Women’s History Month Wraps Up With Diversity

International Women’s History Month is coming to a close here at Southwest Minnesota State University, but it’s going out with style. The final events were held over two days. They included a lecture from Professor Joan Gibbons, a student reading, and an art exhibit. Professor Susan McLean organized the events once again.
“Every month is men’s history month, women need a voice in this world too,” said McLean. “It’s important to hear works from women, instead of a man writing as a woman. That’s not to say men can’t writing to, for, or about women accurately, just that it’s important to hear from the female side of things.”
Joan Gibbons, a professor who is currently on sabbatical, is using her free time to research and write on Alice Hamilton. “We wanted to get all kinds of women, not just artistic ones,” McLean said. Hamilton was a scientist and a physician in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She not only did landmark research and helped provide evidence for landmark industrial work safety laws, but was an advocate for pacifism and gender equality in the workplace.
Another new addition to SMSU’s Women’s History Month celebration was an art exhibit hosted by the campus Women’s Center. Works from student artists Courney Casperson, Mai Lor, Christopher D. Ehlers, Branndon Hood, and Joseph Evans are being showcased until April 6 in SC 239.