It is well known that while women make up more than half of the population our voices, histories and stories are rarely in the forefront when they are not being steadily erased. Instead we are usually pushed to the margins where we are allowed to be leaders only when it is pertinent to our own causes. Even at JMU, where women have always made up a significant majority of the population, men have always had a majority of decision making power as well as a voice in the classroom as the authors of our textbooks and as a majority of our faculty. For this reason, it is essential for women to create spaces for ourselves, where our work, art and history is highlighted and acknowledged for the significant contribution it has to offer our community.
This Sunday, I am extremely excited to attend an event that does just that. From 7-9 at Court Square theater, the stage is reserved for women’s voices only. Women in Focus is local event in Harrisonburg that centers the work of diverse women in a public forum! You will see presentations by poets, writers, activists, pastors, artists, educators, filmmakers, therapists, musicians, comedians, and mothers! The event is free and a link can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1415237548733640/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
This should be an amazing opportunity to grow, learn and build community with the fiercest women around! I’ll also be performing! Hope to see you there!
Oh my gosh! I wish I had known about this sooner! I hope you have a great time at the event – you should do a follow up post about it. It’s so great to see that events like this are being held in Harrisonburg for the whole community. And I completely agree with you. It’s so strange that JMU’s mostly female population still seems to have little power when it comes to making the important decisions around campus.