Colorado State University-Pueblo campus takes part in activities for National Women’s History Month, as it is recognized each March.

The Diversity and Inclusion group, led by director Jennifer DeLuna and her staff, present the following activities.

Events going featured for the rest of the month include:

March 19: Empowering Women speaker: Dena Rodriguez, executive director of the Pueblo Rape Crisis Services, will speak about her career in the  Occhiato University Center Room 031 at noon.

March 20: Tia Norfleet, a race car driver will speak on March 20 in the  Library and Academic Resources Center room 109 at 6:00 p. m.

Women’s History Month

National Women’s History Month dates back to 1987, when the National Women’s History Project lobbied Congress to designate the month to women’s history.

The project said that the president is authorized to make a proclamation each year for NWHM in March. Also, the President recognizes and “calls upon Americans to observe” March 8 as International Women’s Day.

The NWHP addresses many issues for the purpose of advancing rights of women. The overall statement begins with: “Whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways.”

The next seven paragraphs each focus on issues that women face to overcome. For example, women played a critical and mostly unrecognized role in historical development. Economic, social and cultural strides were made through women’s movements. The bill addresses volunteerism, philanthropy, class, suffrage, arts and race as essential parts of the bill. It may be viewed in its entirety at the National Women’s History Project site.

This movement began at the turn of the century, when women marched in New York City demanding “better pay, shorter hours, and voting rights” according to International Women’s Day 2014 website. It took a while for all the countries to get the same day. In 1910, Clara Zetkin, leader for Social Democratic Party in Germany, declared that the same day be recognized for International Women’s Day. At a convention, 100 women and 17 countries were represented at the first gathering.

The next year, 1911, 140 Jewish and Italian women lost their lives in a fire in New York during the month of March because of bad working conditions. The Bread and Roses campaign resulted from this struggle.

“The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending “the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances” in the “light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect,” as Robert J.S. Ross wrote in 2013.

James Oppenheim wrote the poem, “Bread and Roses” that appeared in a magazine in March to honor those who had fallen.

As years pass, evolution of women’s rights and contributions gain strength with events that happen throughout the nation and the world, allowing women to be recognized for their achievements.