About 80 Cal State San Bernardino students, staff and faculty gathered for discussions, speakers and exercises as part of 50/50 Day, a global day of events about working toward a more gender-balanced world in all segments of society: business, politics, culture and home.

CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales welcomed the attendees to the gathering, which was held April 26 in the university’s Santos Manuel Student Union.

“This is not about political correctness,” Morales said. “This is about advocating a transformation of how decisions are made, how perceptions are changed, and how supporting such a common-sense effort will benefit all sectors of our society – economics, politics, culture and even the family structure.

“Around the world, there is an urgent need for talented, thoughtful, competent and compassionate leaders. Why should we ignore a rich pool of talent simply because they do not fit some people’s stereotype of what a leader looks like?” Morales said. “Across this nation and around the globe, we need to break the preponderance of male leadership, going beyond the philosophical to the practical. Most significantly, we need to make visible changes. We need to alter the criteria many people use when depicting leaders.”

Globally, 50/50 Day had more than 35,000 events in 60 countries for events in companies, schools, classrooms, museums and homes. Those events included live-streamed speakers, films, conversation and action. The first 50/50 Day was May 10, 2017, which had more than 11,000 events in 146 countries.

The morning gathering at CSUSB included discussions and live-streaming of Tiffany Shlain’s short film “50/50: Rethinking the Past, Present & Future of Women + Power,” a celebration of women leaders around the world.

Following the film, Jasmine Bustillos, shared services coordinator for the student union, who served as an event facilitator to encourage discussions, had the attendees, sitting at round tables placed around the center, talk about leadership issues.

The discussions on issues that included gender norms in households, safety from sexual assaults, reinforcing the need to get more women in top-decision making roles and getting more women of color into leadership roles.

The 50/50 event on campus was helping to build on the momentum from the Women’s Leadership Conference held on campus in February, said Bustillos.

“We’re drawing on that to continue the discussions and promoting all the work being done with gender equity,” Bustillos said. “It’s designed to keep the conversation going.”

The February conference gave attendees the chance to see powerful speakers, panelists of amazing individuals who identify as women and sessions that cater to women issues. The sessions were designed to build confidence, wisdom and direction.

For more information on 50/50 Day, visit the Let it Ripple Film Studio website. The studio produced the 50/50 Day film.

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit inside.csusb.edu.