In honor of women's history month, the Women's Coordinating Council (WCC) at the University of Tennessee is hosting a number of events to celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness about today’s gender-based inequalities, including pay disparity and domestic violence.

“Women’s HERstory Month represents the appreciation and empowerment of women,” said Jocelyn Blake, a junior, in an interview with the student newspaper the Daily Beacon. She said that the alternate spelling of "history" was meant to emphasize focus on women's stories rather than "his" story.

“We [women] are sometimes not represented in a good way,” said Alicia Jones, a sophomore and WCC member. “We want to show everyone that we work hard, and we want to recognize women for doing daily tasks that get overlooked.”

On March 15th the WCC will host a "Stiletto Stampede" to recognize women in positions of power.

“Whether you have stilettos or flats, or if you are a boy or girl, everyone should come out to support,” Blake said.

To illustrate the difference in pay between men and women, the WCC is working in collaboration with Kappa Alpha Psi, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Diva Opals and the Progressive Student Alliance to host the Equal Pay Day Bake Sale on March 18th.

The groups will sell baked goods around campus, charging women only 75 cents and men one dollar for the goods. Blake, who helped organize Equal Pay Week, said that the difference in price is meant to draw attention to the fact that for every dollar a man makes, women make 77 cents.

Proceeds for the bake sale will go to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Throughout the month, WCC is also collecting jeans to send to Florence Crittenton Agency, a Knoxville-based group that helps pregnant and abused young women.

Other March events include, “Green Eggs and Ham: Breadwinning Ladies,” a forum of professional women held on March 17; a performance by the New York group, Guerilla Girls on March 23; and “WCC: Def Po’ UTree” a spoken word performance on March 31.


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