Who Run the World? Girls.

by The Cowl Editor on March 7, 2019


Campus


PC Student Congress sponsored an event for International Women’s Day that showcased female student leaders on campus. The photos and descriptions are hung outside McPhail’s.

Maura Campbell ’22

News Staff

Providence College will celebrate International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8, and members of different clubs and organizations on campus are coming together to celebrate women and their contributions to society. 

Known as “Women’s Week,” the week of International Women’s Day is set aside to celebrate and discuss women’s issues. 

Nikki Silva ’19, co-president of PC Democrats, spoke about some of the sponsored events happening on campus during Women’s Week, as well as the meaning of Women’s Week as a whole.

“Each individual event was created and brought to us as an event for this week by the clubs themselves,” Silva explained. 

The PC Democrats co-sponsored each of these events, but several different clubs on campus proposed them in celebration of Women’s Week. 

These clubs include the 69th Student Congress, who organized the Notable Women of PC Showcase along with PC Republicans and PC Democrats. 

This showcase displayed photos of women student leaders on our own campus, nominated by peers, in lower Slavin in front of the Student Congress Office.

Several discussion-based events were also planned for Women’s Week. The Women’s Studies Program will be sponsoring “Gender, Intersectionality, and Politics,” a discussion led by Dr. Abigail Brooks, the director of Women’s Studies. Silva describes this program, as “an informal and engaging dialogue on the 2018 mid-term elections and the 2020 presidential election through an intersectional and gendered lens.”

Also planned is the Board of Progammers (BOP) sponsored event “Women Undefined,” which Silva describes as “an open mic night of poetry and singing in McPhail’s.”

Women Will sponsored and planned an event for March 7 called “Girls Just Want to Have Fun Dance,” a fun and lighthearted dance party held in Moore Hall.

These events, along with several others, display the equality found among different clubs and organizations collaborating to celebrate Women’s Week. The real meaning of International Women’s Day is not lost in these events; rather, Silva hopes that they will work to shine a light on this meaning.

The goal of Women’s Week at PC, according to Silva, is to “open up and continue conversations on campus about intersectional feminism, women’s rights, and the continued need to celebrate International Women’s Day.”

 She also stressed the importance of collaboration on the week’s events, explaining the PC Democrats’ desire to make sure that different voices were heard on gendered issues throughout the week. Having different clubs and organizations propose and co-sponsor these events shows the diversity of interest in women’s issues on campus.

Women’s Week also fits into a wider context. Silva explains, “With the increasing attention the #MeToo movement is creating, we felt it was important to highlight the successes of it but also the work that still needs to be done. 2018 was a monumental year for women being elected to political office, which is a success, but college campuses are still places where women, trans*, and non-binary students are still facing challenges regarding sexual harassment and assault. Therein lies why we think this week needs to fit into Providence College’s campus culture, as well as college campuses everywhere.”

Currently, the #MeToo Movement and modern American politics have put a spotlight on women’s issues. The events of Women’s Week fit into this global context and into the context of other college campuses nationwide.

Students interested in involvement with the PC Democrats, Silva says, should contact their secretary Hannah Bone ’20 (hbone@friars.providence.edu) to be added to the email list. If students have an interest in getting involved with the Women’s Studies program, or with any of the other clubs and organizations involved with Women’s Week, the best way to do so is by contacting their presidents or directors and coming to their events.

Women’s Week is a true celebration of International Women’s Day at PC. Collaboration between different clubs and organizations provides a diverse and well-rounded view on women’s issues and allow these issues to truly fit into a national and global setting.