Happy March!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
February was absolutely packed with events, from the month-long LGBT History Month film screenings, quizzes and takeovers to the Students\u2019 Union\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But don\u2019t worry if you missed it, there\u2019s a lot going on this month, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For starters, March is Women\u2019s History Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As there is no specific theme, we\u2019re guiding our own path on the blog and writing about famous female figures, movie recommendations and \u2013 my personal favourite \u2013 the history of the girl power movement from the 90s onwards. Over on our social media, we\u2019ll 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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women\u2019s 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\u2019s History Week surrounding March 8th<\/sup>, International Women\u2019s Day, and in 1979, a fifteen-day conference was held. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter formally declared a Women\u2019s History Week, and in 1987, the National Women\u2019s History Project successfully petitioned for the entire month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each year, Women\u2019s 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\u2019t suffer the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why not learn about a woman in your field? Take a few minutes to celebrate women\u2019s 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\u2019ve probably done a lot for you, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other major thing happening this month is Fairtrade Fortnight. We\u2019ve already run a few Fairtrade tastings in February, but there\u2019ll be one more in March with everything we have left! If you don\u2019t know, Fairtrade is about making sure all the workers are fairly paid for their time and energy; all too often, workers \u2013 particularly those in the global south or third world countries, where a lot <\/em>of our food actually comes from \u2013 are paid pennies and not fairly compensated. Looking out for Fairtrade products is one easy thing you can do \u2013 we have several in our food outlets already, such as the tea and sugar, but we should all be requesting more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus! We have a Fairtrade Fortnight quiz<\/a><\/strong> running! It takes two minutes to enter, and you could win a bundle of Fairtrade prizes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n