Several women and some men, most of them wearing purple, gathered near the El Camino College Soccer Field on Thursday, March 7 at 10 a.m. before beginning their walk to celebrate Women’s History Month.
The group included a few of the El Camino staff such as Bryan Kawakami and Evelyn Gabriel, who both work in the Payroll Unit.
“I feel like women are not represented enough in the United States, so I come out to raise more awareness,” Gabriel said.
Men such as Kawakami also wanted to show solidarity for women in the walk, believing men could do more to help women have more voice and power in society.
“This is my first time joining this walk, and I wanted to show support to the women who work in the same office with me,” Kawakami said.
Since 1987, March has been Women’s History Month in the United States. This coincides with International Women’s Day on March 8.
Kathy Cottle, administrative assistant to the director of accounting in Fiscal Services, has organized a walk at El Camino since 2020 to observe International Women’s Day.
After Cottle explained part of the history and significance of the holiday, the group began a 30-minute walk around the Soccer Field.
Cottle first learned about International Women’s Day while in a foreign country in 1993.
“I once spent seven months in the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan in 1993. It was around March, and [I] noticed that the Uzbek people were celebrating an International Women’s Day,” Cottle said.
International Women’s Day became a national holiday in Russia, and later the Soviet Union, following the 1917 Russian Revolution. The holiday’s origins coincided with Russian women gaining more rights, including the right to vote, and to acknowledge all the contributions women make to daily life and society.
“Uzbekistan was no longer part of the Soviet Union in 1993, but the long Russian legacy there left behind a Women’s Day. This got me to research more about the holiday,” Cottle said.
During the walk, many of the women got to meet new people for the first time. The women got to share each other’s life stories and life plans with each other.
One of these women was Linda Detwiler-Burner, who worked at El Camino from 2002 until 2023 in business systems analysis.
“I have attended the previous three walks when I was still working here at El Camino College, and now is my first time coming after my retirement in August,” Detwiler-Burner said.
After the walk concluded, Monica Delgado, student success coordinator for the Social Justice Center, spoke about how she felt about the event.
“I thought the turnout was great, but we could have used more advertising to students and staff about this walk. Next time I hope even more people come,” Delgado said.
Delgado, who is of Bolivian and Puerto Rican descent, takes an interest in women’s rights around the planet including in Latin American countries. Delgado said El Camino will have more events for the rest of the month to continue observing Women’s History Month.
After attending all of the walks since 2020, Delgado said one of her favorite parts is meeting new people and learning new things from them.
“I got to meet a returning student who overcame many health problems, and now she is studying nursing at El Camino College,” Delgado said.
