Mujeres Activas en Letras Y Cambio Social (MALCS) is an inclusive organization of Chicana, Latina, Native American and gender non-conforming academics, students, and activists.
MALCS Summer Institute gives people who are members the chance to reflect on the progress they've made throughout the years and welcomes those who want to impact the organization and their community.
The founder, Adaljiza Sosa-Riddel, was an early advocate for Chicanas and wanted to start fighting for these changes along with historian, Antonia Castaneda.
[8] This organization has academic programs, departments, and research centers that focus on issues that affect Mexican Americans, Chicanos, and Latinas.
Additionally, NACCS hosts an annual conference where they give presenters a chance to submit a proposal about issues within the Chicana and Chicano studies along with their own perspectives and approaches about different topics.
It was not until women challenged this such as MALCS meeting with NACCS to address heteropatriarchal institutional violence and focus more on Chicana feminist figures and overall having more gender-based issues in Chicana/o studies.
Some of the requests they made but were ignored included reproductive rights, equal labor, and having Chicana feminist role models or representation.
[13] To have an end to this, Chicana women made efforts to make their voices heard and have a spot in the movement by dismantling traditional gender roles and machismo since they should also get the same recognition.
[14] Those efforts included forming Chicana organizations that fought for a spot in the movement believing they could make great contributions to the overall cause.
MALCS was formed and was inspired by some of these organizations such as the Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional and National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies as well as feminist figures like Dolores Huerta and Martha P. Cotera.
This encouraged women to create their own organizations to have leadership positions in the Chicano Movement and address their problems without having to deal with male sexism or any other obstacle.
For example, Adriana Dominguez wrote "Jarabe" which was about a girl named Sarai who was a Folkloric dancer who loved performing for her mom and creating dance memories with her.
This highlights how the immigration system impacts families through separation, detention centers, racism, and much more, and can't improve to better the lives of many who come to the United States.
The theme for 2023 was "La Lucha Sigue for Racial, Reproductive, and Decolonial Justice" which focused on encouraging women to come forward and talk about their work and practices.
The Summer Institutes ensure that there is activism, scholarship, knowledge, and community involvement to thrive and fight the violence, inequalities, and power imbalances.