Women's History Month gets pay cut

From staff reports	On-line Forty-Niner
March 5, 1997

The Associated Student's Inc. budget for Women's History Month shrunk by more than $13,000 in the last five years.

Five years ago, $15,000 was allocated for Women's History Month. This year, it is $2, 000, Adrian Carrier, A.S.I. women's commissioner, said.

Women, the A.S.I. would like to feature this month, are unattainable due to lack of funds. Faculty lecturers are not paid, but women off campus are paid and sometimes require a large fee.

"We pay women who come and speak here to show them that their time is valuable," Carrier said.

The Women's Resource Center wanted Bell Hooks, author, to speak during Women's History Month, but her fee was $16, 000 and well over the budget allocated for the month.

"What women do is undervalued, but when we pay them we show them that it's not," said Carrier.

In 1992, Women's History Month featured Maya Angelou, the poet who gave the inauguration speech for President Bill Clinton four years ago.

The women's commission and A.S.I. want to feature women who give something beneficial to the community, Carrier said.

"Pamela Anderson could talk about make-up but not women's history, we want speaker's that tap into today's issues in a dynamic way," Carrier said.

Secretary of State Madelaine Albright would be Carrier's ideal speaker.

"She has transcended the glass ceiling," Carrier said.

She said Women's History Month features speakers of all origins such as Filipinos, Latinos and African Americans.

"Women of color have more appeal, because they have been through more hardships," Carrier said.

The organizations are trying to focus on women who are making history in 1997.

"We want to move away from dead people and show more contemporary women," Carrier said.

The Women's Resource Center plans on using Women's History Month as a platform to educate Cal State Long Beach about important women in the country.

The event, which will last throughout March, is geared to be fun as well as educational, Carrier said.

"We aim to put women in the center of the universe rather than men which seems to be the norm," Carrier said.