It’s another month of celebration at Broward College. The Office of Cultural Affairs and Student Engagement (CASE) and Student Life have assembled a comprehensive calendar of events from a college-wide call for proposals which resulted in various events submitted by faculty and staff from various departments and pathways. The programming will honor, commemorate, and reflect on the achievements, contributions, and history of women in America as the country observes Women’s History Month.

Since 1981, when Congress passed the legislation for the first time when they designated “Women’s History Week” during March, the U.S. has celebrated women’s achievements in society. It eventually evolved into Women’s History Month in 1987 and has been honored every March since.

This year’s theme is “Choose to Challenge Inequality” and most engagements will focus on various aspects and issues related to inequality as it affects women in society. All events will be hosted virtually via Zoom.

What Lies Ahead

“The great advantage to having month-long events to celebrate different communities and groups is that we have time to explore deeper into issues that we may not know much about,” says Erika Neff, director, Cultural Affairs and Student Engagement. “We often think we know enough about a certain topic or issue and when we participate in engagements like these, we realize there’s always so much more to learn.”

Starting on Monday, March 8, Women’s History Month Observance will begin with Hybrid Women: Immigrant Mothers and Daughters at 2 p.m. Over two dozen events including seminars, panels, and musical performances to name a few, will take place through Wednesday, March 31, when celebrations end with the 3^rd Annual Women Empowerment Summit at 9:30 a.m. Special guests and speakers will participate in various panels and engagements including musician Dr. Joan Cartwright, breast Cancer survivor Zell Randle, and several professionals across the board.

“For Women’s History Month in particular, this is an excellent opportunity to inspire and motivate young women. It’s important that they see strong women they can look up to at the forefront of the various male-dominated professional fields, but also take the opportunity to seek out mentors and connect to their peers,” explains Lauren Adamo, director, Student Life of North Campus.

Setting A Spark

The holistic calendar seeks to inspire conversation and debate among students and the college community at large. Due to its virtual setting, many students are finding it easy to participate in extracurricular events from the comfort of their home. “Over the last few weeks, we are seeing good attendance and participation in these events, as we just hosted Black History Month during February, and we are also experiencing high student engagement,” says Neff. “Students are actively seeking out more resources and material from these events, many asking for recordings to share with family and friends.”

The call to participate throughout the month of March extends beyond women. Both Neff and Adamo agree that this opportunity will benefit everyone attending and they are looking forward to feedback from participants to consider for future engagements. CASE will be recording all engagements to be posted on their new website once it goes live.