The University of Idaho will celebrate the signing of the 19th amendment Friday at FemFest — an event hosted by the UI Women’s Center to commemorate the progress women have made in society since the early 1900s.The amendment gave women the right to vote on August 26, 1920, and Colleen Kulesza, interim program coordinator for the Women’s Center, said FemFest is an event that recognizes the struggles that women went through in the early 1900s while trying to attain the right to vote.
“We will have information out at the festival about voting, suffrage and what women went through to get that,” Kulesza said. “But we’re also celebrating all of the resources that women presently have on campus and in the community.”
Kulesza said that what makes FemFest such an important event is the way it joins a serious conversation with having a good time.
“Besides all of the information and the booths, we have raffle prizes, free snow cones, free popcorn, music and we will have a little 15 to 20 minute presentation kind of about what FemFest is for and why we’re here,” she said.
Julia Keleher, coordinator for the LGBTQA office, said she is proud to connect with the Women’s Center for events such as these because both offices stem from a feminist background.
“We have transitioned our relationship with the Women’s Center to be a relationship of collaborators and co-offices, doing the same kind of work,” Keleher said. “FemFest is just one of the many events we strongly support.”
FemFest will take place Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Idaho Commons plaza behind Einstein Bros. Bagels.
While the event may only look like fun and games Keleher said students should remember what feminism stands for.
“Feminism is all about equity and equality,” she said. “It’s about providing equal access to equal things. Sometimes in our society, things are set up to favor other folks, and what feminism does is really bring light to those unequal things.”
Keleher also said having an event like FemFest on campus should remind students there are still strides that need to be taken to ensure equality among the sexes by letting everyone be heard.
“Feminism is a great tool to empower,” Keleher said. “To provide voice and advocacy to those who often times are silenced, or their voices are not heard in our society. And it is a great way to kind of applaud those voices and those stories and let people speak for themselves.”
Kulesza said feminism is not only for women, but for men too.
“Men suffer from patriarchy too,” she said. “Men are told they are supposed to behave a certain way — to be a manly-man — and feminists fight for the right of men to be sensitive, or stay-at-home dads.”
Kulesza said that anyone, any sex, gender identity or orientation can be a feminist without acknowledging it.
“Well if you believe that men and women are made equally and should be treated equally and have the right to access all of these resources equally then you are a feminist,” she said.
Amber Emery can be reached at [email protected]