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| Programming
Ideas for Women’s History Month By Cathy Raynis The history
of women often gets overshadowed. This month is a great opportunity to
focus on the women currently in our lives, and the ones who have come
before us. There is a great opportunity to empower women this month by
creating the space in your hallway, hall, or area for the celebration
of women. Through bulletin boards, flyers, brochures, events, small group
discussions, one on one interactions, an entire community can come to
understand the contributions of women and the issues women face. Hopefully
the women in your community will feel connected to the accomplishments
of women in history, confident in the present, and excited about their
future. With effective planning of active and passive educating in the
halls, you have an incredible opportunity to change the hearts, souls
and minds of the men and women you serve. May Women’s History Month
be the month where you are able to impact a resident or a peer so that
they value and respect women more than they did when they entered your
community. Hopefully
the following ideas will get you started in the planning of a dynamic
Women’s History Month. These ideas are not all inclusive and all
ideas can be adapted to fit your needs. Ice
Breakers: The contributions
of Women & Making a quick quilt Code cards
so that a woman’s name is on one card and her accomplishment is on
another. Put a number on them so that they can find each other. Have participants
come together to get to know one another better. Participants will read
the contents of a folder with pictures of a woman and her story. They
will then draw the woman’s name on a paper with a symbol of her accomplishment.
Participants then form a large group and introduce each other to the group.
At the same time they introduce the women and post their paper on the
wall. All the symbols are placed on the wall in the shape of a quilt to
demonstrate the contributions of women. You can talk about the importance
of these women and tie it into the symbolism/purpose of the quilt. Kristine
Niendorf’s article in the March 1994 edition of the Talking Stick
could be a great resource for women’s names and contributions. There
are also many web sites, journals, and books, which could assist you in
the development of the list of women. Who am
I? Put the
names of historical and famous women on participants’ backs. Have
them go through and ask yes and no questions to find out who they are.
It is helpful if you give participants lots of cues so they remember who
the person is. It may be helpful to put photos and information about the
person on the paper that is tagged on their back. It may also be helpful
for the participants to have a list of names of women and their contributions
so that the participants can narrow down who the woman listed on their
back is. Through this program participants learn about the contributions
of women as they are discovering which one is tagged on their back. Momento Have the
participants bring a momento of a woman in their life that has impacted
them or helped them to be who they are today. Have people share their
momento and tell the story of the woman. Historical
Impact Have each
person share the story of a famous woman they admire. The woman can be
living or dead. If participants are stuck, you may want to have folders
of women who have made contributions to different fields available. Give
the group 5 minutes to explore resources and have them share the story
of their woman. Musical
Chairs Use empowering
songs by and for women and have fun! Just in case you haven’t played
in a while, set up the chairs back to back or in a circle (be creative
and choose any shape!). There should be one less chair than participant.
The participants move around the chairs as the music is played and must
sit when the music stops. The person with out the chair gets to stop out
and a chair is taken out. The people who move out are given a spirit handshake
and are welcomed into the cheering squad area. (Be creative and create
a space for them so no one really looses). The cheering squad grows as
those competing for chairs decreases. Winds
are Blowing Each participant
is given a picture (out of a magazine) and description of a famous woman.
They are to be that person for the duration of the game. The participants
read about their famous woman, and then form a large circle. One person
starts in the center of the circle and states "I am x (Julia Roberts,
Tracy Chapman, Mother Theresa, Princess Di, Fergie, etc.) and winds are
blowing for any one who (is famous, has green eyes, can dance well, is
royalty, helps the poor, etc. (a single description of their person).
Everyone who has similar characteristics or whose woman has those characteristics
must move across the room to change chairs. Hopefully, participants learn
a little more about women and their contributions while having a fun time. Bulletin
Boards/Passive programming Ideas The following
list contains ideas for bulletin boards or flyers. Some individuals learn
through visual stimuli. Others do not have the time to attend an educational
or social event, but they may stop to notice a creative bulletin board,
flyer, or brochure. This list is just a start. Feel free to adapt and
combine to reach the needs of your population. Contributions
of women who can write You can
use a poem by Maya Angelou or any great women poet for this. Put the poem
in the center of the board in large letters and invite the residents to
put the names of strong women all around it on the board. Have a pocket
with the poem for people to take. There are many empowering poems you
could use. Find one that you love and put it up for all to enjoy. Contributions
of women who can sing Songs, or
favorite phrases from songs, which are empowering or representative of
the women’s voice or journey, could be placed on bright colored paper.
Invite your floor to add the voices of some of their favorite women performers. Contributions
of women in comedy If you are
in need of comedy, women through out time have captured the issues facing
women in very clever ways. Use the Internet to explore quotes from Lucille
Ball, Rosie O’Donnell, Lily Tomlin, Woopie Goldberg, Joy (from the
view), Debra Messing, Cheryl Underwood, Roseanne Barr, Joan Rivers, Erma
Bombeck, Phyllis Dyller, etc. (this is not a representative sample, but
it is a start!). Capture what they have to say about women, men, work,
domestic stuff, sex, friendship, and about life. You could list the different
headings and put different quotes under each heading. Famous
women and their accomplishments-with colorful string List the
names of ten famous women on one side of the board and use colorful string
to move from her name to her contribution. If you like straight lines,
make it orderly. If you don’t, have your string travel to unique
locations on the board to the description. Famous
women quiz Another
way to raise awareness of the contributions of women is have many doors
on a bulletin board that have questions on them. They would ask questions
like "Did you know who (list their contribution)?" The door
would open up to the name of the person and a picture of her. That way
it could be interactive. The entire board could be called "How much
do you know about women? Women
collage Cover a
bulletin board in your favorite color. Invite your floor to join you in
making a collage celebrating women. You may want to give them themes to
focus on if they need boundaries or ideas. For example, we are coming
together to build a collage that represents the women who have made a
difference in your lives. Bring something that reminds you of that person
and add it to the board. Everyone would share as they added their item
to the board. You could suggest that everyone cut pictures that celebrate
and empower women from their favorite magazine or ones you provide. (Talk
to your Hall Director, Director of Res. Life, Dean, VP, and ask them to
bring you magazines). Make sure you have magazines that represent diversity.
Have the people bring their pictures at a set time and allow everyone
to glue away. Photos, drawings, and words can be used too. Programming/Event
Ideas Ceremony
of Thanks Invite participants
to share their favorite card, letter, photo, e-mail, poem from a friend,
lover, mother, sister, teacher, etc. Come together and celebrate the women
in their lives. Share a warm nurturing beverage and food afterward. Coffee
House celebrating artistic women Cover tables
with paper and set out markers. On each you can write a powerful quote
by or about women and allow people to respond. Have female poets, singers,
and comedians, share their talents through out the evening. In between
have the music of empowering women playing in the background. Around the
room have women artists show case their work (i.e. photographers, graphic
artists, video artist, painters, etc.) Midafternoon
Tea It sounds
a little funny, but it could be great for the soul. Get together and share
tea. Have all different kinds. Facilitate relaxed discussions. You could
have a question of the day like "how have women impacted you?"
"What do you do to take care of you?" "How can women have
it all, or can they?" "Making it as a women in the new century-how
to be financially savvy". These could be great ones to bring visible
faculty and staff to attend. Airbands Lip-sync
the music of women. Loving
Right – on healthy relationships Bring in
counseling center professionals to co-present so you can enjoy it too. Sex and
sexual health in the new millennium In the boundaries
of your particular campus, have your health center and counseling center
join you for a fun interactive presentation. Slide in facts you want them
to know and visual aids with questions they want to know. On some campuses,
if you get all the women together alone, explaining breast examination
techniques, the gynecological exam, healthy sexual intimacy, and other
health issues helps to decrease the ignorance and fear so women are more
confident with their own bodies and with taking care of them. The fishbowl The fishbowl
exercise is another one that students find engaging. The facilitator has
all the students write down questions that they have always wanted to
ask. You can gear it to whatever theme you desire. For sex/gender awareness,
students can put down questions they have always wanted to know about
the opposite gender. The facilitator can split them into the two groups
with one group in a circle and the other group in a circle around them.
The first group discusses the question with the other group observing
and then they switch. Acquaintance
Rape Bring in
an outside speaker to talk about how to help a friend if they come to
you as a victim of acquaintance rape. Body
Image-how to love your body now Have everyone
draw his or her body on a large role of paper. Have everyone decorate
it with symbols of love, peace, balance, etc. Once everyone decorates
their body with positive loving symbols, have them discuss how they feel
about their body, what contributed to them loving/not loving their body,
and what could they do to love themselves and their body more? What could
they do to be more supportive of one another and each other’s bodies?
It will be helpful to have a counselor present. If a counselor is not
present, provide participants with contact information for your campus
counseling center and/or health services, so participants can pursue follow-up
after the program if it is needed. The images can be pasted up in the
hall or lounge if people are interested. Pre-break
exercise, stress management healthy eating dialogues Have coffee
chats and talk about people’s plans for the breaks. Present five
minutes worth of how to loose weight or monitor stress through healthy
diet and exercise. Share a list of resources or favorite walking paths
in the area. Then have each person fill out a personal goal sheet. Allow
people to share if they are so inclined. You could invite people to walk
with you at certain times. A bulletin board could tie it all together
with everyone putting their spring break healthy lifestyle change goals
on the board. Other
ideas. Get faculty and staff to help with these
OK. This
is just a start. Hopefully it will motivate you to create an eye-catching
bulletin board and an entertaining program. Spread the message that WOMEN
are PHENOMENAL. Their contributions should be celebrated this month, and
every month. Enjoy. About the Author
Cathy Raynis is the Director of Residential Life at Iona College. She earned her BS from the University of New Mexico in 1986, and her MS from Indiana University in 1989. Cathy is completing course work to finish a MA from SUNY New Paltz and is half way through her doctoral work at Fordham University. She is currently chair of the NEACUHO Women’s Issues Committee. |
