Women around the world continue to fight against forms of oppression, so in honor of International Women’s Day, the WSU Center of Civic Engagement [CCE] hopes to highlight the women who inspire others with an International Women’s Week.

International Women’s Day is on March 8, as designated by the United Nations in 1911. The purpose of the day is to celebrate women: their achievements, struggles and influence, according to the International Women’s Week news release.

Posters around campus illustrate the diversity of women, not only on campus but around the world, Marketing and Communication Coordinator of the CCE Erin McIlraith explained.

“These are actually done by the artist that created the Obama Hope posters,” she said. “We felt like they were really beautiful and that they encompassed that kind of acceptance and love that we wanted to express about all women at WSU and worldwide, and how we accept them just as they are.”

On International Women’s Day, the Women’s Resource Center and the President’s Commission of the Status of Women will hold a Women’s Recognition Luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the CUB Senior Ballroom. At the Women’s Recognition Luncheon, Women of Distinction awards will be presented, McIlraith said.

“I think it’s important to celebrate women’s achievements and celebrate women worldwide and all of our wonderful differences we have,” McIlraith said. “Historically, women have faced a lot of oppression, some women have faced both sexism and racism, or they’ve faced transphobia and sexism.”

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, the CCE will be tabling to recognize women who have inspired the students at WSU. You can go up to the table and write on a piece of paper either a woman who has inspired you or how you, as a woman, have empowered others, McIlraith said.

“Anyone who is willing for us to take their picture, we’ll post that on the Facebook album so that we can see what is it that WSU’s collective experience with all these different ways that women have empowered us,” she said.

There will also be ally workshops for attendees to practice allyship with different groups. The first ally workshop is from 1 –  2:30 p.m. on Monday at Butch’s Den in the CUB.

“The purpose of that is to think about allyship to different groups that often experience oppression in different ways, but taking it beyond thinking about it in one group,” McIlraith said. “So, thinking about it is kind of this multifaceted experience in that you can be an ally to many different people in many different ways.”

The second ally workshop is on Thursday, where representatives from GIESORC will educate attendees on how to be better allies specifically to the LGBT community. They will also talk about the intersection of oppression experienced by the LGBT community and by the women who are in that community.

This International Women’s Week will also cover domestic violence because women are prominently victims of such violence, Vanessa Corwin, advocate for Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse, explained.

An English workshop called “In Her Shoes” will be held from 3 – 5 p.m. on Tuesday in CUE 518. The attendees will experience what it is like to live as a female victim of domestic violence, Corwin said.

Corwin described the workshop as a “choose your own adventure.” Each team gets a character card that they travel through the storyline with. Teams will get to choose which path they want to take, such as continuing to go to school or to drop out to work.

“All of these scenarios/stories are based on experiences that domestic violence advocates have seen in their work. They’re all based on true stories,” Corwin said.

There will be another similar workshop on Thursday in CUE 416.

“The Thursday [workshop] is not a translation of the English one,” Corwin said. “It’s completely based on experiences of the Latina survivors. It will be in Spanish too.”

Throughout the week, there will be a food, hygiene supplies and baby supplies drive for baby clothes from ages zero to  five years, diapers, non-perishable food and hygiene supplies.

“I hope that [participants] have fun at different events and I hope that they get some time to reflect on women that are important in their life as well as women who have struggled and inspired them,” McIlraith said.

These are only a few of the many events happening during this weeklong celebration of women. To find out about other events happening during International Women’s Week, find one of the organization’s posters or check out the CCE’s website.