On The Edge News

By Rebecca Dickman

April 8, 2021

Edgewood’s Office of Student Inclusion and Involvement (OSII) focused its March Women’s History Month programming on empowering and educating students in gender equity.

Events such as online scavenger hunts, movie nights, and Easter-grams were offered in a mix of online and in-person formats, which highlighted women’s issues.

Hollie McCrea Olson, associate director of student life, said that honoring different types of women was important to OSII.

“Our goal throughout this month is highlighting all women, making sure there is representation across multiple identities, and paying specific attention to the inclusion of trans women in the conversation,” said McCrea Olson.

OSII also collaborated with Dominican Life for a special women’s history paint night.

Dominican Life brought in Edgewood alumnus Brooklyn Doby to lead a painting session as well as empowering conversation around important women in students’ lives.

Students painted pieces inspired by words of wisdom they’d received from important women in their lives, as well as discussing gender equity efforts throughout history and ideas on current and future progress.

Assistant Director for Community Building Laurin Dodge said that the discussion of history was especially relevant to Edgewood students.

“In women’s history month, one of the ways we paused at times was to consider that none of us would be working or studying in this college if it was not for the creative, life-sharing, hope-filled, visionary women that are the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa,” said Dodge.

Edgewood was an all-women’s college until the mid-1960s, and to this day most of its students identify as women. McCrea Olson said that regardless of students’ identities, gender equity remains a vital conversation at Edgewood.

“I think there might be this misnomer that because our college is 70 percent people who identify as women, that we don’t need to have this conversation,” says McCrea Olson. “But we have to keep having these conversations as we are a microcosm of the greater society and we know that women are not treated equitably in greater society, particularly women with other marginalized identities.”