A professor and the director of Women’s Studies both agree: One month is not enough to celebrate women’s history.

“Women’s History Month should be all year round, just as Black Heritage Month should be all year,” said Nawal Ammar, director of Women’s Studies.

However, there are more than 20 events at the main and regional campuses, sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center, the Honors College and Student Life that celebrate March as Women’s History Month.

The topics range from globalization and henna to poverty and human development. Most women presenting are instructors or professors, Ammar said.

“These events are not all lectures. There will be demonstrations, slide shows and round-table discussions,” Ammar said. “They are sharing with us the rich knowledge they have.”

At 7 p.m. Monday in the Kiva, the East Liverpool Historical Society will present “Our Work, Our Worlds: Women’s Stories,” a play adapted from oral histories of the Ohio Valley, said Patti Swartz, assistant professor of English.

“Hearing words is more interesting than reading a history book,” she said. “Words make history come alive and give a different perspective.”

Swartz said it is important that students, especially women, find out what Women’s History Month is all about.

“Young women do not understand the struggles older women went through. This is a play about those struggles,” she said. “It shows a full spectrum of women’s lives, including childhood, staying home to raise a family and entering the workforce.

The play “gives the idea that women should have a full range of choices based on their own interests and personalities. It is important women today understand why you have to keep protecting those rights.”

The Women’s Resource Center will host a workshop March 31 with Leslye Orloff, director of the Immigrant Women Program of Legal Momentum who is nationally known as a pioneer in immigration law for women, Ammar said.

According to the Legal Momentum Web site, Orloff has spoken to Congress regarding the special needs of immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Orloff also took part in drafting the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

“It is a really revolutionary act that declares violence against women is a crime,” Ammar said.

Women’s History Month events will also reach the regional campuses. There will be three brown bag lunch events at the East Liverpool campus, three Women Talking Back Series events at the Stark campus and four video presentations along with several other demonstrations on various campuses.

“We are working with a small budget compared to other universities,” Ammar said. “Hopefully, next year we will have a bigger budget to work with.

“We decided to start with local talent hoping next year we can have more outside knowledge and still utilize our local talent.”

Contact student life reporter Brianne Carlon at [email protected].