This year is the 40th edition of Ball State’s Women’s Week and the 50th Anniversary of Women’s Studies at Ball State University. To celebrate these milestones, the Department of Women’s, Gender, and African American Studies has brought together speakers, alumni, educators, musicians, and our Keynote Speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author and Journalist Susan Faludi. Ms. Faludi will speak about her groundbreaking book, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, for which she won the Pulitzer, and how it is still relevant today.
Each day of Women’s Week will offer the community multiple opportunities to learn about and discuss women’s issues and the history of women on the Ball State campus.
Monday will feature a survey of Women’s Week history through an examination of the promotional posters produced for each year, a discussion of the future of women in collegiate sports, and the story of a woman who went to prison for her actions while escaping her abuser.
Tuesday’s events will be a discussion of the intersection of gender and disability and a book reading by three faculty members, Tanya Pearson, Jessica Reuther, and Emily Rutter.
A walking tour of significant sites in women’s history on the BSU campus will happen on Wednesday, as well as a presentation by the League of Women Voters about voter engagement with the government.
Wednesday night, Pulitzer Prize Winner Susan Faludi will give the Keynote Address —Back with a Vengeance! Revisiting Backlash.
Thursday, we will host a discussion about different ways of communicating about gender and a panel discussion with several of the founding mothers of the student group Feminists for Action. We will then wrap up the day with Lavender Bingo.
Friday is dedicated to the arts with a recital of works by women composers and a historical fashion show.
For more information, see the WGAS Facebook or Instagram pages, facebook.com/ballstatewgas or @ballstatewgas.
Monday, March 24
• 1:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Decades of Celebration
• 5:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, NCAA Panel Discussion on Women’s Sports—Imposter Syndrome is Victim Blaming; Resilience is a Trauma Response; Making an Old Girls Network is Reasserting Violence on Feminist Praxis: Reimagining a Future for (Wo)men in Sport Leadership
• 7:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Shauna Boatright, “Held Hostage at Home”
Tuesday, March 25
• 1:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Intersections of Gender and Disability,
• 4:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Faculty Reading, and Book Signing: Jessica Reuther “The Bonds of Kinship in Dahomey” & Tanya Pearson “Pretend We’re Dead”
• 6:00 PM Emens Hospitality Suite, Susan Faludi Dinner
Wednesday, March 26
• 1:00 PM Meet at the Student Center Forum Room then tour the quad. A Woman’s Place: A Walking Tour of Ball State Women's History
• 3:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Citizens as Watchdogs
• 5:00 PM The Atrium in The Arts and Journalism Building. WGS Capstone Poster Session
• 7:00 PM Arts and Journalism Room 175. Susan Faludi: Back with a Vengeance!: Revisiting Backlash
Thursday, March 27
• 1:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Communicating Across the Gender Divide
• 3:30 PM Student Center Forum Room, A History of Feminists for Action: How Women’s Studies and FA Shaped Our Futures
• 5:00 PM Student Center Forum Room, Lavender Bingo
Friday, March 28
• 1:00 PM DOMA Sculpture Court, Illuminating 20th Century Women's Voices Through Music
• 3:00 PM Bracken House, Dress Codes, Seating is limited to 24. Contact Addison Smith (ajsmith5@bsu.edu) to reserve your spot.