Jacqueline Ray, women’s studies major and president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) at Sacramento State, hopes to bring attention to important issues affecting women.The FMLA educates others about violence and sexual assaults directed towards women and the violations of the reproductive rights they face.

“We are a feminist group on campus,” Ray said. But “feminism is such a loaded word, people think it means something it doesn’t.”The FMLA is devoted to helping women worldwide overcome problems they face every day. For example, the national organization of the FMLA helps women in Afghanistan by raising money to help them get back on their feet.

The FMLA was established at Sac State a few years ago, when the Women’s Resource Center’s funding was cut, Ray said. When the founding members graduated, the group floundered because its younger members weren’t experienced enough to run the organization.

But the FMLA was recently revived and Ray is determined to raise awareness for the group. “I just really want to get it going before I leave, so it doesn’t die,” she said. “We’re trying to rebuild it and get people involved.”

Above all, education is key and that “the first step is educating others about these problems,” Ray said.

She also said that until others know about serious problems, like violence and sexual assaults against women, they aren’t going to see the need to fix them.

“I feel that women’s issues are very important, and not a lot of people know what’s going on,” she said. “It’s always a crucial time for people to be learning about these things.”

The FMLA started as a national organization. Ray gets in touch with the national office a few times a week to receive updates on women’s issues, tips for making chapters of the organization more successful and information on upcoming fundraisers and activities.

Sac State’s chapter of the FMLA focuses on its own projects and activities. On Oct. 5 the Sac State FMLA cosponsored a Take Back the Night rally at the state capitol. The FMLA even adopted an family planning clinic in Sacramento. Members of the group volunteer to escort clients past the pro-life protesters who often picket such clinics. “We want to show women in the community that we support them,” Ray said.

One of the CSUS chapter’s fundraisers is a T-shirt sale. The group currently sells shirts that say “Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance” on the front and define the word “feminism” on the back. The group plans to address issues of media influences against women and emergency contraception. Ray said the media can encourage violence against women, and might make males feel that such behavior is acceptable. The group could educate others on emergency contraception later in the semester. Ray is looking into making that a topic of discussion for the group.

For more information about the FMLA visit www.csus.edu/org/mla or the national organization’s Web site at