With Black History Month currently in progress, the Women’s and Gender Equity Center is already preparing for UW-Eau Claire’s next awareness event: Women’s “Herstory” Month in March.
Scheduled to begin at the end of February, several university organizations will sponsor events while WAGE coordinates them, said Erin Polnaszek, graduate student and coordinator of WAGE.
Polnaszek said Women’s “Herstory” Month has been a part of the university for many years, but this is the first year it is coordinated by WAGE.
“We just hope that people will become more informed on the history of women and the role that women had in advocating the (rights) we now have,” Polnaszek said.
The events kick off Feb. 22 with Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, part of a nationwide college campaign, V-Day.
V-Day, which stands for Victory, Vagina and Valentine, aims to end violence against women, said junior Sarah Lanners, one of the Vagina Monologues’ directors.
All the proceeds go to the Bolton Refuge House, 404 Broadway St., and also to the Center for Awareness of Sexual Assault on campus, Lanners said.
“So in going to see this, people are helping out with a very important cause,” she said, adding that the show is a very worthwhile event to see. “It’s serious and very emotional in some parts, but it’s also very comedic at some points.”
Other Women’s “Herstory” Month events include a Vagina Monologues post-discussion and “Shakespeare’s Women: Bawdy, Wicked, Winsome, and Wise,” which tackles the question of who’s in charge in plays.
A complete list is still being formed, said Polnaszek, since there is still time to sign up to sponsor an event.
“Anybody is able to put an event on the calendar,” she said, adding the deadline for singing up is Wednesday.
Junior Tina Dietrich, who is working towards a women’s studies certificate, said she is definitely going to attend some of the month’s events.
“I think it’s important for people to be aware of women’s studies not only on our campus, but on a national and global level,” she said, adding that some people have a misconception about women’s studies. “It’s historically based on women, but currently the more modern studies focus on equality for all people, oppression, class and economics.”
Dietrich said she thinks it will be beneficial for people to attend these events.
“You’ll learn more about people around you on campus.”