Women's Month Showcases
Achievements, Challenges
Competition, health and civil rights among issues highlighted during Women's History Month.
March 16, 2006
By Mimi Ko Cruz
The "awful truth," according to author Leora
Tanenbaum, is that "women are competitive with each other."
"I have felt competitive with other females since childhood," Tanenbaum told a mostly female audience March 1 at the Titan Theater. Her talk kicked off the university's Women's History Month celebration.
"We are constantly measuring ourselves against other women," Tanenbaum said. "It's not entirely our fault... We are taught that we have to be the best, the thinnest, the most attractive, the most devoted and our children have to be the best."
In Tanenbaum's book "Catfight: Rivalries Among Women," she examines the roots of destructive competitiveness among women and asserts that "catfights" thrive because women are conditioned to regard each other as adversaries rather than allies.
"We should be working together for a common good," she said, citing women's suffrage. "The right to vote for women was signed into law in 1920 because women, for 70 years in the suffrage movement, stuck together," Tanenbaum said. "If we unite, we can help everyone, women and men, to live a more satisfying, humane and productive life."
In addition to Tanenbaum's appearance, authors Mary Castillo, Robyn McGee, Ji-Li Jiang and Nancy Porras-Hein discussed their books, as other guest lecturers talked about women's health issues and civil and human rights.
The events are sponsored by the President's Office, Academic Affairs, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Academic Affairs, Women's Studies, International Programs, Women's Center, Women's Studies Student Association, and the departments of History, Political Science and English, Comparative Literature and Linguistics.
"Women have been in and out of history for so many centuries that a month seems like just a drop in the bucket," said Renae Bredin, coordinator and associate professor of women's studies.
Through the month's events, students and community members who attend can "learn more about what amazing things women are doing, what women have done in the past and what women can do in the future if they want to change the world," she said.
To find out more about the month's activities, go to http://www.fullerton.edu/news. For more information, contact Bredin at 278-3742 or rbredin@fullerton.edu.
«
back to News Front
|
|
