| The Palouse celebrates Women’s History Month |
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| Written by Anne-Marije Rook - Argonaut | ||||||
| Thursday, 05 March 2009 | ||||||
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 Poet Allissen Hedge Coke performs in the Clearwater Room in the Idaho Commons during the International Women's Day Fair on Wednesday. Jake Barber/Argonaut
Following February’s Black History Month activities, March recognizes
and celebrates another group — women. National Women’s History Month
has been officially recognized by Congress since 1987, and across the
nation, tens of thousands of events take place to acknowledge and
celebrate women’s achievements and contributions. In observance of International Women’s Day celebrated worldwide on March 8, the Women’s Center held its annual International Women’s Day Fair on Wednesday in the Clearwater Room of the Idaho Commons. Colorful tables from campus clubs and local communities informed visitors about local, regional, national and global women’s issues while the local all-woman Sesitshaya Marimbas group set the festive atmosphere with a free performance in the food court. Visitors chewed on the provided sugar cookies (frosted with lavender female signs) as a slide show spotlighting economic, political and social achievements of women flashed on a screen. “I’m usually pretty ignorant of (women’s history month),” Cynthia Jetti, a Moscow local manning the Yin Radio booth, said. “I didn’t become aware of it until this year.” Jetti said she thinks the problem is women’s history month is too low key. “Women are so quiet,” she said, “especially considering how close we got to losing abortion rights recently.” For this year’s Women’s History Month, the Women’s Center created a Web site to serve as a clearinghouse of events and activities honoring its observance on the Palouse. “Because Spring Break is in the middle of March, it makes it hard to create a big program,” Gasser said. “Maybe in retrospect, we should have done LUNAFEST in March, but we really spread our events out throughout the year.” Gasser said the Women’s Center is extending women’s history month into April with the annual Virginia Wolf Distinguished Service Award ceremonies on April 7 and 8 featuring Keynote speakers Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner, feminist activists and best-selling co-authors of “Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future.” Gasser said she’s isn’t fond of dedicating just one month to women’s issues, and the Women’s Center acknowledges and celebrates Women’s History Month but works year-round educating women about issues. “It minimizes the importance of working toward gender equality year-round,” she said. Gasser feels the isolated time frame cannot satisfy the scope of women’s issues. “All of it needs to be addressed to get a more inclusive and compassionate society,” she said. Later this month, the Women’s Center is partnering with Washington State University to bring guest speaker lawyer, scholar and civil rights activist Anita Hill to headline WSU’s Annual Women’s Recognition Luncheon on March 11. This weekend’s women’s history events include, “Speak Out! The Women of Color Symposium poetry slam” at WSU. World-class slam poet Andrea Gibson will perform at the slam in the Compton Union Building Junior Ballroom at 8 p.m. tonight. Also, the 1912 Center will open an exhibit of artwork by 28 regional female artists from Idaho and Washington starting at 5 p.m. tonight. There will be live music, food and a no-host bar. The show will run through April 5. The exhibit is one of six collaborative exhibits in Moscow and Pullman on display during the month of March to celebrate Women’s History Month.  Add as favorites (47) | Views: 756
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