Women's History Month
March 2, 2026
Dear Brandeis Community,
We invite you to celebrate Women’s History Month in March! During this month, we honor and acknowledge the challenges women have overcome and the contributions they have made, and continue to make, in the evolution of our country and the world.
According to the National Women’s History Museum website, in 1987 Congress passed Public Law 100-9 designating March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued an annual proclamation designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.
Here at Brandeis, the roots of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) Department can be traced back to 1975 when Women’s Studies began with a single course. Transitioning from a robust program to a full-fledged department in 2020, WGS now offers a minor, major, and several joint master’s programs. Its mission is to explore how gender and sexuality — as they intersect with race, ethnicity, class, religion, and age — form a crucial dimension of identity, society, and politics in different cultural and historical settings. Please view this timeline for more information.
Brandeis enjoys a long and storied feminist history and legacy. We are proud of the noteworthy genealogy of canonical Black feminist thinkers including former and current students and faculty, such as Shoniqua Roach; who is a pioneering academic and public intellectual in the fields of Black feminist theory, Black queer studies, and Black popular and quotidian performances studies. Other notable scholars include Pauli Murray, Angela Davis, Julieanne Richardson, Hortense Spillers, Patricia Hill Collins, Karen E. Fields, M Jacqui Alexander, Anita Hill, Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman, Jasmine Johnson, and Faith Smith.
Brandeis feminist alumnae have also been prominent trailblazers in their fields including literary critic Elaine Showalter, sociologist and psychoanalyst Nancy Chodorow, physicist Evelyn Fox Keller, historian Joan Wallach Scott, and Letty Cottin Pogrebin who is the founding editor of Ms. Magazine. These are but a few of the prominent feminist names that are associated with Brandeis University.
We take pride in collaborating with our campus partners to offer the following events to mark Women’s History Month and we invite everyone to show their support.
- March 3: Ruth First Memorial Lecture: Why African Autocracies Promote Women as Leaders, Featuring Aili Mari Tripp
- March 4: Rose Art Museum Hosts Judy Chicago
- March 6: GirlUp Poster Making
- March 6: Documentary Screening, "BLACK: Narratives in Boston's Black Queer and Trans History"
- March 8: HBI Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture on Gender and Human Rights: "Antisemitism, an American Tradition"
- March 9: CGES Online Webinar: Design is Political
- March 10: International Women's Day Celebration: Letters from Home in the ICC Swig Lounge, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
- March 15: Jewish Feminist Association of Brandeis Women’s History Month Celebration
- March 15: Annual Femmes of the World Gala: Excellence in the Levin Ballroom, 6 - 9 p.m.
- March 18: Art: A Chosen Language to Build Community, Galvanize Change, and Shape the World: A Conversation with WSRC Artist/Scholar Donna Dodson, Author Deirdre Visser, and Artist Alison Croney Moses. Register online.
- March 24: FOCA x ICC: Hall of Femme Exhibition Opening in the ICC Push Lounge, 5-8 p.m.
- March 24: "Ask Us Anything:" LGBTQ+ Lived Experiences Panel
- March 25: Rose Art Museum presents Zoe Buckmann: "Show Me Your Bruises, Then"
- March 26: "This Happened To Me: A Memoir:" Author Kate Price, WSRC Alumni Scholar, in conversation with current WSRC Scholar, award-winning writer and public health executive Michelle Bowdler. Register online.
- March 31: Let's Get Waisted: FOC Jewelry Practices, Hosted by FOCA & BASO in the ICC Swig Lounge, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
The ongoing HBI exhibition "Who Will Draw Our History? Women’s Graphic Narratives of the Holocaust, 1944-1949," guest curated by Rachel E. Perry, PhD, will be open through April 30 in the Kniznick Gallery. Please visit the Brandeis Campus Calendar, the Women’s Studies Research Center website, as well as the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies website for updated information on all these events.
In addition, University Archives and Special Collections is brimming with materials chronicling the many contributions and achievements of women; from fashion and publishing to Jewish feminism and entertainment. Celebrate the accomplishments of women from around the world, such as the Aviva Cantor papers, the Rose Jacobs collection, and the Fannie Hurst collection. Collections can be accessed in the Archives Reading Room Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The library also offers primary sources related to the history of women's activism in three databases: Women and Social Movements in the United States (1600-2000); Women and Social Movements, International- 1840 to Present; and Women and Social Movements, Modern Empires since 1820. Visit ASC in the Farber Library, and ask about these unique resources.
In solidarity,
Sabine von Mering
Chair, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Director, Center for German and European Studies
Harleen Singh
Founding Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities and Culture and Associate Professor of Literature, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Director, Women's Studies Research Center
LeManuel 'Lee' Bitsóí
Vice Provost for Access and Excellence
Associate Research Professor of Health: Science, Society and Policy