Many around the world celebrated International Women’s Day on Monday, including one organization in Manhattan.
The Manhattan Branch of the American Association of University Women held a panel of four women speakers from countries across the world who are now living in Manhattan. The panelists spoke about their experiences in America compared to their homelands, as well as why they chose Manhattan. Usha Reddi, Co- Vice President of the AAUW in Manhattan, says the fight for gender equality needs to continue and days of celebration like this are important.
“We need to continue the fight to make, not only for gender equity, but also healthcare, education across the platform, especially for young girls who are trying to go into STEM fields or professional careers and just need that mentorship and support,” Reddi says.
The annual event was held via Zoom this year and featured four panelists: Argentina native, Laura Belezerco, Rose Ndegwa of Kenya, Niloufar Fattahi formally of Iran, and Jamaica native, Sidonia McKenzie.
To begin the session, the women spoke about their journey to Manhattan, Kansas. Laura Belezerco, says she came to Manhattan seven years ago, following her husband’s job, and says she enjoys the community.
“When we moved here, we said ‘This is a wonderful place to retire’,” Belezerco says. “Our children live in Austin, Texas and so we can drive there, and so it’s a wonderful fit for us.”
A current Kansas State PhD candidate in Economics and former Jamaica native, Sidonia McKenzie, says she came to the area for schooling at Kansas State University.
“The support and the professors were just exceptional so I chose to take up this offer as opposed to the other offers that I had,” McKenzie says.
All four panelists say they were in shock seeing how small the cities were upon their arrival in America. Ndegwa speaks more on her experience in Concord, New Hampshire.
“I remember just getting out of my hotel when I arrived and asking someone ‘Where is the city?’, and they said, ‘Well you’re in the main street.’, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, okay.'”
Ndegwa says while the size did surprise her, she says a pleasant surprise that came with that was the friendliness of everyone. Fattahi, a current PhD candidate and Research Assistant at Kansas State, says she likes the small communities.
“I like it now, like the peace, and like, you’re not in traffic, something that was a part of my life all the time,” she says.
Fattahi adds that in her former country of Iran, it would take roughly two hours to drive ten miles to school.
Throughout the evening, all four panelists had the chance to share their journey to America and answer questions from the public. One question that was asked dealt with racism in their homelands as compared to racism in America. Ndegwa, says racism was not a thing in Kenya and she didn’t think about the issue until she was asked about it in America.
“I stopped in my tracks and I said, come to think of it, I’ve not even thought that anything bad that would happen to me I would see it through the lens of race. You could literally slap me across the face and I’d just think you’re just a bad person, that’s what you are. I would not have to put it in the lens of race because I don’t have that experience. I did have experience with good people and bad people and that’s the way I see it.”
Sedonia McKenzie says she agrees with Rose.
“It’s not something that I’m used to, so I just think okay, I wouldn’t go to the grocery store and think that if somebody cut me in the line that, that was racism,” McKenzie says. “That’s not something that I’m used to, like Miss Rose, I would just assume that, that person was rude.”
Both panelists add that since they have moved to America, the mindsets of racism have shifted slightly and now they do put racism into question when people treat them differently.
The Manhattan AAUW continues to celebrate women and plans to host another panel for International Women’s Day in March of 2022. To learn more, visit manhattan-ks.aauw.net.
