The month of March is “Women’s History Month” and the city of Hayward is celebrating by holding the “Hayward Honors Women” event.

The event will be held on Thursday March 26 from 5pm to 7pm at Hayward City Hall, and is free for all ages. “Hayward Honors Women” will feature a panel discussion of four women of different ages and professions with Hayward ties. The panel will discuss gender issues and women’s rights.

The panelist include Gail Steel, former Hayward City Council member and Alameda County Supervisor; Cecily Joseph, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer for Symantec Corporation; Famia Pour-Khorshid, a third-year Ph.D. student and part-time kindergarten bilingual teacher; and Ana Rangel, a recent UC Berkeley graduate and former participant in outreach programs such as Puente and Upward Bound. The event will be moderated by Janet Reilly, NBC’s “The Mix” host.

“We will be looking at the historic challenges women have faced in the workplace,” said Frank Holland, City of Hayward’s Community and Relations Officer. “This year we have a younger age group being represented on the panel, women in their early 20’s, so we will be discussing some of the issues that are on the horizon for the younger generation.”

The event was founded in 2012 by former Hayward City Council member Mark Salinas. This is Hayward’s third time holding the event, as last year it took a hiatus. Holland explained that last year the event “just didn’t happen,” but this year, new Mayor Barbara Halliday, really pushed to relaunch the event.

“This year is different because in past years it was more of a lecture series and very educational. This year is more of an interactive discussion between panelists and the audience,” said Frank Holland.

After the panelist discussion, there will be a question and answer portion for audience members, followed by leisure time where the audience members and panelists can socialize and network.