"Bichita" is Bitchin

March 9, 2018 | Caitlin Geer

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The Word of the Year for 2017 was “Feminism,” and for good reason. The Women’s March that occurred in January had over three million people all over the nation participating. Wonder Woman crushed records for both a summer release and a female directed film. Women had quite a year in 2017, and they’re keeping that train going in 2018. Women’s History Month is an annually declared month celebrating women and their achievements while coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Bichita

Feminism isn’t as scary of a word as some people make it out to be. Feminism simply means, “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.”

Two local feminists, Candy and Kaitlyn, have created a social media presence with the intention of highlighting and praising incredible women doing incredible things for this city. Their platform, called Bichita, started a year ago during Women’s History Month. Through their Instagram and Facebook pages, they feature the women who made and make Wichita badass.

I sat down with Candy and Kaitlyn, who both inspire, and empower their fellow ladies. What I love most about Bichita is why they started it. They kept meeting amazing woman after amazing woman, of all diversities, and no one was talking about them and all the good that they do. Cady and Kaitlyn took matters into their own hands!

They’ve featured ladies across different races, but also across different careers. From local
boutique owners, to bookshop owners, to women who work with the WSU Office of Diversity.

The Next Generation of Women

“You can’t empower women without empowering the next generation of women,” Candy
stated, as she proudly told me about Nina Winter, who owns TISSU Sewing Studio and helps
give back to her community.

Bichita highlights these bitchin’ ladies, but they also help raise money for local organizations as well. They have a teespring account and through the funds raised through there, they’ve been able to donate to both Dress for Success and the Wichita League of Women Voters.

I highly encourage you to follow Bichita on both Instagram and Facebook so you can be
in the know about local women and women events.

In the words of Queen Beyonce herself, “Who run the world? Girls.”

First International Women's Day

The first International Women’s Day can be traced back to 1909, but Women’s History Month started in February of 1980 with the help of President Jimmy Carter. He actually issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8th, 1980, to be Women’s History Week.

Jimmy Carter noted Dr. Gerda, “Women’s History is Women’s Right.” Due to the popularity of Women’s History Week, in 1987, the National Women’s Project petitioned Congress. This resulted in Congress passing a public law that declared the entirety of March Women’s History Month.