KNOXVILLE – Events, musical performances, discussions and film viewings will highlight the substantial impact women have made on history as the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, celebrates “Women’s HERstory Month” during March.
Activities fitting the theme, “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” have been planned by UT’s Women’s Coordinating Council (WCC).
The celebration kicks off with a jeans drive, now under way. Jeans in good condition can be donated in boxes at residence halls around campus until March 26. All donations will be given to Florence Crittenton of Knoxville, an agency whose mission is strengthening the community through prevention and treatment services for children, families and pregnant young women.
Other events, all free and open to the public, include:
- “Stiletto Stampede: Walking Tall” — 12:05 to 1:05 p.m., Monday, March 15. Join this walk from the University Center Plaza to the Pedestrian Walkway to honor the women who fought for women’s rights and to be empowered to keep the fight going.
- “Green Eggs and Ham: Breadwinning Ladies” — noon to 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 17, Women’s Center, University Center Room 303. Join the Women’s Coordinating Council and Career Services to discuss the statistics and facts about women who are the sole providers in the household. Free food will be provided for attendees.
- “Equal Pay Day Bake Sale” — noon to 2 p.m., Thursday, March 18, University Center, Pedestrian Walkway, Hodges Library and Presidential Courtyard. This event symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009. Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. For every $1 a man makes, a woman makes 77 cents. In appreciation for women and equality, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Diva Opals, the Progressive Student Alliance and Kappa Alpha Psi will be selling cookies and brownies to women for 75 cents and to men for $1. Proceeds will go toward relief efforts in Haiti.
- “Precious” — 7 to 9 p.m., Monday, March 22, University Center Auditorium. Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, “Precious” is a film about 16-year-old Claireece ”Precious” Jones (Gabourey ”Gabby” Sidibe) who can neither read nor write and suffers constant abuse at the hands of her vicious mother (Mo’Nique). Precious instinctively sees a chance to turn her life around when she is offered the opportunity to transfer to an alternative school. Under the patient, firm guidance of her new teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins the journey from oppression to self-determination.
- “Guerilla Girls” — 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, University Center Auditorium. The Guerrilla Girls are anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks. They have produced posters, stickers, books, printed projects and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. They use humor to convey information, provoke discussion and show that feminists can be funny. They wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than individual personalities.
- “WCC: Def Po’ UTree” — 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday, March 31, Hollingsworth Auditorium on the Agricultural Campus. Join the Women’s Coordinating Council, as they close out Women’s HERstory Month with an evening of spoken word honoring and empowering women. Local spoken-word artists will perform.
The WCC and Visual Arts Committee have displayed historical pictures of UT women and WCC events from the past several decades in the University Center concourse on the second floor. They will be displayed throughout this week.
For more information, contact Emily Curtis, ecurtisw@utk.edu, or Ebony Jones, ejones31@utk.edu, or visit the Women’s Coordinating Council Web site.
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C O N T A C T :
Bridget Hardy (865-974-2225, bhardy4@utk.edu)