On December 1, 2021, CGDS, the Department of English, and the Department of Social Sciences hosted the conference “Women’s Honor is Not Up for Debate,” to commemorate 16 Days of Activism. President Bruce Walker Ferguson opened the conference, after which Dr. Choman Hardi, CGDS Founder and Director, read three of her poems. Students from three spring semester gender studies classes—Gender and Genocide, Gender and Media, and Women and Gender in Ancient Greece—presented film, performance, and scholarly papers, as listed below. There was also a musical performance of tombak by Hakar Azad Abdulrahman. The conference moderator was Heschu Barzengi. Dr. Shakir Muhammad Usman and Ms. Alina Jabbar, CGDS Jan Warner Visiting Scholars who taught all three courses, organized and facilitated the conference. CGDS Director of Disability Studies Dr. Lynn Rose made closing remarks and read a poem, and VPAA Dr. Wolfgang Hinck provided the closing address, in which he challenged the audience to open their eyes to all injustice.
The student presentations were as follows:
· Poems and Short Story: Dr. Shakir, Raz Mohammaed Abdulla, Saya Amin, Ronny Saeed, and Govan Bilal (Read by Naivan Sartip Abdalrahman)
· Gender Performance Experiment: Sawen Gelas, “Are you a Boy or Girl?”
· Presentation: Zhira Jalal, “Ancient Greek and Middle Eastern Women: A Symbolic Representation or an Actual Participation”
· Film Presentation: Hewa Sarbast, “My Mom is my Role Model”
· Presentation: Raz Abdalla and Saya Amin, “Women's Honor is Not up for Debate — Victim Blaming”
· Film Presentation: Neda Mirdadi and Mursal Fakhri, “Effects of Revolution on Afghan Women”
· Presentation: Ronny Saeed, “Misogyny and Patriarchy in Ancient Greece and Iraq”
· Film Presentation: Lano Diyar, Diya Nazar, Diana Azad, and Daban Soran: “Reverse Gender Catcalling— Kuri Qoz & Kchi Jwan”
Image description: There are three photos, all on a stage in a conference room, with a podium, a large blue poster with logos, and a projection screen. One photo shows a woman speaking, with an image of two people projected on the screen behind her. Another shows a woman receiving a certificate from a man, with another man standing at the podium; behind them is a poster in oranges, yellow and blue on the screen. Another shows two women behind the podium, with a large orange square, with the words honor is not to blame, projected on the screen behind them.