In this section, The Advocate focuses on women of Contra Costa College for national Women’s History Month, as well as a brief look into the past during the easier times.

Around the world, women are celebrated for their economic, political and social achievements on March 8, International Women’s Day, but under Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, Congress passed a law which permanently designated the whole month of March as Women’s History Month.

“It’s important to remind girls that there are women in the past who have done amazing things and they can too make a difference,” business major Bailey Williams said.

Biology major Joanah Ajayi said this month celebrates women on an intellectual level, not based on appearances, but on achievements and accomplishments throughout history, as well as the struggles they overcame.

“It’s not about what she looked like. It was because she was smart,” she said.

Ajayi said, “To me, Women’s History Month says ‘stay strong.’ You got through so many obstacles as a woman of color. And you’re seen as less because of your gender.”

“They think you need help. She is a woman, she can’t finish her education, they think,” she said.

Ajayi said in her culture, as an African-American woman, it has been instilled that the man has the final say.

“I want to be someone who doesn’t need the approval of a man,” she said.

As a disenfranchised group, African-American women’s right to vote was fully enforced when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed.

Their contributions to society have paved the way for generations to come.

“Being a minority and a woman, it’s made me stronger — more resilient,” Williams said.

In another article in this section, the national gender equality campaign “Free the Nipple” makes its way to point out the double standard of the oversexualization of the nipple when it is connected to the female body and not its counterpart’s.

Here at CCC, the overall female enrollment was 3,791, compared to 2,551 male, Director of Admissions and Records Catherine Frost reported to The Advocate on Oct. 10, 2016.

Biomedical engineering major Karla Cortes said she noticed the lack of clubs on campus that were female-oriented, so she wanted to begin one that brought women together.

Woman Advancing Via Engineering and Science club was created, a group to bring women interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experience, due to the way they were brought up in their culture.