With women continually taking a more active role in society, the power they exert is constantly increasing. With this continual growth, the issues that effect them are more prevalent than ever.

On Oct. 8, some of those issues were discussed at the Fight Like a Girl event held on Sacramento State’s campus.

The event featured a panel discussion with representatives from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice California, as well as an appearance by assembly member Dr. Richard Pan. During the event, a number of women’s issues were touched on, such as abortion rights and access to contraceptives for women.

Jenny Bach, the 22-year-old government senior and president of the College Democrats of Sac State, helped host the event and explained why discussions like these are needed in order to ensure women’s voices are heard.

Bach said she feels there is a stigma and stereotypes on women who get an abortion such as people believing they do not support life.

“I feel that this should be all out in the open,” she said. ” If you have an issue with it, address it, but then, be able to hear someone else’s side when they’re trying to explain themselves, because everyone has a different reason for the things that they do.”

Bach believes these discussions help in lifting the veil that surrounds these issues and others like it.

For senior government major Mike Sharif, the event highlighted the fact that even though modern-day women have gained great strides in the fight for equality, there are many obstacles they have yet to clear.

“I feel events like [these] are needed to spread awareness about the civil rights hurdles that [women] continue to face, even in the year 2014,” Sharif said. “[Women] didn’t even have the right to vote until 1920, and their fight for equal rights hasn’t ended.”

Amy Everitt, the State Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America and NARAL Pro-Choice California Foundation, spoke passionately about the impact events such as Fight Like a Girl had on the national discussion of women’s rights, especially when it comes to states that continue to tighten the reigns as it pertains to issues such as abortion.

She pointed out that while California is a more liberal state with more laws that work in favor of women, many states are not as accommodating.

“Even though we are a pro-choice state, and we have been able to pass legislation, we need to be ever-vigilant,” Everitt said. “The role that California plays today in a national conversation is not just what we are doing to increase access for the women and families of California, it is to be a shining beacon of light and hope to a lot of other states that are going through the exact opposite policy change.”

Though the event was able to elicit a sustaining conversation around the fight for women’s productive rights, 29-year-old women’s studies senior Robin Fuller hopes conversations similar to the one at Fight Like a Girl will be able to evolve to include all rights as they relate to women.

“The discussion about reproductive justice gets isolated to abortion access, and it makes me very angry, because there is so much more to [women’s] reproductive lives than our one decision to have an abortion,” Fuller said.

Bach’s sentiments echo those of Fullers’ as she believes the discussions surrounding gender and wage inequality need more attention.

“That stereotype, I think, of viewing women as not doing as well as men, it’s still pretty big.When a woman brings something up, ‘Oh yeah, that could be brilliant, that could be something smart,’ but when a guy brings up the same topic, he gets more recognition for it,” Bach said. “Men are found to be more credible than women. Men are found to…do a better job, have better positions, and they get paid more, and that’s business just in general. That’s something we need to talk about, that’s something we need to address, [and] that’s something we need to bring to the table.”

Bach acknowledges the fight for equality is not one with a clear end in sight, however, she believes it begins by simply being respectful of women, as opposed to dismissive.

Another tactic that was placed forth to help the fight in obtaining more rights for women ,came way of former Democratic California State assemblywoman Sally Lieber, who served from 2002 to 2008.

She made the point that women’s issues did not solely affect women, and applauded the men who attended Fight Like a Girl. She said women’s rights are “really an issue for everybody in the community.”

Sharif’s comments echoed those of Lieber’s.

“I think it’s important to have men participate in the fight for women’s rights as well. Women are not a special interest, they’re an American interest,” Sharif said.

Bach hopes Fight Like a Girl will be able to grow and expand the topics of discussion in order to include as many issues as possible.

Bach also encourages more women to make their voices heard by joining in on the discussion and hopes women will be able to come together in order to form a more united front, a point that Fuller agrees with wholeheartedly.

“So I think it starts on empowering young girls, and encouraging girls to do whatever they think that they can do…Teaching [people] that girls, want to be mechanics, and teaching [girls] to do things with their hands, and breaking down different gender norms,” Fuller said. “I think we can start there.”

Edited 4/24/15 7:21 p.m. to reflect Jenny Bach’s correct title and the correct spelling of Michael Sharif’s name.