We like to celebrate this event all month! Through a variety of programs with guest speakers, films, displays, and articles, we highlight notable women in history and look at the latest focus among today's gender historians.

Public Law 101-6 designates March as Women's History month observed through related programs, ceremonies, and activities. The law was passed in 1989 in order to recognize women's contributions, including:

"Whereas American women have played and continue to play a critical economic, cultural, and social role in every sphere of the life of the Nation by constituting a significant portion of the labor force working inside and outside of the home;

Whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background served as leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement;

Whereas American women have been leaders, not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial movement, the civil rights movement, and other movements, especially the peace movement, which create a more fair and just society for all; and

Whereas despite these contributions, the role of American women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued, in the literature, teaching and study of American history."

"To the boy we say, 'Do'; to the girl, 'Don't."

-Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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2013 Events

 

 

Wednesday, March 6

  

Sack Lunch Seminar--Listening is an Act of Love: Tuesdays with Morrie and Maureen

12- 1 p.m.

SUB 168

Come learn about this intergenerational writing project offered by Jill Davis, instructor of English, pairing MSU students with senior elders in the Bozeman Community. This assignment gives students the opportunity to learn not only about national history, the Great Depression, farming in the dust bowl, and the experiences of women as they entered the work force, but also taught students local histories of the Gallatin Valley and Montana State University. This on-going project connects each student with an elder over a nine-week period to converse and conduct interviews, presenting a polished biographical narrative to their elder partner at the end. Join us to learn more about this fascinating process from the students' perspectives. As the Exponent pointed out in a recent article: Just like in the book ( Tuesdays with Morrie ), students form a relationship through spending time with a senior and explore themes such as acceptance, happiness, perseverance, and love.

Elsie Fox: Portrait of an Activist

7:00 p.m.

Procrastinator Theater

Elsie Fox gave a speech in Bozeman for a 2006 Mother's Day Peace Rally organized by Montana Women For. Ninety-nine year old Fox stepped to the podium, shook her fist at the crowd, and challenged everyone present: We, the people, must have solidarity…unity. The voice of action must be heard, by the people, for the people, from the people. We, the people, can take back our country. We can make a difference! Stories are like that-- they not only connect us, they do even more: they become insistent. Eventually, a personal story can become too big and too powerful and to hold all to yourself—it demands attention and insists on a voice. Karen Stevenson, who lives near Miles City where she continues to be inspired by the eastern Montana landscape and the people who live there, authored the book: Elsie Fox: Portrait of an Activist. Stevenson will discuss the interviews with Elsie that culminated in the writing of this book, and the ways in which Elsie's voice still resonates-- we can make a difference!

 

Wednesday, March 20 

Sack Lunch Seminar--Midwifery in Montana

Noon- 1 p.m.

SUB 168

Midwifery has been practiced in Montana since the Territorial Period, but the profession had questionable legal status until the state's 1989 legislative session. Join Jennifer Hill, a student pursuing a doctorate in American Studies with a focus on Women's History in the American West at MSU, for a discussion about the handful of individuals who fought for the legalization of midwifery and established licensing procedures for homebirth midwives in Montana. The struggle for legalization questioned cultural beliefs about women, birth, and medicine, and revealed conflicts that remain relevant for contemporary reproductive issues.

 

Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies of Yellowstone National Park

7:00 p.m.

SUB Ballroom B

Like much of America's history, Yellowstone's historical narrative contains numerous stories of the adventures, heroics, and contributions of men, while the contributions of women have become invisible and largely forgotten. In fact, their contributions to Yellowstone were many. In her book Women in Wonderland: Lives, Legends, and Legacies, author Elizabeth Watry has profiled fourteen remarkable women whose contributions to and experiences in Yellowstone figured significantly in the development of the park. Ranging from park rangers developing nature trails and sealing guns to scientists researching bison and plants to concessioners supplying visitors with comfortable lodging and curios, these spirited, ambitious, and independent women have long gone uncelebrated. Her lecture will explore several of the enterprising lives of these noteworthy women as well as a few 'behind the book' research experiences.

 

 

Wednesday, March 27 th  

Women's History Reception and Student of Achievement

Award Ceremony

5:30 p.m.

Leigh Lounge, Strand Union Building, MSU

Join us for the 21 st annual Women's History Month Reception and presentation of our Student of Achievement Awards, an event co-sponsored with our friends in the MSU Alumni Foundation. Our keynote speaker this year will be Dr. Anne Camper, Associate Dean for Faculty and Administration in the College of Engineering, and Chair of the President's Commission on the Status of University Women.

 

For more information http://www.montana.edu/~wwwwomen

 

406.994.3836

 

All events are sponsored by the MSU

Women's Center and are free and open to the public.

 

"In the end antiblack, antifemale, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing - antihumanism."

-Shirley Chisholm