To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Women’s Resource Center is sponsoring several motivational and inspirational events.
Beverly McPhail is the director of the WRC and has worked with several professors and departments within the University to put together these shows and performances.
“We do our young women a disservice on some level,” McPhail said. “We’re trying to raise women’s consciousness, raise awareness and empower them.”
One of the events, Perfection and Tiger Moms, is co-sponsored by Asian-Americans Against Domestic Violence and the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association. It will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. on March 31 in the Pacific Room at the University Center Underground.
Californian filmmaker Karen Lin, along with counselors from the Counseling and Psychological Services Center, will be present to discuss Lin’s film “Perfection.” The film addresses the pressure to excel that is often felt by many Asian-Americans, among others.
“You are not alone in feeling that often overwhelming pressure to be the perfect daughter, perfect student, perfect colleague, perfect partner and overall perfect woman,” Lin said in an e-mail interview. “Find outlets for this pressure, whether it be friends to talk to, meditation, exercise or even professional help, whatever works best for you.”
Similar types of issues are highlighted in the memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” by Amy Chua. Such pressures will be one of the topics in the discussion section of the event.
“I see this phenomenon in a lot of our South Asian, Indian, Nigerian and a lot of immigrant students,” McPhail said. “There’s just this high pressure to succeed, but sometimes it can taken to such an extreme. There’s probably a balance, but we’re going to have a discussion about these issues.”
A second event on March 31 will be a live performance by MilDred Gerestant. A question and answer session will follow.
“This woman is going to be talking about her male alter-ego,” McPhail said. “I think it will be a really fun performance that will just sort of play with gender.”
Gerestant uses poetry and movement as a way to express her male persona and explain her refashioning on gender notions.
Sima Shakhsari, a postdoctoral fellow, worked with the WRC to book the event.
“Her performance is more than a drag show,” Shakhsari said in an e-mail interview. “As an educator, she makes her audience think about the meanings of manhood and womanhood and the racial connotations of these categories.”
A showing of MilDred Gerestant’s “I am the One I Always Wanted to Marry: A One-Woman Performance” will be held at 6:30 p.m. on March 31 in the Dudley Recital Hall of the Fine Arts Building.
“Women have come a long way and a lot of people say we’ve achieved equality, but we’re not quite there yet,” McPhail said. “I like to think that there’s still challenges so our work is still to inform women and empower women.”
The Women’s Resource Center is located in room 279A at the UC. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. More information can be found on their website, www.uh.edu/wrc.
