Women’s Week: Invisible no more
Women in today’s society have come a long way in the last century.
Women can vote, have equal opportunities and live the life they want.
NDSU and various departments throughout campus have come together to sponsor the 25th Annual Women’s Week.
The upcoming events will be held Feb. 26 through March 2.
During the week, many events such as speakers and movies will be offered to gain student’s understanding of women’s issues.
For the 25th Women’s Week at NDSU, the theme is “Invisible.”
“We are playing off that theme and talking about ways that, historically, women have been invisible in our society and how they are working for ways to become visible,” said Kara Stack, co-chair of women’s week. “We try to address things that are unique in women’s lives. We have talked about reproductive rights, natural childbirth and even working in a corporate setting for women in male dominated fields.”
Stack said the primary audience is students, and the events relate to problems students might be having.
“We are hoping the week will raise issues to get students thinking about how far women have come,” Stack said. “Students today have always gone to school when women had equal opportunity. We want to educate students on where we have come.”
Stack said one of the sessions during the week is showing a video on “The motherhood manifesto.”
The video is about women who can prepare for wanting to spend time at home raising their children without repercussions from work or people, Stack said.
Another of the sessions organized by Ann Burnett, director of women’s studies, is a presentation at 10 a.m. by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire Wednesday, Feb. 28.
The title of the presentation is “Invisible No More: The Growing Influence of Women in Politics.”
The presentation is the first in part of a new series of lectures to come to NDSU.
The series is called the “Laurie J. Loveland lectures.”
“About two years ago the women’s study program received a donation from Loveland,” Burnett said. “Unfortunately, she recently died from cancer, and her friends and family decided to establish an endowment to be used for a speaker’s series in her name. Gov. Gregoire knew Laurie and was very happy to be the first speaker in the series.”
Burnett said Gregoire is hopefully going to be inspirational for women who may or may not be interested in leadership.
“I think women who come to campus who are doing great things will serve as role models for anyone on campus,” Burnett said.