Skip to content
Reading time: 2 minutes

Windward Community College celebrates the important contributions of women from Hawaiʻi and around the world at Women’s History Month 2016. The event features a series of films and discussions with the filmmakers. The nationwide theme for this year is “Stories of Local Women and Girls.”

Featured films

  • Film: Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority
    Tuesday, March 15, 10–11:15 a.m.

    Q&A to follow with film director and Windward CC journalism instructor Kimberlee Bassford

    In 1965, Patsy Mink became the first Asian American woman and woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the U.S. presidency and co-authored Title IX, the landmark legislation that opened up higher education and athletics to America’s women. Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority looks at Mink’s remarkable political journey, while often lonely and tumultuous, as she fought for the most disenfranchised and forgotten in society.

  • Film: Winning Girl
    Tuesday, March 15, 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m.

    Q&A to follow with film director and Windward CC journalism instructor Kimberlee Bassford

    Teshya Alo is 16 years-old and 125 pounds. But on the judo and wrestling mats, she throws women twice her age and pounds heavier. And she beats boys. Now, she has her sights set on taking gold at both the judo and wrestling world championships. But it won’t be easy. Winning Girl follows the four-year journey of this part-Polynesian teenage judo and wrestling phenomenon from Hawaiʻi, and in doing so tells the dynamic story of an elite athlete on her ascent, a girl facing the challenges of growing up and an entire family dedicated to a single dream.

  • Film: E Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name
    Thursday, March 17, 10–11:15 a.m.

    Audience discussion after the film

    Filmmaker Christen Hepuakoa Marquez was born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Marquez’s family deteriorated when her mother Elena was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and as a young girl moved to Seattle with her father and brothers. After nearly 20 years of living in the continental U.S., Marquez returns to Hawaiʻi to learn the meaning of her incredibly long Hawaiian name from her estranged mother.

  • Film: Kumu Hina
    Thursday, March 17, 11:30 a.m–1:30 p.m.

    Panel discussion after the film with Women’s History Month Keynote Speaker Hina Wong-Kalu and filmmakers Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer

    Kumu Hina is a powerful film about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern day Hawaiʻi. It is told through the lens of an extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident māhū, or transgender woman, and an honored and respected kumu, or teacher, cultural practitioner and community leader.

All events will take place in Hale ʻĀkoakoa 105 and are free to the public. Everyone is invited to participate in discussions with the speakers.

For more information, contact Women’s History Month coordinator and Windward CC Associate Professor of Sociology Kathleen French at (808) 236-9223 or kfrench@hawaii.edu.

Visit the Windward CC website for up-to-date speaker information.

—By Bonnie Beatson

Back To Top