In light of Women’s History Month, a panel of speakers came in Tuesday morning to discuss their experiences as women who were among the first to be able to exercise their right to vote.
After the panel, there was a reception celebrating the 90th anniversary of women’s suffrage. It was somewhat informal compared to the panel, but nonetheless, it was a discussion long overdue.
First, Dr. Linda Pritchard, head of the women and gender studies department, started the discussion by giving a short timeline as well as some information on the suffrage movement, such as the fact the suffrage movement was originally the woman’s right to freedom/vote.
According to Pritchard, it did not happen overnight, but it was “100 years in the making.” She also spoke of some women’s rights issues beside suffrage, such as the freedom to wear whatever they wanted, including pants (known as bloomers at that time); owning property in their own name and working in many occupations.
After that, Pritchard gave the students and other attendees the opportunity to mention some problems in society concerning women. This opened up quite a discussion, encouraging some students to give their opinion. Although there were many issues discussed, the three that stuck were: a women’s role in society and how she is portrayed in the media; history textbooks in schools; and education-major/minor wise.
One of the issues mentioned was the role of woman in society, and how it is portrayed in the media. The media, according to most of the people in the room, do not portray women in a good way. An example used was Mary Poppins the movie, and how the mother did not take care of her children very well because she was too busy being a suffragette.
Another issue addressed was the lack of information in school textbooks and how when students read through their history books and get to the part about suffragists, one paragraph of information is all that is given.
According to some of the reception attendees, Elizabeth Cady Stanton is portrayed like a vicious or intimidating woman who would, no matter the cost, get her right to vote. One student said if there was more information given on the suffragists, then more students would find some interest in women and gender studies when they enter college.
Lastly, education is also a problem, especially when it comes to gender. Although this was thought to be an issue in other countries, it seems like it’s an issue in the U.S. as well.
There are some teachers and parents who are encouraging the male students to go into the sciences and math while the female students are encouraged to go into language arts and history. This is done supposedly because science and math are more “manly” than language arts or history.
Of course, there are many more issues when it comes to gender, but these three were the ones discussed the most and seemed to spark some interest in everyone.
“The whole program was beneficial,” said Deja Houser, a sophomore student studying nursing.
There are more events coming up next week, including the movie and discussion of “A League of Their Own” from 7-9 p.m. on Monday, in the Student Center Auditorium.