Throughout this week, Lipscomb students have the opportunity to be more empowered physically, mentally and socially.
March is women’s history month, and Lipscomb’s Office of Intercultural Development (OID) is celebrating by seeking to bring awareness and empowerment to all Lipscomb students.
The OID is hosting its second Women’s Empowerment Week through Friday, March 29. Activities vary from a Zumba class to a panel on beauty standards.
“We tried to get a variety of different events that can cater to different aspects of empowering women,” senior music/pre-med major Sarah Baxley said.
Leslie Garcia, a senior who is president of Lipscomb’s Diverse Student Coalition and was a co-director for last year’s event, said this week will be beneficial for all students, not just women.
“We want to empower female students, but we want to also equip all students to have a better understanding of the issues that affect our communities here in Nashville and globally,” Garcia said. “We believe that will make empathetic students, regardless of what identity you are.”
Baxley said the goal of starting the Women’s Empowerment Week last year was to celebrate women’s history while encouraging women to encourage each other.
“The idea was to have an event on campus that can give a space where women can talk about issues…and generally support each other and create an environment where we feel that we can support each other,” Baxley said.
Last year, the OID had about 350 total students attend its Women’s Empowerment Week events, according to Garcia. This year, they’re hoping to have at least as many.
“Because it was the week before spring break [last year], near the end of the week we didn’t have as much attendance, and that’s part of the reason we’re starting smaller at the beginning of spring break [this year],” Garcia said. “We recognize not all students can attend all the events.”
Tuesday night’s event at is a talk given by Lipscomb professor Kate Watkins at 6 p.m. in Swang. Watkins ministers to LIFE program students and will speak about how she’s empowering female prisoners. A free dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. in the Swang chapel. Attendees will also receive one chapel credit.
Women’s Empowerment Week kicked off with a Zumba class at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in the SAC. Garcia said that the event is a way to combine talking about women’s health with having fun.
Women’s Empowerment Week is also included in Wednesday’s Service Day, where a team will be serving at a local domestic violence shelter. In addition, toiletries, gift cards, blankets and more will be collected for domestic violence survivors throughout the week in the OID lounge in the basement of Bennett Campus Center.
“It’s important that people bring supplies, because there are a lot of women at the domestic violence shelter that really need those basic supplies that they don’t have otherwise,” Baxley said.
MASK chapel on Thursday will be a panel of five Lipscomb students of various backgrounds. The panelists will discuss standards of beauty from their own cultures and upbringings and compare them to white, American standards.
Women’s Empowerment Week will conclude on Friday with a talk with a nurse practitioner on women’s health. This event is available exclusively for female students and will include a free dinner at 5 p.m. in the OID lounge.
Women’s Empowerment Week events are open to all students, except for Friday’s health talk, which is for women only.
“I think that this is a great starting place for everyone to come,” Baxley said. “I really just think that becoming aware that there is an issue is the starting step for any equality issue, whether it’s gender or race — just understanding that someone else has a different perspective than you do.”
Students are encouraged to drop off supplies for domestic violence survivors this week in the OID lounge.