Tuesday night, Rita Qatami was speaking to a dozen committee
members trying to finalize the logistics for the next day’s
event, when she stopped herself.
After a pause and a laugh, she continued.
“I was about to say that we needed volunteers to man
several stations, but what I probably should say is that we need to
woman them.”
Qatami, a fourth-year international development studies student,
co-directs the 30-person committee that organized Wednesday’s
commemoration of Daisy Day at UCLA.
The annual event, sponsored by the Office of Residential Life,
aims to get people thinking about gender equality in celebration of
International Women’s Day, first observed in 1911.
Under a clear blue sky Wednesday morning, Daisy Day committee
members and volunteers at several locations around campus passed
out 4,000 small white daisies, as well as information on gender
equality.
Rajima Danish, also co-director of the committee, said the daisy
was chosen to celebrate women because it is a Roman symbol of
healing and protection.
But the day wasn’t limited to honoring and commemorating
the achievements of women worldwide, Danish said.
“Equality is a basic human right for everybody,” she
said.
According to Danish, this year’s theme ““
“Activism: past, present and future” ““ was chosen
to “remind people that it’s not just a celebration, but
that there’s a longer way to go.”
Wednesday was the sixth Daisy Day observed on campus, and this
year’s celebration was expanded to include other events.
“We want to take up the entire day ““ not just Daisy
Day, but daisy night,” Qatami said. “We’re not
just passing out a daisy. We want to be as present as
possible.”
The committee’s increased presence took the form of
“Daisy Day Out Loud,” which was held in De Neve Plaza
on Wednesday night.
Around 7 p.m., committee members set up a stage in a corner of
the plaza. Dimly lit by the lights of residents’ rooms,
tables and panel boards set up by volunteers offered more
information about the event.
Students gathered on the ground to listen to law Professor
Christine Littleton, who heads the women’s studies
department, and participate in activities such as planting daisies
in painted terra-cotta pots.
The additional events were intended to educate people about what
has been done, as well as what is still left to do, Qatami
said.
Alexa Zabat-Fran, a second-year neuroscience student and a
volunteer throughout the day, said it is often just a matter of
reminding people of their attitudes.
“A lot of people are for gender equality, but they
don’t think about it,” she said.
For her, the day was successful because it got “the word
out.”
“If we can impart a little information, we can plant a
seed that empowers them to change the way they act,” Qatami
said.
The Daisy Day organizers said they hope to establish a core
committee and form partnerships with other groups dedicated to
gender equality and women’s rights, in order to further
expand the event.
Because the committee began planning for the day a little more
than a month ago, it hopes to incorporate things that were left out
into later events, Qatami said.
One idea she has is to hold a silent auction to raise money for
a battered women’s shelter in conjunction with the UCLA
Clothesline Project, which holds an event in April to educate the
community about sexual violence.
Polina Berezovskaya, a second-year anthropology student, was
surprised to learn the scope of the day’s celebrations.
“I wasn’t aware it was all international,”
said Berezovskaya, who was born in Russia and remembered
celebrating International Women’s Day there.
“(In Russia) men give women flowers and treat them nicely
the entire day. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or
young, if you have somebody special or not. It’s a
holiday,” she said.