People across the world celebrated International Women’s Day on Sunday, but did you know Women’s History Month runs all through March?
It isn’t exactly a new thing, but for some reason, it didn’t come across my radar until this year. So this month, in between school, job searching and work, I thought I would take the time to learn a little more about the history of my gender.
I’d encourage everyone else to do the same; no matter what your field is, there’s a good chance that women have helped to revolutionize and improve it.
Even if you consider yourself a women’s studies scholar, you may discover something you didn’t already know.
A lot of people like to live under the idea that the feminist movement already happened and that women and men have reached complete equality, but some things show that the two genders are not on equal grounds in the industrial world, let alone everywhere else.
That being said, our government has continually sponsored Women’s History Month to help educate people about what women have faced over the course of generations; hopefully, people will look at that and realize though people worked hard to achieve equality, more work still needs to be done.
It seems to me that people are becoming more aware of it. Emma Watson recently started a new campaign called He for She that shows men how gender inequality affects them and calls them to work toward equality. On Sunday, she hosted a very informative Q&A that you can check out on her Facebook page or on YouTube.
Speaking of social media, I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only were many of my female friends posting on Facebook and Twitter, but a good amount of my male friends joined the conversation as well.
Gannon is also joining in on the conversation. This week’s Gathering in Praise centers around a “celebrating women” theme.
To add to that, Gannon’s women’s studies department, in conjunction with APB, decided to join in on the dialogue. This Friday, “Where Do We Go Now?,” a movie with a storyline similar to Sophocles’ “Lysistrata,” airs in Room 104 of the Zurn Science Center for free. The movie starts at 7 p.m.
The panel will include Carolyn Baugh, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and women’s studies program director; Aaron Kerr, Ph. D., chairman of the philosophy program and theology department and an assistant professor of the philosophy program; and Alexandra Holbrook, adjunct professor of history.
The women’s studies department has held events like this before, but again, this is my first time hearing about the national month. See, even I still have a lot of learning to do.
Whether you go see the movie, like He for She on Facebook or ask a friend of yours about the term “wage gap,” I’m sure there’s something more that every one of us could learn.
KHADIJA DJELLOULI
