Happy March!

February was absolutely packed with events, from the month-long LGBT History Month film screenings, quizzes and takeovers to the Students’ Union’s One World Week celebrations of culture through poetry, films and the International Culture Food Fayre, where even the Student Green Office had a stand giving out free Fairtrade chocolate and ale tasting.

But don’t worry if you missed it, there’s a lot going on this month, too!

For starters, March is Women’s History Month.

As there is no specific theme, we’re guiding our own path on the blog and writing about famous female figures, movie recommendations and – my personal favourite – the history of the girl power movement from the 90s onwards. Over on our social media, we’ll be plagiarising our own LGBT History Month content to bring you a series on influential women of history (spoiler: some of them will still be alive).

Women’s History Month has roots all the way back in 1911, in which there was a single celebratory day. In 1978, Sonoma, California held a Women’s History Week surrounding March 8^th, International Women’s Day, and in 1979, a fifteen-day conference was held. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter formally declared a Women’s History Week, and in 1987, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned for the entire month.

Each year, Women’s History Month becomes a time to celebrate the contributions of women and their successes, in the past, present and future. We acknowledge and learn about women who paved the way for those that came afterwards, and broke down boundaries so that the next generation wouldn’t suffer the same way.

Why not learn about a woman in your field? Take a few minutes to celebrate women’s history this month by discovering what women have done to make your life easier to this day. Or, if not that, buy the women in your family some treats. They’ve probably done a lot for you, too.

The other major thing happening this month is Fairtrade Fortnight. We’ve already run a few Fairtrade tastings in February, but there’ll be one more in March with everything we have left! If you don’t know, Fairtrade is about making sure all the workers are fairly paid for their time and energy; all too often, workers – particularly those in the global south or third world countries, where a lot of our food actually comes from – are paid pennies and not fairly compensated. Looking out for Fairtrade products is one easy thing you can do – we have several in our food outlets already, such as the tea and sugar, but we should all be requesting more!

Plus! We have a Fairtrade Fortnight quiz running! It takes two minutes to enter, and you could win a bundle of Fairtrade prizes!

Finally, at the end of this month is the Student Green Office’s What Does Inclusion Feel Like?: Stories of Natural Difference event. Hosting positive, short stories and speeches from members of the Christ Church community, the event aims to celebrate inclusion in all its facets. There is still time to sign up to talk, if you’d like – just fill out this form!

Events this March:

• Tuesday 7^th Mar, 11am – 1pm, Touchdown Café – Fairtrade Stand with free chocolate tasting and Fairtrade drinks
• Tuesday 7^th Mar, 1 – 2pm, Johnson Jg10 – Carbon Literacy Taster Session
• Tuesday 21^st Mar, 11am – 2pm, probably Touchdown Lawn – Events Management students’ annual Spring Festival event
• Tuesday 21^st and 28^th, 1 – 4pm – Carbon Literacy Workshop Sessions. Book through My Learning on Staff Space or through carbonliteracytraining@canterbury.ac.uk
• Tuesday 28^th Mar, 1 – 3pm, Laud Lg25 – What Does Inclusion Feel Like?: Stories of Natural Difference
• Every Wednesday, 12 – 4pm, Johnson Wellbeing Garden – Potter and Prune

Have a safe and happy March!

By Bethany Climpson, Sustainability Engagement Assistant