Celebrated annually during the month of March, Women’s History Month honors the struggles and recognizes the achievements of women in the United States. This year, the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women—along with the Alumni Association, University Events and several other campus partners—will present a series of events celebrating women’s empowerment and activism, as well as collaborative playlists and a Binary Walkway installation honoring some of the first Black women at Case Western Reserve.
The culminating event for the month will be the March installment of Think Forum, featuring speaker T. Morgan Dixon, co-founder and CEO of GirlTrek—a movement encouraging Black women to use walking as a practical first step to inspire healthy living, eliminate barriers to physical activity and improve access to safe, walkable communities. Although Dixon’s talk will be the final event of March, her work as a social entrepreneur and message of empowerment served as inspiration for many of the month’s events and activities.
“Our co-sponsorship of March’s Think Forum speaker inspired a lot of what we’ve organized for the CWRU community in celebration of Women’s History Month,” said Angela Clark-Taylor, Mather Center director. “Dixon is delivering an important message for our community to hear. She has so much wisdom to share as we think about what impact CWRU wants to make on the greater Cleveland community as we work to innovate across the human-technology divide to bring about change for the public good.”
Expanding on GirlTrek’s movement, the Mather Center is also organizing a series of collaborative playlists, designed to create community and virtual engagement between women at CWRU, and provide empowering music to listen to while they walk. Women are invited to submit their favorite empowerment-themed songs, which will be compiled into several playlists throughout the month. Additionally, the Mather Center will display their Light the Way installation on the Binary Walkway to give the campus community an opportunity to learn more about ten of CWRU’s early Black women alumnae.
“GirlTrek’s centering of Black women and use of history and music to inspire healthy communities seemed like a perfect fit for the moment,” said Clark-Taylor. “We wanted to give people a reason to get outside and move, to help connect the on-campus and remote women in our community and celebrate the inspiring women of color in CWRU’s history.”
Those interested in hearing more about inspiring CWRU alumnae also are invited to attend the Mather Center and Alumni Association’s conversation series Women of Wonder—a multi-day series beginning March 10 featuring alumnae leaders, innovators and champions who persevere to make history and reclaim their story.
In addition to the various speaker series, student organizations will also be sponsoring several events throughout the month. Beginning today (March 8) for International Women’s Day and continuing through the week, the Women-Focused Organizations Coalition will collaborate with their member organizations to bring a week of activities to CWRU students. Students who are interested in getting involved can join the mailing list to learn more about each day’s events and how to participate.
“I hope this month’s events give us all a chance to appreciate women’s efforts to innovate for the public good, and recognize the importance of working in coalition,” said Clark-Taylor. “We have such a great opportunity to learn from the exceptional women who came before us, those who are leading the way today, and to inspire our women leaders of the future.”
Follow the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women on Instagram, Facebook and CampusGroups, or subscribe to their newsletter to stay up to date on all their Women’s History Month activities.