Center honors county women

Friday, November 13, 2009

BY LAURA D'ONOFRIO

Fort Lee Suburbanite

STAFF WRITER

The Women’s Rights Information Center (WRIC) honored women from a number of Bergen County’s academic institutions who have devoted their careers to advance and empower the role of women in society on Nov. 5. "The World is Moving" award was in honor and celebration of the ultimate female suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Esmilda Abreu was the first recipient. She is the director of equity and diversity at Montclair State University. She is also a board member at the Information Center. She believes that the way women are treated is a mark of the civilization of that society. She credits WRIC with teaching what society expected of women was crucial and that women could not be complacent in their expectations.

"I owe my position to the women here," said Abreu. "They showed me how to think of people and myself, and how to push."

Dr. Catherine Raisiguier chairs Women and Gender Studies at New Jersey City University. She was delighted to be honored and also credits her academic work to the women working in the trenches like those at WRIC. "You are working day in and day out to transform society," she said.

Raisiguier said that her job is making sure young women and men don’t forget their history. She acknowledges this is a hard task because of the "now" mentality of our society, but it must be remembered that rights and benefits people enjoy were hard won.

"With the election we are running the risk of losing gains whether as gays, women or African-Americans," said Raisiguier. "Never rest for one second because these rights can disappear."

Fawzia Afzal-Khan is an English professor at Montclair State. She is also chair of Women’s and Gender Studies. She is a native of Pakistan and is witnessing exactly what Raisiguier warned about. "I am witness to gains being removed very quickly in Pakistan. We took much for granted and many decades later suddenly education is taken away under a regressive extremist way of thinking," said Afzal-Khan. "We must be vigilant all the time. With consciousness and awareness, you can do something."

Another colleague from Montclair State, Katherine Smanik-Moyes, coordinates the Women’s Center. She referenced a conversation she had with a student about the challenges of being young. "On one hand you have this amazing idealism, but at the same time you are constantly working against people who think you are too young," said Smanik-Moyes. "But is has been a pleasure helping these young women find their voices for change."

As the director of the Women’s Center at New Jersey City University, Karen DeAngelis has quite a different role. Her background as a family therapist put her in a position to work with women on an inner psychological level. "Women have to be mentally OK to do this kind of work. We see women coming back to college after 10 to 15 years being out, usually the lone caretaker of couple kids, and against all odds they are our best students," she said.

Christina Santiago of the Women’s Institute at Bergen Community College summed up that work of the honorees was something inherent to their happiness. "Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a woman of passion and life, that was her energy. I knew I was called to serve women," said Santiago. "If it is your bliss and passion, follow it."