About the Women's Studies Committee

In 2000, the Women's Studies Committee was founded to promote the success of women at STC and its surrounding communities, and to join our efforts with similar ones around the world. In the intervening years, we have sponsored events to combat ignorance or indifference regarding issues that affect women's lives.

• We have for several years organized the Clothesline Project, which involves STC students in a campaign to raise awareness about violence against women; students use paint and chalk to write messages of protest and hope.
• We have co-sponsored a bilingual production of Eve Ensler's acclaimed play, The Vagina Monologues, in an effort to combat sexual violence against women.
• We frequently work with local organizations such as Mujeres Unidas (Women United) to bring hope and comfort to battered women of the Rio Grande Valley.

Another aim of our efforts has been to celebrate and empower women by providing them with the inspiration and support they need to be successful.

• We have worked with the local chapter of Dress for Success to teach women the skills they will need to be successful at a job interview.
• We air films that showcase the struggles and achievements of women from all over the world, and we highlight women from different cultures by sponsoring festivals that celebrate women from countries like India and Pakistan
• We have offered seminars taught by community leaders and experts in fields such as martial arts and self-defense; basic automotive maintenance and repair; and medical screening and health promotion to encourage women to be proactive, knowledgeable, and independent in their personal lives.

We have also forged bonds between the academic community and the community at large by holding scholarly conferences designed to educate the public on critical social concerns for women.

• We have sponsored many informational discussion forums on women and immigration, women and the workplace, and women and the legal system, among others, with discussion led by notable local professionals.
• We have hosted conferences on pertinent women's issues, such as our 2006 Women and War conference which fostered debate about the role of women in war and the effect of war on women.
• Our forthcoming 2007 conference about Sex Trafficking will focus on the horrific and increasingly prevalent criminal sexual exploitation of women and children around the world.

It is our greatest desire, as we continue this endeavor to engender heightened awareness about women's issues and an ever-increasing enlightenment on women's place in our society.