Continuing its annual tradition, UTRGV will celebrate Women’s History Month with a series of events on both campuses.
“It has a lot of history,” said Linda English, director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program. “Women’s History Month actually started as International Women’s History Day and over the course of the 20th century, it was expanded. As historians, it is important to recognize that for a lot of [time] in the historical record, women were not part of it; the focus was political leaders [and] white men.”
Vanessa Sandoval, program coordinator for Leadership and Social Change, said that it is important for students to come together and celebrate women.
“Right now, we need to lift each other up and celebrate one another’s differences and what brings us together,” Sandoval said. “And, so, I think celebrating our women and empowering each other and just having that opportunity to do that and to highlight different things. I love that every area is coming together to celebrate different things.
“Whether it’s motherhood, whether it’s superheroes, whether it’s women who inspire, they are all very different but all different [commonalities] that brings us together to empower and celebrate women.”
The events kicked off March 4 with the showing of the coming-of-age movie“Lady Bird” on the Brownsville campus and March 7 on the Edinburg campus.
“[Today], we will have a ‘Taco-Bout It Some More’ panel and we are inviting three different lecturers and professors from the Brownsville campus,” Sandoval said. “We are going to be hosting and collaborating with different departments. Different departments will be hosting their own events.”
The panel will be held from 11 a.m. to noon today in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.
“We will be talking about women who inspire with the emphasis on the media and, so, we will be giving out free tacos,” she said.
There will be a cultural chat, “Latinas World of Wisdom,” from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday on the Edinburg campus.
“It will be a discussion panel open to the student body,” Sandoval said.
Gender and Women’s Studies will also host “Natural VS. Fosterlove,” as part of its mini lecture series, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Wednesday in Main 1.220 on the Brownsville campus.
“The mini-lecture series, of course, is a celebration of women’s experiences, lives and contributions to history,” said Friederike Brühöfener, assistant co-director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program. “As students and scholars, you can study the history of women, you can study the history of motherhood, whether you are a woman or a man. Your sex and gender is not relevant in that regard.”
The University Library will show the documentary “Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.” The screening will take place from noon to 1 p.m. March 26 in the Instructional Library Room on the Brownsville campus and in the University Library second floor on the Edinburg campus.
“They will be having some snacks and also showing the documentary for that day,” Sandoval said.
The 2012 documentary was directed and produced by women. The film traces the “fascinating evolution” and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine with the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, “Wonder Women” looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation, according to the documentary’s official webpage.
Brownsville will have a “Brown Bag Chat” from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 27 on the Student Union lawn.
“We will be having small trivia, free lunch, kind of, like, a grab and go but also still learn,” Sandoval said.
A chat about mothers and motherhood in history will take place from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. March 25 and 28 in the University Library Shary Room on the Edinburg campus.
“[These] are mini lectures where faculty from the history department and the Gender and Women’s Studies Program present research that focuses on mothers, motherhood and history,” Brühöfener said.
International’s Women’s Day will be celebrated from noon to 1:30 p.m. March 28 in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus, where the recipients for the “Outstanding Female Student Award” will be announced.
For more information about the events, email vanessa.sandoval@utrgv.edu.
