University celebrates International Women’s Day

By Tracy Culumber

The world recognized Tuesday as a day to celebrate women, but for several renowned campus speakers, the day also provided an opportunity to share concerns about global human rights.

Dozens of registered student organizations sponsored events to commemorate the 94th Annual International Women’s Day during Women’s History Month. Speakers lectured on the importance of basic human rights for women and men alike, from the fields of India to the classrooms of the University.

Amnesty International and the Illinois Student Council on family relations sponsored a speech by Manisha Desai, associate professor of sociology and director of the women and gender in global perspectives program. Desai’s lecture, “Women’s Activism in the Context of Globalization,” touched on many gender issues that affect University students and women around the world.

“Issues of inequality are right here on campus, and International Women’s Day definitely deals with that,” Desai said.

She cited several examples of injustices that women face on campus today, including the unionized civil service staff that currently has no contract with the University. Desai questioned whether the unionized civil service staff was even making a living wage, and if the student body was even aware of their misfortunes.

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“Students on campus need to include themselves in the world in which they live,” Desai said. “A day like this puts them in that context.”

Women’s day was recognized as an international holiday in 1911 and has successfully inspired women to speak out about their rights to education, health care and equality, Desai said. She also emphasized the importance of observing female empowerment throughout the world.

Faranak Miraftab, assistant professor of urban and regional planning and of the gender and women’s studies program, also spoke on behalf of women’s social change efforts in the world. Her presentation, “Feminist Praxis and Grassroots Movements for Shelter: Perspectives from the Global South” conveyed some of the atrocities that befall women worldwide and how they relate to University students and faculty.

Though she focused on occurrences in India and South Africa, she said that female injustices could occur anywhere, even on campus.

“With our lifestyles, often we are contributing to their misery,” Miraftab said, in reference to India’s working class women. “The deterioration of global living conditions is falling on women, and after 9/11, we can’t think we are separate.”

Although the topics of discussion were not gender specific, very few men attended the lectures.

“I was expecting none – well, maybe one or two,” Miraftab said. “I heard credit incentive was offered by Gender and Women’s Studies teachers, which might explain the numbers.”

David Roediger, history professor and one of a dozen men present, said that not many male students take courses in gender and women’s studies, even though the classroom is a place where manhood can be discussed along with women’s issues. He also discussed the importance of the event as a national holiday and expressed great satisfaction at the number of events scheduled.

“This is an important year,” Roediger said. “The U.S. is turning back to the roots of a holiday which is celebrated much more in other places in the world.”

Other women’s events on campus included a speech by Jacqueline Bobo, which was sponsored by the Institute of Communication Research. Titled “Subversive Spaces and Resistant Black Women,” Bobo’s lecture focused on the empowerment of black women to erase repressive historical images and encouraged students to participate in art that is not totally influenced by mainstream culture.

Patricia Zavella, professor of Latina/o studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz, also gave a lecture Tuesday evening sponsored by Lambda Tau Omega Sorority and co-sponsored by many other student groups. Her speech, “Latinas in Higher Education: The Struggle for Empowerment,” discussed the background of educated Latinas and the complex barriers that make admission difficult for many.

A photojournalism exhibit created by a renowned South Asian journalist, P. Sainath, was displayed in the Grand Gallery at the second floor of Grainger Library. The exhibit, “Visible Work, Invisible Women: Women and Work in Rural India,” depicted impoverished South Asian women toiling over manual labor.

Sainath also gave a well-attended speech Tuesday night sponsored by the South Asian Collective and several other registered student organizations. He focused on the trends and the reasoning behind farmer suicide and the media.

“His talk really displayed the importance women have in agriculture,” said Kathleen King, senior in engineering. “We are a big agriculture school, and we need to appreciate the people working to feed us.”

Amar Nandyala, a graduate student who helped plan the event, said people might be more attentive to issues in the developing world because it is women’s day.

“Being at universities, we are a privileged class of people,” Nandyala said. “But it is not explicitly acknowledged. That relationship (between students and under-developed people) is not visible through media or education.”