Women’s History Month is rapidly approaching. Every March, communities and organizations sponsor events to honor women past and present. If you are wanting to sponsor one or more events for Women’s History Month, here are 10 ideas you can consider.
1. Open Discussion: Women’s Mental Health or Spirituality
It is no secret that mental health issues, such as depression, plague women heavily. Find a professional or knowledgable person to host this discussion. Highlight warning signs, ways to combat mental illness, treatments, and prevention. Spirituality, no matter what religion, can be discussed in terms of self-worth, self-respect, and self-actualization. Look for a dynamic, inspirational woman to host this event, and you can spark a discussion that can easily last for hours. Since it may seem that women’s mental health and spirituality is often overlooked in public service announcements, this will be a great way to bring attention and offer helpful information to women throughout your community. Be sure to have an agenda prior to your open discussion.
2. Women’s Health Seminar
There are many professionals willing to offer their expertise to events for Women’s History Month. If you can, find a health professional to discuss common women’s health issues and advances in medicine that can benefit women. If you can not find a professional, find someone who is very knowledgeable on the subject.
3. Host an Essay or Art Contest
If your organization or community wants to give a monetary prize to deserving individuals, this is a great way of narrowing down contestants. Sponsor an essay or art contest with different age categories. You can give prizes ranging from free movie passes to small scholarships.
4. Luncheon or Dinner
During this event, incorporate shows, videos, presentations, games, and etc.. Also, you can give out awards or prizes. This would be a good time to announce the winners to tip #3.
5. Leadership Seminar
Every organization and community can benefit from strong female leaders. You can open this seminar to adult women or young women in high school. By holding this seminar during Women’s History Month, you will be teaching and inspiring women on how to achieve their greatest potential and contribute tremendously to society.
6. Movie Night
You can book a large auditorium or utilize a community center to show movies about famous women. If you want to align your movie night with the this year’s National Women’s History Month theme, go to www.nwhmp.org for more information.
7. Charitable Relay or Walk
This is a great opportunity to raise money for your favorite women’s charity. Usually, relays and walks have a great turn out as long as it is advertised adequately. Consider advertising this event through local television commercials, radio, and newspaper ads. Also, get with the proper community officials to ensure you will have adequate amount of space (streets) to hold this event.
8. Violence or Sexual Assault Prevention Events
A great way to bring attention to sexual assault and violence against women is to have a self-defense class. You can also start a local ad campaign to bring attention to the subject, enlisting community leaders and local celebrities. If you have a local school with a drama club, consider getting with the sponsor of the club and writing a play.
9. Ceremony to Honor Community Leaders
Honoring female community leaders is a great way to draw attention to positive role models for women and young girls to look up to. You can run an ad campaign or get with a local news agency to ask for nominations. This is a great time to give back to those women who has given a great deal to the community.
10. “Pamper Your Favorite Women” Night
For this event, you will want a relatively large space and key volunteers and/or sponsors. You can provide facials, manicures, pedicures, scrubs, massages, and anything else you think would make the event a success. If you can not get any sponsors, you can enlist the help of key volunteers at each station. When working without sponsors, you can make this event to where the males that escort the women (husbands, boyfriends, sons) does all the work. This can make for a humorous evening which can create some lasting memories.
If you are part of a committee, organization, or community that wants to make this Women’s History Month a memorable one, use any or all of these ideas. Whether you are aiming to educate or to entertain, you can have a successful event.
