Workshops

1

Beauty: Our struggle with the way we look…

This workshop will analyze issues about self-confidence and women of color’s desire to be accepted and viewed as beautiful. This workshop hopes to help women answer and reflect on why there is a primary focus on attempting to become what we are not instead of embracing who we already are?

Facilitated by: Sigma Lambda Upsilon Sorority Inc.

Consent Ed

Consent Ed is a peer-to-peer education program that engages Cornell women in conversations about sexual consent, alcohol, and social responsibility.  In leading a frank discussion about sexual assault on our campus, we encourage women to employ the bystander intervention model, which we believe will increase campus social responsibility with respect to sexual assault.  Our workshop creates a safe space in which women can feel comfortable discussing how they view sex as it relates to alcohol.  Through open and effective communication, we offer women the tools to succeed through empowerment and opportunity.

Facilitated by: Jessica Beidelman and Morgan Bookheimer

For Colored Girls: A Stage Reading and Discussion

The Women of Color Conference Workshop Committee Presents: For Colored Girls – A Stage Reading and Discussion. Join the Workshops Committee as they present three poems from and lead a discussion on Ntozake Shange’s Tony Award winning play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Did you watch the play? The movie? Just interested in acting? Tell us what you think about Colored Girls!

Facilitators: WOCC Workshops Committee

Intersections of Queerness and Women of Color

Cornell’s Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and Questioning group will be hosting a break-off seminar where we will discuss stereotypes faced by women, women of color, queer women, and queer women of color. This will be an open discussion to which any person interested in equality and social justice can relate. How do we deal with the pressures to fit into a cultural mold? How to we break free from stereotypes, many of which come from within our own chosen community? Join us and our facilitators for an engaging discussion designed to push your limits and help you to understand how stereotypes affect all people, regardless of identity

Facilitated by: LBQ 

(In)Visibility: Asian American Women in the Media

Can you name three Asian American women who are not only in the media but are also role models? Unfortunately, not many can…yet.  Representatives from pan-Asian American organizations will examine characteristics of the typical role model and see if Asian American women in the media are given the opportunity to be portrayed as such. Our investigation will venture mainly into the realms of fashion, Wall Street, news, and government. This workshop will be discussion-based and full of imagery material to show you what the faces of what (in)visible Asian American women look like to the public eye.

Facilitated by: Catherine Jung, Elaine Lin, Karin Zhu, Sharon Lau, Siobhan Lee, Angela Jia and Vernice Arahan 

Life Writing Exercise

What if you could devise a single pithy affirmation that makes you feel strong in the very way you tend to feel weak? One that you will likely not forget and one that will likely come to mind right when you need it. Think in advance of the specific ways in which you tend to feel weak, then come prepared to affirm the opposite.

Facilitated by: Dean Myra Sabir

Lifting the Veil: Women in the Muslim World

Muslim women are often portrayed in a negative light by the media, showcased as victims of oppression and male dominance. In reality, around the world, Muslim women are breaking stereotypes and making extraordinary strides in a variety of fields. We hope to present the strength and accomplishments of exemplary women in Islam, as well as discuss the lives and hardships faced by women everywhere.

Organized by: Committee for the Advancement of Muslim Culture (CAMC), and Islamic Alliance for Justice (IAJ)

Facilitated by: Mariyah Ahmad, Sanya Hashmi, Ghalib Shaikh, Sofia Hossain, Umbar Sattar, Sara Rahman

Meditation Workshop

Below all the activity – down where life breathes without our help, it is calm. Find there, your inner resource for joy and peace and love; for organizing, even synchronizing life at the surface of things. Meditation may seem to be something that we do, but later we discover that it is simply what we are.

Facilitated by: Dean Myra Sabir

Sex in the Text–Women of the Bible

This workshop will explore several stories from the Old Testament that deal with women as both heroines and victims. We will look at these stories through a modern lens and base our discussion of women today on how they were portrayed in ancient times. While based on religious text, this workshop will not include any religious dogma.

Organized by Hillel

Facilitated by: Jordana Gilman and Lauren Nadler 

Since When Does a Flatiron Smell Like Marijuana? The Hairstory of Wanawake wa Wari Cooperative

Did you know that Wari played a significant role in the Willard Straight Hall Take Over or that it predates Ujamaa Residential College? Join the women of Wari as we share the history, and the hairstory, of the first and only housing cooperative for women of color on the Cornell campus. House members will share facts about the founding of Wari and the history of its 43 fruitful years of existence. And what about the hairstory you ask? The history lesson will be followed by a discussion on how to care for all different hair types.

Main facilitator: Waru Gichane (Vice President of Wari)

Taboo… Not So Taboo: Asian American Women and Sexuality

Sexual health and sexuality are topics rarely talked about in the Asian/ Asian American community. In this workshop we’ll shed light on societal stereotypes and cultural taboos. Together we’ll explore pathways towards embracing a sex positive outlook. Come to share an experience where we’ll explore, self-reflect and break the ice!

Organized by: Asian and Asian American Forum(AAAF)

Facilitated by: Aminta Liu and Co-Facilitator TBA

Teach for Equality of Gender, Race, and Education: Teach For America

This workshop will be comprised of women of color in the education field who have experienced the difficulties and/or successes that come with leading a school, classroom, and community. The speakers will give personal narratives which all women can learn from, while reflecting on the past, present, and future education system in terms of gender and racial issues. This speaker panel will give voice to the women who have worked hard to become teachers, professors, and administrators and bring awareness about educational, gender, and racial issues that affect them and the surrounding society. A moderated question and answer session will conclude the workshop.

Organized by: Teach for America

Facilitated by: Amanda Maass

The Essence of Presence:  Being a Key Figure In Your Community

What does your presence say about you? Are you self-serving or do you spend your time serving others?  Join the ladies of the Mu Gamma Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. as we explore the essence of public service. The workshop will feature a panel discussion from various organizations on Cornell University’s campus explaining how you can become a key figure in your community, simply by getting involved.

Organized by: The Mu Gamma Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Facilitated by: Arianna Bradley, Ariel Brown, Janet Nwaukoni, Samantha Scott, Raquel Smith

The State of the Black Woman…A TRUE Sister Circle

What does it mean to be a “true sista” in today’s society? What do we want? Where are we going? How do we see ourselves? Join us in a discussion of the status of Black Womanhood in present day America…taking a look at our various ethnic identities; the condition of our wealth and health; and analyzing our many roles as mother, sister, daughter, and our relationship with our men.

Organized by: The Black Women’s Support Network (BWSN)

Facilitated by: Arianna Bradley, Lauren St. Victor, Monet Bell, and Shannon Cohall

Transracial Adoption: Identity, Politics and Power

This workshop will provide an analysis of transracial adoption borrowing from critical race theory and adoptee narratives.  The floor will be open to discussion, to explore participants’ own experiences, viewpoints, or tensions.  Several critical questions will be presented around gender, identity, race, imperialism, politics, and the dynamics of power.  It will provide a forum for women of color adoptees’ voices to be brought to the center.

Facilitated by: Carrie Freshour

“Women Creating Change: Herstory, My Story, Our Story”: A Two Part Series

What makes someone “insert race/ethnicity here – enough”? As we strive to “belong” within our communities, whose expectations are we adopting? In Part I, join us for a presentation outlining the historical/social construction of race and racial identity and a discussion of how our own communities’ gender expectations may have developed through that construction.

In Part II, join us for an interactive discussion where we’ll explore how we may perpetuate and fight expectations, discuss the struggles we’ve experienced and the hurdles expectations may create, as well as how we can take back the power and redefine what it means to be a woman of color.

Facilitated by: Lambda Theta Alpha Sorority Inc.

**This workshop will span both sessions.

Women in the Workplace—Wage and Job Discrimination:  Where are we now?

Women of color have exerted great effort in society for racial equality while sometimes taking a back seat endeavor to gender equality. This workshop will take a historical look at women’s efforts for equality in the workplace in wage and power while isolating the specific issues affecting women of color during this journey.  Interactive discussion will explore how the traditional mindset of the role of women has possibly brought about discriminatory practices to the workplace in modern times, both noticed and unnoticed, that keep today’s women (of color) struggling for parity in a wage and power gap of disproportion.   We’ll examine what could be perceived as expected perpetrators and a trend of threatened and oblivious enactors.

Facilitated by: Sharon E. Harrington, M.A