game design; and Wiccan High priestess Meri Fowler will discuss women’s empowerment within Wicca, a Goddess-centered spirituality.

Vanier students are also among the guest speakers. Karina Bagryan, a Building Systems Engineering Technology graduate and current Engineering student at Concordia University, wants to encourage students to consider a future in engineering. Fatima Boulmalf, the Vanier College Students Association Social Justice Officer, will address the impact of Bill 60 on Muslim women and how it will undermine their financial stability and impede their individual rights.

A panel of U.M.B.R.E.L.L.A. members aims to share their experiences and attitudes as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender college students; another guest will describe Stella, a community organization operated by and for sex workers, explain how sex workers protect their health and safety, and discuss the Supreme Court decision removing barriers to prostitution. Also on the program: intersexuality the term used to refer to people born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female or male. Another talk will explore violence prevention, healthy relationships and healthy masculinity;

Vanier anthropologist, Jacky Vallée’s presentation takes a look at Sex, lies and evolution: A feminist perspective on the evolution of sex and gender, while Vanier’s Joshua Berman and Marc Bélanger expose the differences in how the media covers men’s and women’s sports events.

One of the highlights of the week is Françoise David, from Québec solidaire, who will speak on feminism, politics and International Women’s Day. Jessica Deer and Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte will close the week-long event with a talk on the Kahnawake Youth Forum’s ongoing cultural appropriation awareness campaign and its connections to violence against Indigenous women.

Other events include dance workshops; information booths on women and nutrition and on how to reduce violence against women; and a film festival that features the Oscar-winning The Lady in Number 6, Girls in the Band - untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists, and Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Super heroines, that traces the legacy of Wonder Woman the 1940s comic book super heroine.