Update: Tuesday's lecture on “Global Education for Girls: Opportunities and Challenges in Transforming Poverty” has been cancelled due to Jessica Posner Odede’s illness. The “Beverly Cobble Rodriguez Lectureship Supporting Women’s Education and Global Leadership” will be rescheduled.
The University Women's Center is planning events for the coming two weeks to honor Women's History Month — an effort intended to increase awareness in the community of the ongoing, global fight for the empowerment of women.
Jaronda Miller, program director of Global and Engaged Scholarship at the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center, said the center will host four events. The main event will highlight the obstacles and rewards to expanding educational opportunities to young girls worldwide.
“Our signature event is going to be the Beverly Cobble Rodriguez Lectureship on Mar. 17 at 5 p.m. in Garrett Hall,” Miller said. “Jessica Posner Odede, CEO and cofounder of Shining Hope for Communities, an all girls school that they opened in Kenya, is coming to speak about global education for girls, opportunities and challenges with transforming poverty.”
The Women’s Center will also be hosting a film series on Mar. 20, 21 and 24, as well as a presentation on empowering women in Cameroon on Mar. 27 and a discussion addressing human trafficking and sex trafficking on Mar. 31.
Miller said this was the first time the Women’s Center had honored Women’s History Month, but that it was rewarding to get students engaging more with the obstacles holding back women across the globe.
“This is the first time having events planned for International Women’s Month,” Miller said. “It was really important for me to make sure that the students were involved and that we had for our signature lectureship someone who students could relate to and someone who was doing phenomenal work around education and health which is one of the requirements of the lectureship.”
President of University Democrats Porter Koolman, a third-year College student, said UDems will also honor Women’s History Month. He said the group will be co-sponsoring an event inviting discussion of the rights women possess over their bodies concerning abortion and contraceptives, sexual assault, gun rights and domestic equality.
Koolman said he hopes the event will draw greater attention to current issues facing women in society, such as the wage gap between male and female workers.
“[Wage inequality is] critical, and I’d say along with marriage equality it’s one of the biggest human rights issues of this generation, and it’s one which is so multi-faceted,” Koolman said. “It’s in the workforce, it’s on college campuses, it’s evident when a mother has to decide if she wants to give up her career to raise her children.”
The origins of Women’s History Month date back to 1981, when Congress authorized and pushed for the president to designate a “Women’s History Week” during the week of Mar. 7, 1982. The National Women’s History project petitioned Congress for a full Women’s History Month in 1987.
Koolman said recognizing March as Women’s History Month was important, as women’s history should be part of an ongoing conversation throughout the year.
“It’s not an issue to highlight for one month and forget about,” he said.
Hailey Ross contributed to reporting.
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