UST Hiraya, the pioneer Intersectional Feminist organization in the University of Santo Tomas recognized by UST Office for Student Affairs (OSA), celebrated the first Women’s Week in the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas from March 5-7, 2018.
Women’s Week began with the hair drive dubbed “Project Tangled: UST Hiraya Share Your Hair Drive.” UST Hiraya was able to collect ten hair donors from the Thomasian community. All the proceeds were then given to Cuts for Cancer, a nonprofit organization which manufactures medical wigs for women and children who lost their hair to cancer chemotherapy and other medical reasons.
On the same afternoon, Thomasian students shared an intimate discussion on Feminism with Atty. Ma. Golda Gigi Minoza, a lecturer at Miriam College, in “Hiraya Talks: Feminism.” The event was held at the UST Tan Yan Kee (TYK) Student Center Auditorium.
On March 6, UST Hiraya spearheaded a self-defense workshop entitled “Grit & Grace.” Participants were taught by Guro Adrien Pierre Quidlat, PTRP, MD of the UST Filipino Martial Arts (UST FMA) the basics of self-defense. Thomasians were taught how to “crash through” and use their body weight forself-defense.
Finally, March 7, Women’s Week saw the culmination of “Women of Science: A Forum on the Representation of Women in the Field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the Philippines” which was held at the UST Thomas Aquinas Research Complex (TARC) Auditorium. Dr. Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, PhD, a professor at the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science of the Ateneo de Manila University, Engr. Vina Marie O. Ignacio-Rivera, the President of Charte Consultancy Corporatio, and Ms. Mayan Quebral, Executive Director of the Oscar M. Lopez Center shared their advocacies and discussed the possibilities of improving the representation of women and ways to thwart microagression experienced by women in male-dominated industries.
Women’s Week was supported by UST Hiraya’s official partners WhenInManila.com, WeThePvblic, Frappe la Rue, the Thomasian Cable Television (TOMCAT), Trampoline Park, and Sausage Alley
