Pittsburgh citizens weigh in on the value of celebrating the female experience as International Women’s Day passed and Women’s History Month is in full swing.
“It’s important for us to remind people that women have made so many sacrifices and contributions to the world throughout the years,” said Shalida Dobbins, a staff writer for HerCampus.
HerCampus is a female-focused online magazine for college students with a branch on Point Park’s campus.
An issue important to Dobbins is the wage gap between men and women.
“I think women should be able to get paid the same amount that men do…it’s not even a money issue as much as it is a respect issue,” Dobbins said.
The wage gap is also an issue that Amanda Mills, a forensic science major and Mentor for Strong Women Strong Girls (SWSG), feels strongly about.
“Research has shown that women do get paid less than men…and it’s been an ongoing [problem] for years,” Mills said.
SWSG is a mentoring group at Point Park that goes into inner-city schools to empower young girls and teach them about leadership skills through lesson plans.
“We empower the girls, we tell them that they can do anything they want, be anything they want and we kind of just boost their self-esteem, but at the same time they are boosting ours,” Mills said.
An issue that Beth Caldwell, Executive Director of Pittsburgh Professional Women (PPW), feels is important is self-censorship among women.
“The biggest issue I think we have in the world today as women, as an international community is women who do not live up to their potential. Women, who are so afraid of being criticized of what somebody else is going to think, don’t stand up, don’t step out, [and] don’t ask questions because they don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable,” Caldwell said.
According to their website, PPW is “a resource organization for business women in Western Pennsylvania that designs workshops to help women in business keep up to date with the latest business tools, techniques and strategies.”
Each month, the organization features local women in business and the website boasts a directory of women in business that is “designed to help find quality companies and organizations to patronize.”
PPW is hosting an event on March 25 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree Pittsburgh Green Tree entitled, “Women Take the Wheel” and will feature keynote speaker Ann Fleming, President and CEO of Women Drivers. The event will focus on negotiation skills and confidence in complicated situations. Tickets for PPW Members will be $35 and $49 for non-members.
In keeping up with the month’s theme, Downtown’s Carnegie Library has hosted a variety of events focused on Women’s History Month. Such events have included a group book discussion, featured speakers and workshops. The library will be rounding off the month with one last event on March 26 from 12:15-1:15 p.m., where Jennie Bedford of the Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund will be discussing the wide array of interesting women from Pittsburgh’s storied past who have chosen the Homewood cemetery as their final resting place.
With the announcement of a new app that sends alerts as one approaches sites where women have made history, a social media campaign #FilmHerStory calls for more inclusion of women on the silver screen, and UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson’s campaign #HeForShe calls for equality between men and women, Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day are gaining a following in the media.
On what could make Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day more widely discussed, Beth Caldwell said, “I think being mindful of our thoughts and actions…and, as leaders, public acknowledgements of it can go a long way.”
