Marisa Mendosa, Art Director

1st March, 2021

The Women’s Advocacy Club is currently led by its president, senior Mina Abbassi, who has held the position since joining the club in her sophomore year. When initially joining the club, Abbassi stated she “tended to overlook the potential impact we could have on our local community as well as the world.” However, since her time involved with the club, she has realized how many options and opportunities there are, even in Humboldt, for change to be enacted. “People were quick to introduce me to great local charities and organizations that they’ve worked with in the past,” Abbassi noted. Proceeds from various events the Women’s Advocacy Club has held have gone to organizations such as the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation in South Africa and the Eureka Women’s and Children’s Shelter.

Helping raise money for organizations such as these is one of the main components of Abbassi’s goals for the club; these goals being “raising awareness about issues women face in our community, country, and across the globe, and fundraising for donations to charities dedicated to fixing these issues.” 

Abbassi acknowledged that a key component for achieving progress is including voices from diverse backgrounds in conversations. “It’s extremely vital that we get [women of color] perspective on issues as well so that we best know how to solve it for all women, regardless of race/ethnicity,” she explained. “If we want to progress as a society, we need to take in as many different ideas and perspectives as we can.”

As she transitioned to the virtual club format, the values and goals of the club did not change. The club is currently in the process of creating a project fundraiser that will “incorporate student creativity and interests with raising awareness about women’s rights, history, and experiences.” To get involved in activities and activism such as this, join the Women’s Advocacy Club every other Friday at 12:35 p.m. The meeting link is in their Google Classroom (code NFQXQJJ). along with more information being on their Instagram page, @womensadvocacyclubahs. “We want to do whatever we can to help make that goal [of women’s rights] attainable everywhere, and we want to make that change happen sooner rather than later.”