Women's History Month
Updated: Apr 3, 2019
We are fortunate enough to live in a time where women are starting to be recognized in male-dominated fields. In the last midterm election, there were more women involved in politics than ever before. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women now make up more than 50% of the workforce. Seeing how much the women’s movement has accomplished is extraordinary
From March 1st to March 31st, we celebrate Women’s History Month. The Women’s Movement empowers and acknowledges talented women and their important contributions to society.
The Women’s History Month event hosted on March 7th, 2019 in PCCC’s Paterson Room was organized for this purpose.
The event lasted from noon to 1pm. Students had a chance to grab free refreshments and get acquainted before the speaker came out. The main speaker, Professor of Art, Barbara Wallace, has been with the college since 2008. She stated that it was so great to have an event that honored very talented women in the artistic field. According to her, the event’s focus was shining a light on different artworks made by famous women or portraying famous women.
She showed numerous paintings from different women. A lot of the artwork had inspiring messages that were relevant to the time that the artwork was made. One painting in particular showed a woman behind bars that were colored to depict the American Flag. It was colored in red, white and blue and also had a star.
Another painting that many were drawn to was a painting made by a man of a woman. It was a painting of former First Lady Michelle Obama, a woman considered to be a strong female icon by many. “Michelle Obama looked so beautiful in the painting. She was a woman of color that did so many great things for the country,” said Wallace.
Not only did Wallace show the artwork, she also told the story behind the art. One recurring theme in the presentation is that most of the female artists had a passion for art but had little guarantee of success in the field. Most of them struggled for a long time, trying to get their work noticed and appreciated. However, that did not stop them. These women were determined to keep doing what they loved. Wallace emphasized that these women never gave up. They were ambitious and passionate.
Wallace stated that she had little time to prepare for the event, but she had help from a few of her friends. Wallace mentioned the help from Jennifer Brown, a librarian on Bank Street and her friend, Susan, who was the manager of cultural affairs at the Hamilton Club.
Wallace was proud to do an event like this. Wallace said that it is important to have an event for women because it is important to get the word out about women. Men are the most known in any field so it was special to have an event that highlighted women in a male dominated field. There are still many women we don’t know about and she was fascinated to learn about different talented women that she never knew of before.
There are many women that have made contributions to society that we do not know of yet. That is what this month is about—honor different women and their achievements.
Hopefully there are women reading this who keep pushing for their dreams and goals. As Wallace stated, “You can do this! Believe in yourself! Don’t give up!”