AAUW and The Sarah Isom Center Host Monthly Feminist Luncheon

The Oxford Feminist March which took place in spring 2017.

The American Association of University Women-Oxford (AAUW) and The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies is hosting their monthly luncheon, Famished Feminist Friday at 11:45 a.m. today. 

Dr. Jamie Harker, director of the Sarah Isom Center, helped start the monthly luncheon.
“Networking with friends and colleagues is always important, and when it gets busy, it can be hard to find time to see everyone,” Harker said.
It is a time for colleagues and friends to catch-up, share upcoming events and make plans, Harker added.
“Feminist communion can be a powerful thing,” she said. 
Dr. Kate Kellum, associate director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning, is the current chair of the Oxford branch of the AAUW.
“Several years ago when the university was looking for a new director for the Sarah Isom Center, I helped serve on that search committee,” Kellum said.
The committee and key stakeholders on campus, who were involved with gender, sexuality and inclusion, would host a lunch with the person who was interviewing for the position.
“It was delightful,” Kellum said. “We kind of forgot it was an interview because it was so much fun.”
After the interviewing process, several members of the committee thought because of the wonderful time, it should become a regular lunch.
“Ever since then, about once a month, we reserve some space at Rebel Market,” she said. “We get lunch and then we eat.”
Dr. Harker is who coined the name for the lunch. The group was hungry, feminist and enjoyed each other’s company.
“I think the really important thing here is that it is a space where no one is afraid of the word feminist,” Kellum said.
The vast majority of people are feminist, Kellum stated. They simply just do not know it.
“Feminism has always been about choices—about empowering both men and women to claim the full range of their humanity, and about eliminating the obstacles that impede those choices,” Harker said.
Feminists are seen as “scary people” instead of the belief that men and women should have equal rights, according to Kellum.
“Feminists, both men and women, are fighting to make a better world for our sons and daughters, and we welcome all who share that goal,” Harker said.
Kellum believes it is important to have spaces to discuss feminist issues, especially for those who might not feel comfortable wearing the label across their shirt.
The lunch is open to anyone and everyone, Kellum noted. As the slogan says, no agenda- just lunch.
The lunch will take place at Rebel Market located on the University of Mississippi campus. 

By Talbert Toole, associate editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at talbert.toole@hottytoddy.com.