Event marks women's month

Women's History Month was celebrated during Monday's International Women's Day event, co-sponsored by the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and the Women's Student Association. \n"It is important to celebrate women all year round," said senior Angela Bole, co-president of the Women's Association.\nThe night began with tabling by various organizations. Besides handing out information on their organizations, many groups presented themes that concern their organizations and the community in relation to women's issues.\nBloomington Habitat for Humanity distributed information on its organization and how issues of poverty affect women on a large scale.\n"Over 50 percent of all households living in poverty are headed by single women," said Kerry Thomson, a representative of Habitat for Humanity.\nHabitat is looking for female volunteers for its Women Build program, where all-women crews build houses around the community for those in need, Thomson said.\n"We just thought it would be an incredible opportunity to reach out to women in the community," Thomson said.\nThe IU-Bloomington Greens were also present, handing out information about their organization and advertising several causes the group sponsors. The purpose of its group participating in this event was to raise awareness about its party, to get people involved and to demonstrate how the group supports women's issues, said graduate student Christopher Stafford of the IU-Bloomington Greens. Feminism is one of the 10 tenets of the party's platform, he said.\n"It's really the only party that is ready to go out on a limb for women's rights," Stafford said.\nAfter the tabling, several groups and individuals spoke about issues that concern their organizations or women in general. Others read poetry or performed music throughout the evening. \nThe goal was to raise awareness of women's issues in the community and to get students and faculty interested in working on these issues within organizations on campus, said senior Amanda Barge, a member of the Women's Student Association.\n"Hopefully after tonight something here will inspire someone to do something active," Barge said. \nThis was the first time these organizations collaborated on an International Women's Day event. Barge said the participation of various community organizations and the student turnout are encouraging.\n"I'm hoping that FMLA and WSA can work together next year to plan the event," Barge said. "Hopefully, this will become something we can do every year"