MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2014 Activities by Category - Women's Issues

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Advancing Toward the Equality of Women and Men

David Gray

Jan/20 Mon 07:00PM-09:00PM W11-155 ComRoom
Jan/22 Wed 12:00PM-02:00PM W11-155 ComRoom

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

What is identity? How is it defined by our current society? What role does it play in the pursuit of gender equality? Come explore these and other related topics in a roundtable discussion over a meal on the document ‘Advancing Toward the Equality of Women and Men’ authored by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity. Using the document as a framework, we will discuss important subjects such as identity, cultural relativism, the historical forces that have shaped the way people experience power differently, the role of media, and why the equality of women and men is of vital concern to all. The facilitators have experience working with various academic, NGO and faith-based representatives on these topics throughout the United States, Canada and particularly in Washington, D.C. No background is needed on the subject to participate. The rich expertise of all will be valuable to the conversation. Lunch on January 22 and dinner on January 20 will be provided.

Sponsor(s): Bahai Association
Contact: David Gray, (617) 413-0845, dgray@mit.edu


AMITA Women and Mentoring

AMITA, Association of MIT Alumnae

Jan/30 Thu 07:00PM-09:00PM R&D Common Bldg. 32

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required

AMITA, the Association of MIT Alumnae, invites women undergraduate and graduate students to an informal night of networking with MIT alumnae. We'll talk about life choices and our experience with selecting grad schools, integrating family life and career. Join us for supper and networking in a friendly and supportive environment. We'll provide alumnae, tables, topics --and pizza supper. Please pre-register so we'll have enough food. Student registration is FREE.

Register today!

Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU


HTML5 Game Workshop

Irene Chen

Jan/13 Mon 02:00PM-03:30PM 4-257
Jan/15 Wed 02:00PM-03:30PM 4-257
Jan/17 Fri 02:00PM-03:30PM 4-257

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/06
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: no programming experience needed; targeted toward beginner

Learn to make a basic HTML5 game! Across three sessions, we will (1) cover
the basics of the HTML/CSS/JS needed to make a game, (2) build the game of
snake together, and (3) work together in a workshop to build a game of your
choice!

Advanced signup preferred but drop-ins at the first session also welcome.

Please sign up at 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uet7pQ0vn-RyM3N9oFd6iG7N8_pZ0OxSiJXO1JQB2Us/viewform

 

Sponsored by the HKN Women's Outreach Committee.

Sponsor(s): Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Irene Chen, html5-staff@mit.edu


I love the 80s & 90s - Cult Classics: When Women Ruled the Big Screen

Heidy Gonzalez, WGS Program Manager

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: Register at http://wgsiap.weebly.com

Before Sex in the City, Twilight  and The Hunger Games became movie franchises, we had a long history of strong, complicated, and kick-ass leading women in film. Feminist film critics often lament the end of the "good old days" when women were presented as strong, capable, intelligent and complex characters (you know…human). During this IAP series we will examine the portrayal of women in cult classic films of the 80s and 90s. After the films we will ask: How were women portrayed in these films? What messages did we receive about what it meant to be a young woman during that time? What are the major themes of the films? Has anything changed since then? How are people of color portrayed in these films? Um, are there people of color in these films? What stereotypes are maintained and/or challenged in these films? Did these film break any barriers? Finally, why do these films have such a strong cult following?

Sponsor(s): Women's and Gender Studies, Student Activities Office
Contact: Heidy Gonzalez, 14E-316, 617 253-2642, HEIDY@MIT.EDU


Jan/15 Wed 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

- When Molly Ringwald ruled the world.
Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Breakfast Club (1985)


Jan/17 Fri 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

- The Dangers of Babysitting.
Adventures in Babysitting (1987) and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)


Jan/22 Wed 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

- What do young women want?
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) and Teen Witch (1989)


Jan/24 Fri 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

-Kicking ass and taking names.
The Terminator (1984) and Alien (1979)


Jan/27 Mon 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

-Going rogue: female assassins.
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and Point of No Return (1993)



Jan/29 Wed 05:00PM-08:00PM Cheney Room (3-310)

-The beginning of the end?
Thelma and Louise (1991) and Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines (2012)


Negotiating for Women

Katie McCune, Career Assistant, Sharri Harmel, Career Assistant

Jan/21 Tue 03:00PM-04:00PM 4-159

Enrollment: Registration through CareerBridge

MIT women, have you thought about salary negotiation but aren’t sure how you can be effective? Do you know the costs of avoiding a negotiating a job offer? Are you just not sure where to start? Despite the fact that women have achieved greater equality in the workplace, we still negotiate much less often than men, and this is one of the factors that contributes to a 33% wage gap for women! This workshop provides strategies to successfully negotiate salary, as well as engage in other work-place negotiations. This workshop is open to undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and alumni.  Advanced registration requested via CareerBridge: https://www.myinterfase.com/mit/student

Sponsor(s): Global Education and Career Development
Contact: Katie McCune, 12-170, 617-253-4744, kmccune@mit.edu


Nuns and Writers in the Colonial Americas

Jimena Castro Godoy, Visiting Researcher at BU, Latin American Studies

Jan/15 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM 66-156, With a short break in the middle

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13

In this session we will explore the context and the writings by four nuns of Mexico, Peru, Chile and Spain of the 17th century. We will deepen into how they struggled to become writers in a very regulated environment and also get to understand their feelings, thoughts and the message they tried to communicate despite the male control that reigned in that moment of history.

Sponsor(s): SpousesandPartners@mit
Contact: Jimena Castro Godoy, jimenacastrogodoy@gmail.com


Revolutionary Marxist Theory for a World in Crisis

Safia Albaiti

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None

How does Marxism explain ongoing economic crises and the resistance to it? How does the Marxist theory of social reproduction explain the escalation of attacks on women’s reproductive rights and the misogyny pushing them out of the public sphere during the current crisis? Is environmental degradation caused by having too many people on the planet or is it a result of a system built on the accumulation of profits? How does the Marxist labor theory of value explain the drive to lower wages and benefits for workers in the pursuit of profits, and how does the Marxist theory of imperialism help to explain why the United States is onshoring and rebuilding a manufacturing base within its borders after decades of pronouncements that the United States was a post-industrial country? How have Marxist theoreticians of the past, from Karl Marx to CLR James, explained the central role racism has played in the development of US capitalism? How does Marxism as a revolutionary guide to action explain the role of the working class in revolutionary struggle, past and present, and what it takes to make a political revolution into a social revolution? What will it take to get to a future sustainable society that puts the needs of humanity, from each according to their ability to each according to their need, over the dictates of profit making?

Through this discussion based series of classes, we will take on the Marxist theoretical framework for understanding the world and its many crises today.

Contact: Safia Albaiti, E62-631, 617 253-9747, SALBAITI@MIT.EDU