EqualiTEA celebrates Women's History Month with connection, healing and solidarity

The Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity (CWGE) hosted its annual Women’s History Month event EqualiTEA on March 17. The event invites the campus community to connect over a cup of tea to share stories and honor the exceptional women at GVSU. This year’s theme was Connection, Healing, Solidarity.

“Throughout history, tea has served as more than just a beverage: it has been a catalyst for conversation, organizing and social change,” said Holly Jasinski, director of the CWGE. “From suffrage-era tea gatherings that created spaces for women to convene, to modern-day circles of dialogue and care, tea has symbolized both resistance and restoration. These spaces allowed women and those pushed to the margins to share ideas, build strategies and to support one another in the pursuit of equity and justice.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Ronke Olawale, professor of social work at Grand Valley. In her talk, “The Subversive Steep: Tea, Resistance, Healing and the Architecture of Care,” Olawale spoke about the history of women’s labor and resistance movements across the world. Reflecting on that history “helps us honor the invisible labor and sacred architecture of care that women before us built, in solidarity to resist oppression and cultivate global healing,” she said. 

Olawale touched on different women throughout history, including Abigail Adams, the wife and close advisor of President John Adams, and Frances Willard, an American educator and women’s suffragist from the late 1800s. She also spoke about the first female scholars who taught at Nigeria’s prestigious University of Ibadan and Hajia Gambo Sawaba, a Nigerian women’s rights activist, politician and philanthropist. Sawaba was a “pioneering activist who revolutionized the role of women in Northern Nigeria,” said Olawale. 

Also highlighted at EqualiTEA was NIARA, a student group supported by the CWGE. NIARA “creates space for women of color and gender expressive students to connect, support one another and grow together,” said Amani Hurt, a GVSU sophomore and NIARA member. The word “NIARA” comes from the Swahili language and means “of utmost purpose,” she said. 

“That meaning truly reflects what this community offers. NIARA connects students with mentors and community members. And for many of us, it becomes the place where we feel seen, encouraged and reminded that we belong here,” said Hurt. “Put simply, representation matters. Programs like NIARA exist because people believe in investing in students and in building a campus where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.” 

The CWGE is focusing its support on NIARA for the upcoming GVSU Day of Giving campaign on March 26. 

As she wrapped up her talk, Olawale asked attendees to consider how they are working to protect the next generation of women. “Heal your community’s wounds with courage,” she said. “The wind of rebellion that started with Abigail Adams and roared through the streets and markets of Nigeria is now in your lungs. The wind of rebellion is in your lungs. Breathe it out.”