A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria

In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue to slay!

Happy Women’s History Month! Join us in celebrating women, their lives, their stories and their resistance.

• Be sure to check out the Women’s Center’s Women’s History Calendar. There are great events and opportunities this month! Hope to see you some of the events!
• In case you needed it, this is your weekly reminder to stay on top of politics, question everything and resist. It’s difficult but your work helps us create a better future. Take a break from the TV and check out What the F*** Just Happened Today?, a chronicle of policy and decisions being made through the current presidency.
• Last week, Trump Signs New Order Blocking Arrivals From 6 Majority-Muslim Countries. Be sure to stay up to date on the issues revolving around this order which went into effect yesterday, March 16th. You can read about UMBC’s response here. (as an FYI, archived messages from the President and Provost of UMBC related to diversity and inclusion can be found on this page)
• UN Says World Faces Largest Humanitarian Crisis Since 1945. If you’re anything like me, you’re wonder what we can do about it. Here is a short list of things we can do. 
• Students at UCLA are trying to expand their school’s sanctuary campus policy to include queer, black and undocumented students. Check that out!! 
• Have you read Daniel Willey’s post, What Happened to the “Working” in International Working Women’s Day? yet? Check out this amazing read!
• Let’s talk about privilege! Here are 25+ Examples of Western Privilege. How can we start to unlearn them? Come on into the Women’s Center to chat!!

Provost Philip Rous and Vice Provost Simon Stacy came to the Women’s Center to pay us a visit!

Enjoy your Spring Break! See you in two weeks! Same place, same time! Stay safe and continue to slay! Happy Women’s History Month!

A reflection by Women’s center staff member, Kayla Smith.

Full disclosure: I’m a Beyonce stan. I support pretty much everything she does. There are very few things Beyonce can do that I wouldn’t damn near worship. Needless to say when she released pictures from her maternity shoot I was ready to bow down.

Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement on Instagram

I scrolled through her website looking at all the maternity pictures in awe. The symbolism of a black woman evoking the Virgin Mary and the goddess Venus was not lost on me as I looked through the pictures feeling overjoyed for her and hopeful for my own future. She looked regal and glowed  with pride. This pregnancy announcement was radically different from her first, and was shrouded in much less mystery. I was reminded that in 2015 Beyonce suffered a miscarriage and I was so happy that she could announce another pregnancy with confidence. I even lamented to my boyfriend hoping that I would be as beautiful as Beyonce whenever I decide to have kids.

Beyonce as the Goddess Venus, pictured with a bust of Nefertiti.

To my surprise, outside of the BeyHive bubble, not everyone responded to the maternity shoot in the same way I did. Comment threads are filled with comments that call the maternity shoot “tacky,” “extra,” and “self absorbed.” Articles were written criticizing not just the image, but Beyonce and the announcement itself.

I can understand criticism, and I’m sure Bey can handle it. But one article in particular really felt like something was off. The author calls the Instragram picture “a brave woman who has the optimism to kneel down in front of a million flowers, get their wedding veil back on again, and know that bar the bump, the rest of their body is in perfect condition. People, this is not what pregnancy looks like.” A stranger, telling the public that Beyonce’s actual pregnancy isn’t what a pregnancy looks like. The author invalidates the actual pregnant woman, who is controlling her exposure and the narrative surrounding her pregnancy, by saying that, because it doesn’t look the way she expects pregnancy to look, it isn’t valid. In the days following the announcement I found myself falling down the rabbit hole of reading more and more articles criticizing Beyonce and her announcement. My excitement for her began to fade, and I wondered if maybe she should have avoided the criticism all together by being less flashy, or less “extra.”

Beyonce being pregnant on a car. I’m not sure why, but I’m here for it.

I started to think about women who hide their pregnancies in order to avoid backlash from their employers and peers and the expectations thrust onto women about the proper way to compose themselves during their pregnancies and once they become mothers. In 2016, when Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave birth to her child, she didn’t tell anyone when she was pregnant because she didn’t want to “perform pregnancy.” She’s quoted saying, “I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy. We don’t expect fathers to perform fatherhood. I went into hiding. I wanted it to be as personal as possible.” Knowles-Carter and Adichie are both controlling the narrative around how much access the public has to their pregnancies.

I know I’m not nearly as famous as Beyonce or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so I’m probably not going to have any articles written about me whenever I get pregnant, but I will still be a black woman carrying a child in a society where people feel entitled to comment on a woman’s appearance and police how she carries herself. Black women are not only harshly criticized for their appearance, we are also subjected to racist perceptions around black pregnancy. There is the assumption that black women are someone’s “baby mama” or that the pregnancy was an accident. Black women are not afforded the same respect as other women when they decide to bear children.

Beyonce and her first child Blue.

I still have a lot of life to live before I have children, but in the digital age I wonder about what my own pregnancy announcement will look like, if I have one at all. Would I be willing to weather the storm of criticisms thrown at me or would I be more private? I often wonder what kind of mom I will be on social media. Will I be Beyonce, performing pregnancy from the day of my pregnancy announcement to the child’s birth or will I be Adichie, and keep the public away from the very personal and miraculous process that is pregnancy?

Two years ago, when I decided I wanted to have kids one day, I fantasized about telling anyone who would listen about my pregnancy; however, after seeing the backlash women of color face online it’s easy to understand why it would be tempting to keep a pregnancy quiet altogether.

Beyonce being flawless during her Grammy’s performance.

This is where I come back to Beyonce. Instead of covering her pregnant belly up when she performed at the Grammys, she evoked the image of a Nigerian fertility goddess. She performed covered in gold and jewels, literally beaming like the sun. She took every criticism about being over the top and threw it all right back at her critics.

Women of color are already told how to act, how to sound, how to dress, and how to treat other people;however, like Beyonce, I refuse to let society tell me how to carry a child.

 A post by staff member Daniel Willey

Wednesday, March 8th marked International Working Women’s Day and the Women’s Strike, or the Day Without Women. On that day, women were encouraged to not work or shop and wear red in solidarity as a way of protesting inequality and showing women’s economic impact.

Protest organizers Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez arrested at New York protest on Wednesday

But, International Working Women’s Day has always been a day for striking. The first time this day was observed in 1908, women marched in New York City against poor working conditions and low wages. The observance of International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) spread quickly to other countries as a part of socialist movements and, eventually, as protests against WWI. In 1917, women, joined by female textile workers and eventually working men, gathered in the Russian capital to protest living and working conditions– a day which would spark the Russian revolution.

It is in honor of this history and this tradition that I write this blog.

There have been a lot of critiques of this year’s IWWD Women’s Strike. I’ve read about how only privileged women who can afford time off or have the job stability will participate. Prince George’s county schools closed on Wednesday because so many of their teachers requested the day off, leaving poor kids without school lunch and breakfast and working parents with nowhere to put their kids. Some just plain argue that the strike is a symbolic gesture and that it’s effectively useless as a strategy.

I’d like to make a different critique: when International Working Women’s Day becomes International Women’s Day, we lose the incredible power of the strike and deny the history paved by women in labor movements.

Okay, so let me take a step back and talk about labor and strikes for a second. In a capitalist economic system like the U.S, there are people who own the means of production (the tools that produce a product or perform a service such as factories, machinery, equipment, office space, etc) and there are people who sell their labor for a wage and work with this equipment or office space to produce the product or offer the service. For example, the owner of a manufacturing company (the capitalist) owns all the factories and resources necessary to make their product, but they must buy labor from workers in order to make this product. Of course, this system is a bit more complicated than that but that’s the basic gist.

So, if the capitalist wants to turn a profit, which most business owners do, they have to figure out how to make a product for cheaper than it can be sold. The ways of doing this are buying materials cheaply, paying for labor cheaply, or selling a product at a higher price. Nobody wants to buy an expensive product, so the capitalist generally relies on the first two ways. It is not in the interest of the capitalist to pay high wages or provide benefits to workers UNLESS…

Chicago Teacher’s Union Strike 2016

UNLESS the workers refuse to work without them. This is where the strike draws its power. An essential part of what makes a union effective is that it is a collective tool: a worker refusing to work because of low wages gets fired and replaced; a workforce refusing to work shuts down the business and stops production and sales. It is the collectivity and the organization of a labor union which protects the individuals within and makes a strike an effective tool.

Herein lies my argument: labor simply isn’t organized the way it used to be and the individualistic approach we take to labor in general–and to this year’s women’s strike– diminishes the power we have as workers. The people who go on strike are traditionally the most at-risk, not the most privileged. When we say the women’s strike is only for privileged women, we actually mean that there is no collectivity or organization of women workers which will protect the most vulnerable of women. We mean that there is no general Women’s Union which will negotiate with employers on their behalf. We mean that we no longer view labor as a tool we can leverage but as something we owe to our employer for allowing us to live. Many women chose to go to work on Wednesday because they viewed their work as too important. Teachers, childcare providers, nurses, and others went to work regardless of whether they could strike. But that’s kind of the point of the strike– to say “You can’t survive without my labor so you had better treat me that way.”

I mean, I get it. The Women’s Center remained open because we wanted to be there for women and others on such an important day and we wanted to provide programming which would uplift and educate the community. We view the work we do as not only essential but also coming from our own sense of duty and morals, not necessarily a way to earn a living. But sometimes I feel like the incredible amount of personal and emotional resources my coworkers pour into the work they do get taken for granted and I wish they, and the Center, got more recognition for that.

I love the idea of a general Women’s Strike, but I think it must be organized on the principles of labor organizing and push against individualist approaches in order to be most effective. We must make demands for the benefit of black women, indigenous women, disabled women, undocumented women, mothers, and caregivers and all women must strike until these demands are met.   

Women workers in New York strike to demand safer working conditions after a fire kills 146 Triangle Shirtwaist factory workers

Women have always been prominent in labor movements. Garment and textile workers, laundresses, and many other industrial manufacturing jobs were populated almost entirely by women. Following the famous Triangle Shirtwaist fire which killed nearly 150 women in 1911, 20,000 women went on strike to demand safer conditions. We can’t afford to lose the “working” in International Working Women’s Day because it ignores the impact of labor organizing by women on anything from maternity leave to the Russian revolution.

So what comes next? Learn about labor history. Join your student union. Support workers rights and current labor movements. Use your privilege to support and advocate for marginalized people in your workplace. Talk to people about your salary and encourage others to share theirs. And remember: never cross a picket line.

A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria

In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue to slay!

Happy Women’s History Month! Join us in celebrating women, their lives, their stories and their resistance.

• Be sure to check out the Women’s Center’s Women’s History Calendar. There are great events and opportunities this month! Hope to see you some of the events!
• In case you needed it, this is your weekly reminder to stay on top of politics, question everything and resist. It’s difficult but your work helps us create a better future. Take a break from the TV and check out What the F*** Just Happened Today?, a chronicle of policy and decisions being made through the current presidency.
• This week, Trump Signs New Order Blocking Arrivals From 6 Majority-Muslim Countries. Be sure to stay up to date on the issues revolving around this order going into effect March 16th. You can read about UMBC’s response here. (as an FYI, archived messages from the President and Provost of UMBC related to diversity and inclusion can be found on this page)
• Need some light feminist reading? Check out “11 Offensive Phrases You Didn’t Realize Are Fat Shaming.” Learn about fat shaming and how we can combat fat shaming in our words.

The Women’s Center staff members, Loretta Ross and friends on International Women’s Day.

See you here, next week! Same place, same time! Stay safe and continue to slay! Happy Women’s History Month!

The Women’s Center at UMBC turns 25 this year! We’re excited to share our important milestone with UMBC’s 50th Anniversary and will be celebrating throughout the year with the rest of campus! We were inspired by Special Collections archival project Archives Gold: 50 Objects for UMBC’s 50th and decided to do our own digging into the Women’s Center archives. Over the course of the year, we’ll be sharing 25 “Then vs Now” archives to celebrate the origin and evolution of the Women’s Center at UMBC.

This week we’re featuring the history of the Women’s Center supporting working moms and student parents! 

Since our opening in 1991, the Women’s Center has continually been dedicated to UMBC mother’s and returning students. Long before it was mandatory by policy, the Women’s Center has had a lactation room in our space to supporting nursing moms returning back to work and school. Early in our history, we hosted monthly Mother’s Group meetings and served as a safe-haven for moms to come together sharing both their challenges and successes with each other as they navigated parenthood. Lasting friendships between participants formed and it was empowering to know moms on campus could connect and advocate for themselves and each other. The Women’s Center also hosted a list-serv for these parents to continue connecting with each other sharing resources like childcare, the most reliable sitters, and recommended pediatricians.

Kiddos and moms hanging out in the Women’s Center in 2000

Today, the Women’s Center no longer hosts a face-to-face mother’s group meeting but we do host an online forum via myUMBC for parents to connect with each other and share resources (such as the childcare resource guide the Women’s Center manages and updates from year to year). All UMBC parents are encouraged to join. We always welcome little ones into our space and at our events – especially if it means their parents get to spend time in the Women’s Center too! On snow days when UMBC is open and local school districts are closed, your bound to see a Little Retriever or two hanging out in our space with their parents in between their classes. The lactation room is always busy and we work hard to accommodate everyone’s hectic schedules. Many student parents also find a home and support through our Returning Women Students events, programs, and scholarships.  Women’s Center staff also serves as the staff advisor for the new Parents Club student organization. UMBC student parents are encouraged to join the group and can learn more here.

A Little Retriever playing in the Women’s Center during a recent Parents Club meeting.

The lactation room in the Women’s Center. Did you know we recently were awarded the Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Award?

What are the memories you have of the Women’s Center over the years that are meaningful to you? What does the Women’s Center mean to you today? Share your memories and pictures with us in the comment section below!

Stay up-to-date with our 25th anniversary on social media using #UMBCWC25. Share your Women’s Center experiences and memories with the UMBC community using #UMBCWC25 AND #UMBC50!

 A reflection by Michael Jalloh-Jamboria, Women’s Center student staff member

Saturday, February 12th was the 59th Grammy awards show. The show featured many musical performances and winners, most notably,Beyoncé. At the time of her performance, not only was she pregnant, but she delivered a kickass performance, defied gravity, all the while channeling some major West African, Latin American, and Christian spiritual imagery during her performance. 

In both Santeria and West African spirituality, the Goddess Oshun is the goddess of sweet waters–the embodiment of love, fertility, and sensuality. Her love and guidance were instrumental to the creation of the world, so much so that other Orisha (gods and goddesses) were unable to complete their work on earth without Oshun.  After Beyonce’s amazing performance, Twitter was going wild with the comparisons between Beyoncé and the goddess Oshun.

Beyoncé’s performance, her golden outfit, the fact that she was very pregnant, and the influx of Twitter comparisons reminded me of an earlier blog post I had written about my journey of religion and its intersections with my identities. Growing up, my parents loved to tell me stories of the Orisha, or gods and goddesses, and how they created the earth. While I was raised Muslim, my parents never separated our West African spirituality from our Muslim religion. Beyoncé’s performance got me thinking about how different my religion is from my spirituality. While it can be a strange balance, both my religion and my spirituality are important aspects of my identity. But I realized, within the social spaces I occupy, I don’t really talk about those parts of my identity. From there, I began to think about whether or not religion has a place in feminism.

I’ve felt like I can’t talk about my religion and spirituality in feminist and social justice oriented spaces. I’ve been talked over and shut down when I’ve decided to share the ways in which my beliefs have helped me in my expansion of feminist knowledge and activism.

Believe me, I get it. The patriarchy is everywhere! It would be naive to think that religion is exempt from the influences of male supremacy and systematic oppression. But it is important to remember that religious feminists aren’t free from that oppression. We don’t get a pass because we follow that particular faith. None of us can ignore the ways that the perpetuation of sexist interpretations affect us in religious spaces.

Religious feminists have had to grapple with our religion and our identity as feminists. We are cognizant of when and how to speak out against oppression. We work within a system of naysayers and oppressors just to get access to some of the resources that others have. There is still so much work to be done, and the treatment of religious feminists as other hurts everyone, regardless of their religion.

Coalition building between religious and non-religious folks is important. At a time where religious freedom is being targeted, it’s important to make sure that intolerance is not being perpetuated anywhere, but especially within feminist and social justice oriented spaces.

It’s strange to think that religion could shape some of my feminist beliefs. But actually, as I reflect on some of the basic pillars of Islam, there are parallels with how I engage in activist spaces and feminism. For me, simple everyday good deeds turned into wanting to do good for others, especially those less privileged then me. My activism is driven by the thought that putting good energy into the world will be returned. My feminism is filled with love for people, their identities, their lives and their needs, similar to the way that my faith has taught me to love my neighbor and fellow human beings!

During this time of chaos and violence, I’ve also been interested in the crucial ways religion and spirituality helps us heal. After the presidential election, many of us took some time to care for ourselves. For some of us, healing was eating, being angry, planning for the difficult times to come, or crying. While for others, healing included asking our elders how we should proceed, bowing our heads to ask for guidance, lighting a candle or two (or 50), or crying (there was a lot of crying.) No matter how we did it, we all needed to heal and digest the situation before we could get back to our kickass activism. Also, some of us are still healing, and that’s totally valid! Recognizing that our communities needed (or still need) some down time is important as we try to create space for those of different faiths. Similarly, feminists that assume that their religious counterparts are dismissive of social justice issues within their own faith is hard work but it can be done.

While some of us use the power of Beyoncé’s music to heal and process, it’s important to make space for those of us who heal, learn and pray in different ways. As our understanding of feminism and social justice expands, we must continue to incorporate intersectionality into the way we engage with each other.

For more work on the intersections of feminism and Muslim identity, check out “My Hijab Has Nothing To Do With Oppression. It’s A Feminist Statement“. Also, what is the status of women as religious leaders within the US? Check out his Huffington Post article to find out more!