In celebration of Women’s History Month, Long Beach City College hosted a kickoff event on Mar. 6, centered around the theme of “Women and Work,” a nod to the labor movement which is where the month-long celebration got its start.
The event was well-attended with people quickly filing into the conference room overlooking the athletic department’s impressive olympic sized pool.
As attendees loaded up their plates with catered Mediterranean cuisine and settled into their seats, Choir Director, Skye Angulo introduced her group who sang an angelic hymn called, “God is Seen.”
Central to the kickoff’s theme was the conversation on the wage gap which still exists between men and women in the workforce.
President Mike Munoz presented statistics that were met with proud applause.
“Women represent 57% of our students and 58% of our employees,” Munoz said. “So, I think it’s important to think about pay equity.”
He then handed off the mic to the kickoff’s keynote speaker, Robin S. Thorne, who owns a women-led construction company,CTI, a close partner of LBCC.
Thorne shared another set of statistics, which were met by a few sighs and head shakes.
“Women make up for only 27% of the jobs in STEM and just 15% in engineering,” Thorne said.
She went on to explain that through the success of her construction company, she has been able to start a nonprofit called, Demo Chics which seeks to expose young girls to the idea of seeking out careers in male-dominated fields such as construction and engineering.
“Diversity and inclusivity are not just buzzwords. They are integral parts of change,” Thorne said.
Shortly after, trustee Vivian Malauulu took the floor to give a rousing speech about her career as a longshore worker.
She shared an anecdote about a women’s conference that was held at the docks, to which someone asked her why there was a need in the first place.
“A man said to me, ‘what about a men’s conference?’ and I said, ‘brother, you’ve had a men’s conference for over 80 years,” Malauulu said. “The reason is to show young girls, because it’s hard to be what you can’t see.”
Malauulu also went on to highlight the fact that four of the five trustees at LBCC are women.
“Pray for trustee Uduak-Joe Ntuk,” Malauulu said with a laugh. “He has to deal with some strong personalities.”
The final speaker was Danielle Boyer, owner of the Steam Connection, which focuses on bringing digital literacy to indigenous youth.
“I’m using my skills (in STEM) to bring back the decision to choose our own paths,” Boyer said.
Boyer’s most popular invention is a language revitalization robot called a “Scobot,” which is being implemented to teach and maintain native languages to users so that their culture does not get lost.
Overall, the women’s kickoff event seemed to achieve its goal of highlighting the disparities that still exist for women in the workplace and uplift the voices of women who are making great strides to bring forth change in their respective fields.