San Diego Community College District

Update: 3/13/2020 - All Women's History events have been canceled due to the coronavirus situation and the need for social distancing. 

The San Diego Community College District, San Diego City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges, and San Diego Continuing Education will celebrate Women’s History Month with exhibits, films, speakers, performances and more. Events beginning March 2 will honor the contributions and vital role of women in American history.

All events throughout the SDCCD are free and open to the public. Among them:

Throughout March

African Dolls: Fertility, Transformation, and Power
A World Cultures Gallery display will feature dolls used for fertility, initiation, and as power figures.
San Diego Mesa College, Learning Resource Center, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

100th Anniversary of the Vote
This display, celebrating the centennial of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, highlights the historical journey for women’s suffrage and contemporary concerns around voting and disenfranchisement.
San Diego Mesa College, Learning Resource Center foyer, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

Monday, March 2

11:10 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. - Women and Gender Bias in the Workplace
Students, professors and industry professionals will discuss their experiences of gender bias in the workplace and ways to fight against it.
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Wednesday, March 4

11:10 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. - Votes for Women Then and Now: The 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
A panel discussion celebrating the centennial of the Constitutional right of women to vote, with Jennifer Hernandez (Claremont Graduate University) and Michelle Rodriguez (The Johns Hopkins University). 
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Wednesday, March 11

6:30 to 9 p.m. - BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez
A screening of the critically acclaimed documentary, BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, about renowned poet and activist Sonia Sanchez, a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and inspiration to today's hip-hop and spoken word artists.
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Thursday, March 12

This event has been canceled - 9:35 to 11 a.m. - Ninth annual Gracia Molina de Pick Feminist Lecture Series
Featured guest and San Diego historian Josephine "Josie" Talamantez will lead a talk titled "Segregation, Racism, and Neglect that led to Chicano Park & the Monumental Murals becoming a National Landmark." The annual Gracia Molina de Pick Feminist Lecture Series honors the late-founder of the Mesa College Chicana/o Studies Department and recognizes her lifelong commitment to education, feminism, and dedication to the mission of the community college.
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Friday, March 13

Noon to 2 p.m. - Color, Light, Madness: Memorializing Women’s Resistance in Francoist Spain
Professor Jennifer Sime will discuss how women in 1930s and 1940s Spain resisted the brutality of the Franco regime and the modes of storytelling that underlie 21st century community projects. Themes will include memory and “feminine” forms of resistance involving color, eroticism, and madness.
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Tuesday, March 17

11:10 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. - Queering Up Sex Ed Part II
Join professors Mary Gwin, Gloria Kim, and Jaye Van Kirk as they deliberate how reproductive processes of the uterus are influenced by fallacies and errors of politics.
San Diego Mesa College, Mesa Commons (MC) 211, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Wednesday, March 18

9:30 to 11 a.m. - Panel presentation
Scheduled presenters and topics include anthropology professor Lauren McKown and history professor Mary Klann, who will present “Native Women Speak to Congress: Gender and Policy;” history professor Wendy Kinsinger who will talk about the life of Henrietta Lacks, whose cancer cells remain among the most important cell lines in medical research; and history professor Laura Sweeny, who will discuss civil rights visionary and investigative journalist Ida B. Wells.

San Diego Miramar College, Room L-105, 10440 Black Mountain Road, San Diego.

 

Friday, March 20

8 a.m. to 4 p.m. - City Women Rock
City Women Rock is a one-day summit dedicated to inspiring, encouraging and empowering community college women and leadership development.
San Diego City College, Saville Theatre, 14th and C streets, San Diego.

 

Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24

Noon to 2 p.m. - Stand, Protest, Sacrifice
This dance performance celebrates, honors and remembers the sacrifices of the many women and men who fought for women’s right to vote.
San Diego Mesa College, in front of the Learning Resource Center, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

 

Wednesday, March 25  

4 to 5:30 p.m. - Vagina Monologues (Bilingual performance)
A bilingual Spanish-English production of the Obie Award-winning tour of the forbidden zone. The Vagina Monologues is a collection of curated stories that reflect, revere and empower women of different life experiences.
San Diego Mesa College, Apolliad Theatre, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego.

Women’s History Month evolved from a local Women’s History Week celebration in Santa Rosa, Calif., in 1978. President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring a National Women’s History Week for the week of March 8, 1980. Congress in 1987 for the first time designated March as Women’s History Month, and presidents since 1988 have issued annual proclamations continuing that tradition.