Thursday marked the beginning of Women’s History Month 2012, beginning a full calendar of MU events designed to highlight modern women’s accomplishments and issues during the next four weeks.
Among the events scheduled on campus are the 16th Annual Women’s Poetry Night, which allows female poets and spoken word artists in the Columbia community to share their perspectives through art; “Roller Derby, Vampires and Feminism,” a lecture by two MU staff members highlighting their experiences participating in the female-driven sport of roller derby; and a screening of the documentary Miss Representation, a feminist critique of the way women and women’s bodies are represented by mainstream media.
In addition, Jenn Pozner, a nationally acclaimed author and founder of Women in Media & News, will be visiting MU on March 14 to present a talk entitled “Project Brainwash: Why Reality TV is Bad for Women.”
MU Women’s Center coordinator Suzy Day said she thinks the lineup of events provides something for every student to enjoy and brings feminist discussion to a wide variety of interests and areas.
“Everyone has a different favorite,” she said. “Some people go to the art show every year. Some people go to poetry night every year. I’m really encouraging people to go to Jenn Pozner’s event because it’s kind of a one-time chance to have her on campus. That one’s going to be, I think, really amazing and really relatable to a lot of things we do every day.”
Women’s History Month traces its origins back to the first International Women’s Day, which was celebrated March 8, 1911. By 1978 the event had expanded to an entire week, and in 1987 the United States Congress formally extended the celebration to an entire month.
Since 2010, the Library of Congress has issued a national theme for each year’s Women’s History Month. This year’s is “Women’s Education and Empowerment.”
“I feel like it’s a chance to let people shine that don’t necessarily get the opportunity to do this all the other months of the year,” Day said about the celebration. “I think it’s really empowering. I think it gives people an opportunity to not only learn about history but learn about themselves.”
Students seem to share Day’s enthusiasm when it comes to celebrating the month.
“I love Women’s History Month,” freshman Sara Finnegan said. “I think the accomplishments of women definitely need to be celebrated more.”
Senior Brittany Wood said she enjoys Women’s History Month because it sheds light on events, achievements and figures that have been largely written out of official histories.
“I think Women’s History Month is important because it educates people about the fact that the history that we have been taught leaves out a large portion of the world’s actual history,” she said.
