Every year on March 8, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. The day is a global holiday to recognize women’s economic, political, social and cultural achievements. It is a call to action in gender equality and was a major achievement in women’s rights when the day was created in 1909.
This year, the Deborah L. Coffin Women’s Center is hosting its fourth International Women’s Day event on March 7, 2019. The event starts at 5 p.m. in the Gustafson Center and will consist of panels, a Q&A and Keynote Speaker, Nika Elugardo.
Nika Elugardo is a social change advocate in the Boston area and was recently elected as State Representative in the 15th Suffolk/Norfolk District.
Women’s Center Director Brooke Gilmore spoke to why they wanted to bring the event to campus.
“It’s been really nice to be able to bring the community into the awareness of this as a national day of celebration and action,” Gilmore said.
The day is not celebrated in the United States as a national holiday like it is in some countries, so bringing it to college campuses allows for a younger generation to be engaged in this important day and it’s meaning.
Every year the event is met with great turnout from faculty and staff, but student attendance tends to be lacking.
“We would love to see more students there this year. I think that they’ll really enjoy the speakers and they can start to think about how this issue affects them,” Gilmore said.
There will also be a virtual event at 7 p.m. hosted by the SNHU Online Career Team so that global SNHU students can be involved in the day as well. All in-person and virtual events are to explore ways to reach gender parity and look at women’s achievements.
The event is free to SNHU students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community and will be met with great conversation, food and drinks.
“I hope faculty, staff and, after classes, students can attend and get inspired, get re-energized and make commitments to themselves and their communities in ways that they can act moving forward,” said Gilmore.
