Society is afraid of strong educated women and is constantly trying to suppress their voices. Women’s History Month is a time to rise above and celebrate all the powerful women in society and throughout history.
Pacific University student Jennifer Janet Casas Carreño, a project coordinator and leader of the committee for Women’s History Month at the Center for Gender Equity (CGE), said the CGE plans to host a number of events throughout the month of March on the Forest Grove campus for Women’s History Month.
Carreño said she made it her goal this year to include intersectionality and showcase women of color at the month’s events. She organized a panel of Chingona women, Mexican-American and Latina-American women activists.
And also helped organize a showing of a film about Peruvian women, titled “Grasshopper Women: Peruvian Globalization,” which screened on campus in March.
“These are usually women you don’t hear about because we tend to think in this white and black dichotomy,” Carreño said. She said she believes it is vital to showcase women from all different backgrounds.
The CGE also set up a display in the Tran Library showcasing books written by female authors. “Wanted” posters of women from different eras were put up around the campus as well showcasing this year’s theme of “What’s her crime?” They show women who were criminalized for doing things against the social norms of the time.
The posters and displays showcase different groups of women, including women who have worked at Pacific University, historical figures and girls under 18-years-old to portray the women of today and of the future.
“Nowadays we’re realizing that women were the backbone of so much in the past, but they were women so you really didn’t hear their stories being told,” Carreño said. “Our opportunity with Women’s History Month is to tell those stories and celebrate these women.”
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