Brunch kicks off Women’s History Month on campus

Professor+Beth+Salerno+of+the+History+Department.

Crier\Tim Mannila

Professor Beth Salerno of the History Department.

Madison Trites, Crier Staff

March is Women’s History Month and Saint Anselm College is celebrating. The Multicultural Center and the Gender Studies minor sponsored a Women’s History Month Kick Off Brunch on Feb. 28. The month is designed to celebrate women’s achievements and contributions both in the current day and in events throughout history. Each year there is a different U. S. national theme for the month; this year it is “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.”

Many students, professors, and other members of the college community filled the President’s Dining Room to hear the various speakers celebrate the beginning of Women’s History month at the brunch. The speakers were a series of students and professors who recited poems, talked about their personal experiences, and described studies they had conducted related to women’s history.

The first speaker was Professor Beth Salerno from the History Department. Salerno spoke of the history of Women’s History Month, which was started to explore job inequality and economic statuses. Women’s History Month started as a single day back in 1911. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared a Women’s History Week to take place in March. In 1987, the week became a month and each year the president designates March as Women’s History Month. Salerno says that this one month has become celebratory and commemorative but “we fail to look at what still needs to be done during the other eleven months.” She hopes it “can become something bigger”.

The second speaker was Professor Sarah Hardin, also from the History Department. Hardin specializes in African history and spoke of the history of women in Africa. She explained that “early scholarship shows that in Africa there was respect for women’s work and motherhood but it has become undermined throughout history.”

“Women have lost power over the last 500 years, but there still has been progress.” Hardin believes that are other socially constructed divides we must also examine along with gender divides, like age and rank divisions.

Next, two students spoke. The first student to speak was Felipe Bispo, a sophomore biology major. Bispo recited a short poem called “Brazilian Feminism,” inspired by Brazilian rock singer Rita Lee and her song “Pagu” which explores the traditional idea of women’s roles in society.

Sheila Ramirez, a junior studying politics and social work, was the second student to speak.  Ramirez was inspired by the college’s theme for the month, which is Empowering Her, She, Hers. She believes that empowerment is when “you take on challenges other people are nervous to do and report back to them.”

“We are ones who are going to inspire others,” she explained. She relayed a story about how her mother used to teach her how to shake a hand. Ramirez said her mom told her if you know “how to shake a hand, you can shake a person’s entire world.”  To close, Ramirez told the crowd, “Do not be afraid to take on new challenges, and shake hands as if you were going to shake the world.”

The next speaker was Professor Carson from the Nursing Department. She spoke of a research project she had done studying Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in nurses who served during the Vietnam War. There was very little research on PTSD in women at the time. Carson asked 173 women their stories and interviewed them about their experiences as nurses during the war. When Carson was done, she wanted to make a video of her experiences for student nurses. She knew she was hearing something special that other people weren’t able to hear and she had to figure out “how to get those students out there.”

After a lot of searching for a network to agree to work on a documentary, one was finally created. It is called “Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delaney” which was published in 2006 and Carson was able to be an associate producer for the documentary. She describes it as “a piece of nursing and women’s history.” The film was nominated for two Emmy’s and it won a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Editing. Carson said “those women inspired me to do what I did. Those nurses had tremendous power even though they may not have in the traditional sense. They still do because of this documentary.” A copy of the documentary is available in Geisel Library.

The final speaker was Jada Burke, a senior studying communication and sociology, concluded the event by stating: “you are phenomenal women”, a quote inspired by the poem titled “Phenomenal Women” by poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.

There are many other events at Saint Anselm College to celebrate Women’s History Month throughout March. These include a panel on women in sports, a book display in the lower level of Geisel Library, and various other presentations, panels, and events sponsored by the Multicultural Center and the Gender Studies Minor with the Meelia Center. To follow the celebration at Saint Anselm College, use the hashtag #sacwomen17.