Announcements
Women’s Week at the U gets personal
This year’s theme, “Making Public Policy Personal,” focuses on the various ways that the public and private intersect.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion • February 22, 2023
We know the power of acting collectively, mobilizing in massive crowds the way protesters did during the 2017 Women’s March in various cities across the globe. In other recent cases, voters felt personally motivated to express themselves at the polls, showing up in large numbers as they did in the 2022 midterm elections to secure an outcome. And we also understand how large-scale online activism, when done deliberately, can result in change—the way the #MeToo movement transformed the conversation around consent and sexual assault worldwide.
Examples such as these clearly demonstrate how our own private lives are often deeply enmeshed within a broader political framework. They also illustrate how powerful the personal can be and how everyone has the capacity to initiate world-shaping change.
In her 1970 essay, “The Personal is Political” feminist scholar, Carol Hanisch illustrated how even smaller personal actions (such as networking in close-knit community groups or sharing personal struggles with colleagues and friends) can have profound political impact. Although starting small, these activities have the ability to ripple outward, moving through the social and electoral strata until they eventually produce outsized change on the national—or even global—level. In these cases, the smallest (and seemingly most insignificant) personal choice can result in meaningful political reform.
During this year’s Women’s Week at the University of Utah (February 27-March 3), in more than a dozen scheduled events, we will investigate “making public policy personal.” Attendees will explore what it means for us as participants in a diverse democracy when the laws that govern us end up having a deeply personal effect. And we’ll examine the various areas where public and private intersect while delving into how we can respond to such intensely personal policy decisions. From a movie screening of the documentary film “Aftershock” to panel presentations on the power of matriarchy and public discussions on the caregiving economy and gender violence, Women’s Week 2023 will explore the many ways that law and policy overlap with our own individual human experiences.
The Women’s Week keynote event will feature the feminist thought leader and social media influencer, Feminista Jones in a hybrid event on March 2. Twice recognized as one of the top 100 most influential people in Philadelphia and one of the top 50 feminists in the world, Jones is the author of “Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminism is Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets” (Beacon Press 2019). Additional events include a virtual panel on Black hair and storytelling; a discussion of Title IX, its history, and the impact it’s had on the college experience; and a special Reframing the Conversation on the power of women’s voices to affect change.
Now, as legislative and judicial acts feel increasingly personal, it is important that we all consider how to best support each other and work together—thoughtfully, strategically, and with clear purpose—to affect meaningful change. To learn more about the many events planned for Women’s Week at the U, please visit the event website.