Though SF State students celebrate National Women's History Month and recognize the advances women have made throughout the years, they say full equality has not been accomplished yet, not even at SF State.

During an event held at the Malcolm X Plaza by La Raza Student Organization on March 8 -- International Women’s Day -- guest speakers remarked on the significance of this date and called for an end to discrimination against women.

“This is one of the most important days of the year. But we need to keep in mind that women are important every single day. We wouldn’t be here walking on campus if it weren’t for them,” said one of the speakers, Karina Cespedes, a lecturer from the women’s studies department.

“Respect the women in your life. Respect the women that sit next to you in class. Respect women,” she said while students applauded.

History shows that for centuries, women around the world have been fighting to gain respect. On March 8, 1857, a group of 15,000 women marched on the streets of New York City demanding equality and an end to discrimination. The date eventually became International Women’s Day. March was later recognized by the U.S. Congress as National Women’s History Month.

Even though they celebrate women’s achievements every year, some students still think that discrimination against women is not a done battle, even here at SF State, a place considered by many to be very liberal.

“SF State is supposedly a lot more liberal than other campuses but I feel there is still a gap between men and women here. Every single one of my professors this semester is a male," said Carissa Cabrera, co-director of SF State’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and an art major.

At SF State, where 61 percent of the students are females, only 43 percent of the total faculty members are women. Of the ten colleges in the university, only the College of Extended Learning has a female dean. And the university’s Board of Supervisors, composed of 21 people, has only six female members.

However, there is a good sign -- one of the six women on the board is the university’s vice-chair.

“When I took the position of vice-chair there were only two or three women on the Board,” said SF State’s Vice-Chair Jo Volkert. “But I think progress is being made. PhD’s are the training grounds of leadership positions. And as women have become more educated they have been taking higher levels of responsibility and they’ve been proving they can handle these roles.”

Since 1979, women have constituted the majority of college students in America. At SF State, the number of female graduate students is almost twice as many as the number of males.

“Women are continuing to move toward equity. Maybe it’s happening a little slow, but it is going in the right direction,” said Volkert.

Women at SF State are also entering professions that 10 years ago were predominantly held by men. In 1994, only 33 percent of students who received a bachelor's in the College of Science and Engineering were females. By 2002, that number went up to 50 percent.

However, according to a 2002 U.S. Census Report, “the majority of women in U.S. are still in ‘traditional female’ occupations,” like the food and service industry. But again SF State is an example of how this issue is improving. When Xpress looked at three of the restaurants in the student center, they found that in all three restaurants the number of staff was balanced in terms of gender -- half women, half men.

“I think SF State is pretty balanced. I’ve been to other campuses and there’s a big gap between men and women there,” said Leslie Seacrist, one of SF State’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance co-directors.

“Not only on campus, but overall, the women’s role in society has advanced. They have evolved in the work place and they have gained more freedom to speak their minds, said Laura Kobeold, a liberal studies junior. “It has certainly improved, but it hasn’t completely gotten where it is supposed to get.”

According to a Gallup poll conducted in October 2003, a majority of women in the country do not believe women have job opportunities that are equal to those that men have. Also, a majority of them say they have experienced what they consider to be gender-based discrimination in public life or employment.

"I’ve never felt gender discrimination on campus, but I feel it a lot when I’m at work," said Gaby Lopez, an industrial organization major who works as a supervisor at an insurance company. “When I have to talk firm with one of the men there they just don’t like it. I can tell by their tone when they answer me.”