USU declares 2019-2020 ‘Year of the Woman’
On Monday Aug. 26, Utah State University President Noelle E. Cockett declared the 2019-2020 school year to be “The Year of the Woman”, recognizing anniversaries of important milestones in voting and women’s rights that will occur throughout the school year.
During a commemoration event at Cockett’s residence, Cockett and Logan Mayor Holly Daines joined together to announce USU’s and Logan’s commitment to commemorate women’s suffrage throughout the year.
“We want to join the nation, the state and Cache Valley in celebrating these significant voting rights anniversaries in 2020,” Cockett said. “But as part of that anniversary, Utah State declares as of today this year as ‘The Year of the Woman.’”
According to a written statement, USU will recognize the 150th anniversary of suffrage for Utah women (Feb. 12, 1870), the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States (Aug. 26, 1920) and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (Aug. 6, 1965) during the 2019-2020 school year.
The date of the event was intentional. According to Cockett, the committees involved in The Year of the Woman decided to “kick off the celebration” on Aug. 26 to recognize the 99th aniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States.
According to Daines, the commemorations are not just about remembering past successes but also about continuing to make progress.
“Part of what we need to do in addition to remembering the history is teaching, going forward,” Daines said. “Sometimes it’s easy for our young women and our girls to maybe take it for granted that they always have had these rights.”
According to Daines, voter turnout in Logan was 23% or 4,000 out of 18,000 voters. Daines also said the state of Utah dropped from having the highest female voter turnout in an election in 1996 to have the 46th highest turnout in 2012.
“That’s part of what these celebrations are about. We need to encourage women to get involved in the political process,” Daines said.
According to Cockett, similar trends can be observed on the collegiate level. During freshman year at USU, female students outnumber male students by about five percent. However, 8 to 10 years following freshman year, more males have graduated from USU than females.
“As a president, I want to turn those numbers around,” Cockett said. “We want to help empower women and girls to see their leadership potential and increase their representation.”
Cockett also said that USU wants to educate students of all ages about the history of the suffragette movement. Throughout the year, USU will highlight the Year of the Woman on its statewide and extension campuses through different events such as Founder’s Day, Homecoming, Connections, Commencement and others.
Information on The Year of the Woman will be updated throughout the year on www.usu.edu/year-of-the-woman.
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