Women’s Awareness Month

March 1- March 31, 2024

March is Women’s History Month – commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

Please join the MCC Chapter for American Association of Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC)
in acknowledging some of the women who have or are making impactful changes
in today’s community or society world-wide.

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it, possibly without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
Maya Angelou

 

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez born on October 13, 1989 in Bronx, New York, also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of the Democratic Party.

Clara Barton

Everyone has heard of the American Red Cross, but did you know that Clara, the founder of the organization, established the very first American Red Cross chapter in Dansville, NY? Clara risked her life to bring medical supplies to soldiers on the battlefield during the Civil War. On a trip to Europe after the war, she was introduced to the international Red Cross. She saw that the American Red Cross could help in crises other than war, such as earthquakes, fires, and hurricanes. In 1881, Clara started the first local Red Cross in the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Dansville, NY. She led the organization for twenty-three years. 

+Danica Anthony Roem

Danica Anthony Roem, born on September 30, 1984 from Manassas, Virginia is an American journalist and politician of the Democratic Party. In the 2017 Virginia elections she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, winning the Democratic primary for the 13th district on June 13, and the general election on November 7.

Ellen Stubbs

You may recognize her name from her work locally, but Ellen’s work stretches far beyond Rochester, NY. Combining her love for travel with her passion for social justice, Ellen extended her advocacy internationally. She served as a delegate to the 1995 United Nations (UN) Conference on the Status of Women in Beijing, China, and attended the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. 

These events led to the UN establishing a Platform for Action for women’s empowerment and a declaration against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. Ellen’s quiet dedication and global impact have been recognized through a number of local, national, and even international awards for her humanitarian service.

Emma Gonzalez

Emma Gonzalez  born on November 11, 1999 in the United States is an American activist and advocate for gun control. As a high school senior they survived the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, and in response co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.

 

Gladys Mae West

Gladys Mae West (née Brown; born 1930) is an American mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Greta Tintin Eleonora EmmanThunberg

Greta Tintin Eleonora EmmanThunberg  born on January 3 in Stockholm, Sweden is a Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation. Thunberg’s activism began when she persuaded her parents to adopt lifestyle choices that reduced their own carbon footprint.

Hilda Cathy Heine

Hilda Cathy Heine born on April 6, 1951 at Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands is a Marshallese educator and politician, who served as the eighth President of the Marshall Islands. Prior to assuming office, she served as the Minister of Education.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim born on 1984  is a Chadian environmental activist and geographer. She is the Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad and served as the co-director of the pavilion of the World Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative and Pavilion at COP21, COP22 and COP23.

Kamala Devi Harris

Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ (listen) KAH-mə-lə DAY-vee;[3][4] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 49th and current Vice President of the United States. She is the United States’ first female vice president, the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, and the first African American and first Asian American vice president.

Linda Sue Park

You may recognize her name from books you read in school! Linda Sue is the author of A Long Walk to Water and inspired children all over the world to raise money to build wells that provide safe, drinkable water in the villages of South Sudan. She also advocates for inclusivity in children’s books and her work has made it easier for parents and children to find books that represent them. Linda says that Brighton Memorial Library is one of the “libraries that have saved me, where I have been a regular patron.”

 

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai, often referred to mononymously as Malala, born on July 12, 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan and by her married name Malala Yousafzai Malik is a Pakistani activist for female education and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is also the world’s youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and second Pakistani to ever receive a Nobel Prize.

Mara Ahmed

If you’ve seen the films A Thin Wall or The Muslims I Know, you’ve enjoyed the work of Mara. She is a multimedia artist and activist filmmaker whose work breaks boundaries, shifts assumptions, and inspires dialogue– and she developed her craft at local universities like Nazareth College and Rochester Institute of Technology. Her documentaries focus on personal narratives invisibilized by mainstream media, engaging international audiences on subjects as diverse as the partition of India and racism in contemporary America.

Mildred Johnson

Mildred Johnson was a longtime Civil Rights activist in Rochester. Born in Brighton, she attended school in the city and graduated from the old West High School. Her family then moved to Washington, D.C. After attending Howard University, Mildred returned to Rochester in 1953 and became active in the local NAACP.

Rhiana Gunn-Wright

Rhiana Gunn-Wright born on 1988 is the Climate Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institute. She has worked with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an author of the Green New Deal. Gunn-Wright was educated at Yale, before becoming a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in 2013.

Serena Jameka Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981)^[1] is an American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women’s single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all-time behind Margaret Court (24). The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.