Looking at the calendar, each day is in honor of something, sometimes borderline ridiculous. International pizza day, national eat a doughnut day, wear a tutu and dance in the middle of the street while singing show tunes day. It seems easy to lose track of what days have significance; which is why the Feminist Alliance (FA) is taking actions to distinguish International Women’s Day from the rest of the days of celebration.

There is one day a year to appreciate the women in your life and celebrate the women in history. To the FA, this is something that COD needs to appreciate. To get the attention of students, they have employed posters around the school promoting their round-table discussion of feminist topics: “Why women are better than men: a feminist discussion.” Initially, the statement catches students off guard, but the purpose was purely to grab attention.

“The title last year was ‘Make Your Own Damn Sandwich: A Discussion About Women’s Roles in the World,’ and people ended up writing things on the posters we hung around campus,” explains FA Vice-President Auguste Baltrimaviciute. “So this year we thought we’d continue to be slightly controversial with the title in order to get people’s attention and hopefully interested in coming to the discussion to express their opinions.”

Though the discussion was open to all, the FA wanted to make sure specific topics were brought into light, “Some of the topics we’re planning on discussing are feminism and its meaning/significance, the role of men in feminism, the current elections and the role of women in various positions such as STEM or the military,” added Baltrimaviciute.

The first step was to open students to different viewpoints and importance of feminism through the discussion, throughout the month the FA has set up other ways to spread the importance of gender equality through selling baked goods and buttons.

The bake sale will occur at 10 a.m. on March 10 in front of Starbucks and feature higher prices for men than women to draw attention to ongoing gender disparity in wages across the country.

“We’ll be selling baked goods to women for 78 cents and men for $1 in order to raise awareness to the wage gap. All proceeds will go toward Family Shelter Service in Wheaton,” said Baltrimaviciute.

Various buttons will be sold on Tuesday, March 15th also outside Starbucks. Proceeds will also go towards the family shelter.

“Most of the buttons will have historically and culturally significant women on them along with quotes to highlight their various achievements,” explained Baltrimaviciute.
The Feminist Alliance will hold events throughout the month celebrating women, “it’s important to realize the importance of having an International Women’s Day,” said Baltrimaviciute. “This tradition has very historically significant roots, starting in 1909. It recognized a specific strike led by women of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union that happened the previous year. It’s important to recognize the history behind this day and its current significance.”