LAURINBURG — Scotland County will join the national effort to recognize the considerable contribution of women
The Arts Council of Scotland County and Total Woman Outreach will hold a program next week to celebrate those who have challenged the role of women in both business and the workforce.
The celebration of women’s history will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Storytelling Arts Center in downtown Laurinburg. Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP by calling 910-361-6384.
“It is about celebrating all women — the past and the present women of today that are still here mentoring,” said Essie Davis, a member of the Women’s History Planning Committee. “It means so much because we want women to know they are important and they have always served various roles.”
The event’s planning committee that met this week is made up of Essie Davis, Dee Hammond, Jan Schmidt, Erin Rembert, Mary Evans, Dorothy Tyson, Lois Howard and Carolyn Alford.
The theme of the 2017 National Women’s History Month is honoring trailblazers in labor and business. The event will also honor women, such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Margaret Sanger, Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton and Coretta Scott King, according to Schmidt.
“Our slogan is ‘write women back into history’ and to recognize women and their contributions to history and recognize all the efforts that women have made and continue to make this world a better place,” Tyson said. She also believes National Women’s History Month helps empower young women to make contributions to improve their communities.
Women make up more than 47 percent of the U.S. workforce and are dominant among registered nurses, dental assistants, cashiers, accountants and pharmacists, according to the census. They make up at least a third of physicians and surgeons, and the same with lawyers and judges. Women also represent 55 percent of all college students.
At the same time, American women earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. The median income for women was $40,742 in 2015, compared with $51,212 for men, according to census data.
“There are a lot of women who have passed and they may not have been positions of authority, but they are the ones that taught me to be steadfast and to do right and always present myself as a young lady,” Tyson said.
The event will feature the guest speaker, Angela Carter, an attorney at law from Raeford.
Carter was born in Pinehurst, but moved all over the country with her family and for her schooling. She earned her law degree in 2004 from the University of Virginia School of Law and eventually found her way back to North Carolina in 2007.
There will also be a lyrical performance by Hannah Gilmour, who has performed for the Scottish Pilot Club and Laurinburg/Scotland County Area Chamber.
On Wednesday, “A Day Without a Woman” unfolded with strikes and rallies as organizers called on women to skip work and not spend money to demonstrate their economic strength and political clout. The Day Without a Woman protest in the U.S. was put together by organizers of the vast women’s marches that were held coast-to-coast the day after President Trump’s inauguration.
Women in more than 50 countries hosted similar events to coincide with the U.N.-designated International Women’s Day.