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Connecticut College to celebrate 100th anniversary of International Women's Day March 7

NEW LONDON, Conn. - Connecticut College will celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day on Monday, March 7, with music, dance, food, poetry and information on global women's issues. The public is invited to attend the event, which is from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the 1962 Room of the Crozier-Williams student center. The event is free, but voluntary donations will go to Students Taking Action to Fight Fistula, a group funding surgeries to correct a debilitating condition affecting mostly women in Africa and the Middle East. "We are thrilled to be celebrating the centennial of International Women's Day in the same year that Connecticut College turns 100," said Mab Segrest, chair of the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and one of the organizers of the event. "International Women's Day has uplifted the challenges and accomplishments of the world's women for over a century."

The celebration at Connecticut College takes place on the eve of International Women's Day, which emerged in the early part of the twentieth century out of the struggles of working women in New York City, who were fighting for decent work conditions, better pay, shorter hours and the right to vote. In 1910, the International Conference of Working Women put forward the idea of a global holiday and, in 1911, more than one million men and women celebrated. In the years since, thousands of events take place across the world on March 8 and the day is considered a national holiday in some countries. "Globally, women are half the people in the world, and statistics at the turn of the 21st century show they do two-thirds of the work for one-tenth of the wages," said Segrest.

"Women today in the United States make 77 cents on the male dollar. Women's contributions in the workplace, the community and the family are too often taken for granted. International Women's Day allows us to uplift and celebrate all of that labor of brains, hands, backs and hearts." The event is sponsored by Connecticut College's Department of Gender and Women's Studies and the Women's Center, and co-sponsored by Student Government Association, Office of the Dean of Spiritual Life, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Office of Volunteer for Community Service, the LGBTQ Center, Counseling Services and the Center for Teaching and Learning. 



February 28, 2011