Student organizations and academic departments at Georgetown University are hosting events to celebrate Women’s History Month, which began March 1.

University organizations and student groups including the Georgetown University Women’s Center, which offers programs and resources to women on campus; GU Women of Color (GUWOC), a student group dedicated to the advancement of women of color; the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS), a university organization that focuses on the role women play in international stability; and the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion have hosted events this month to recognize women on Georgetown’s campus. The groups have hosted lectures from guest speakers, group conversations on issues regarding women’s rights, panel discussions and community bonding hours. 

Celebrations for Women’s History Month included discussions surrounding the application of female identity on campus and beyond. GUWOC, the student group that aims to advocate for women of color, will host a discussion on March 19 titled, “Stronger Together: What Does Solidarity Mean?” which hopes to explore collaboration and dialogue across diverse identities. 

The Women’s Center focused on the theme of rage this year, planning activities such as a cut-up poetry and spoken word event, which includes piecing together lines of cut-up poetry to form a new piece, and a mobile rage room plate smashing event, where students can write statements of anger on plates and smash them.

Lily Odenwelder (SOH ’26) a student worker at the Women’s Center, said the Women’s Center chose this theme to allow women an opportunity to express their anger at misogyny.

“We’re just really trying to delve into a precise topic because the way that institutions as a whole will address Women’s History Month is just what we do every day,” Odenwelder told The Hoya. 

“We decided to talk about rage, anger, emotional liberation, how anger can be incredibly powerful to harness and fighting against the policing of emotions while still being grounded in the context that we live in a society where emotions are socialized,” she added.

According to a flyer from the Women’s Center, the theme of rage for Women’s History Month was chosen for its historical role in activism to discuss and challenge historically gendered and racialized narratives.

“Collective feminist rage is a powerful tool for activism,” the Women’s Center flyer read. “In a culture marked by sexism, ableism, racism and discrimination of all forms, anger is a justified and appropriate reaction.” 

Besides the Women’s Center events, celebrations for Women’s History Month included discussions surrounding female identity on campus and beyond. GIWPS hosted an online webinar on March 1 titled “End Gender Apartheid: International Law & Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,” focusing on the Taliban’s attacks on women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan, such as strict restrictions on dress code and fair educational access. 

Diep Nguyen (CAS ’27) attended the GIWPS webinar and said she was surprised by the depth of the conversation and panelists’ commentary on the details surrounding the political and humanitarian crisis. 

“For me, this event highlighted the incredible resources that Georgetown organizations bring directly to the student body, and it has definitely inspired me to explore more of what the women’s institutes on campus have to offer,” Nguyen told The Hoya. 

Renée Clark (CAS ’24) said celebrations of Women’s History Month at Georgetown allow students to commemorate the fight for equality on campus.

“When you’re at a place like Georgetown, the history of women here actually hasn’t been that long,” Clark told The Hoya. “Even though now it feels like a lot of the work of equality has already been done, we still have pretty far to go, and Women’s History Month is a good reminder of how far we’ve come in a short amount of time, particularly on the Hilltop.” 

The Women’s Center said Women’s History Month is an important time for Georgetown women to explore and reflect on gender roles in society.

“Women’s emotional liberation is an incredibly complex topic, and Women’s History Month provides opportunities for our community to dive into different facets of the way that society forces women to resist our rage as well as how we may harness it for political and personal change,” a Women’s Center spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.