United Women explores the ideas of gender inequality, while focusing on women’s rights and ways to stand up for them. United Women is a nonprofit student club at the International School of Panama, founded by Claudia Hernandez, with a goal of raising awareness on the injustices faced by women in today’s society. It focuses around the slogan of “United for a Future of Equality”, as it wants to work towards a future where men and women have equal opportunities. Not only this, but United Women also has different goals in regards to what they want to achieve.

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It is divided into three main branches focused on addressing these injustices through different approaches: “Combating Violence Against Women”, “Empowering Women”, and “Starting Conversations”. The “Combating Violence Against Women” team is currently working on the first ever United Women conference. This conference will be dedicated to raising awareness on the struggles of gender discrimination within the Panamanian community. Through different speeches and activities, the team hopes that the conference will inspire the audience to join the club on its fight for a future of equality.

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The conference will welcome eight guest speakers, two of which are students and two of which are men. These speakers will address the issue of gender inequality by either speaking from their own experiences or about things they have learned throughout their lifetime or in the workfield. Topics varying from the definition of the word “feminist”, to the importance of empowered female role models, to domestic violence, to discrimination in the workplace, among others, will be addressed in the different speeches. The diversity of speakers is meant to shed a light on the fact that everyone is subject to these injustices and that men, too, can be feminists and join the fight for equality.

 

United Women has invited other schools in the country to attend the conference, like Balboa Academy, Brader, and Las Esclavas. These schools will have the opportunity to attend the first ever United Women conference and endorse in the rights of both genders. Through this, the team hopes to inspire students from these schools to open their own United Women club so that, together, they can all form a network that is united for a future of equality.

 

One of United Women’s main objectives is to create a sense of unity in the conference where everyone feels welcome and empowered to fight against these issues. The conference will be held on April 24th at the International School of Panama’s Performing Arts Center from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tickets to the conference have a cost of 10$, which include food and access to the conference.