SWESC GL Holds Women’s History Month Celebration

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Matt Hall | GREAT LAKES, Il. (March 21, 2024) Surface Warfare Engineering Schools Command Great Lakes holds a Women's History Month Celebration, March 21, 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matt Hall)  

UNITED STATES

03.21.2024

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Matt Hall 

Naval Station Great Lakes

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (March 21, 2024) – Surface Warfare Engineering Schools Command Great Lakes (SWESC GL) held a Women’s History Month celebration March 21, 2024, aboard Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL), Ill.
The celebration included both military and civilian guest speakers. The event concluded with an open panel for all hands to ask the speakers questions.
Speakers included Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center Executive Officer, Capt. Salee Oboza; Waukegan 1st Ward Alderwoman Dr. Sylvia Sims-Bolton; and Master Chief Yeoman Tatiana Torres.
The month-long event began as “Women’s History Week” in 1978 as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California, meant to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8. The event, which was organized by the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women, began to spread across the country.
In 1980, a collective of women’s groups and historians, led by the National Women’s History Alliance, lobbied for national recognition. Because of them, in February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as the first National Women’s History Week.
In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, which designated the entire month of March as “Women’s History Month,” to request and authorize the president to proclaim the celebration, which has happened each year since 1995. Every year, the National Women’s History Alliance publishes a yearly theme.
The theme for this year’s Women’s History Month celebrates women who advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion.
“Embracing equity means embracing everyone, without bias so we can be our most authentic selves and thrive,” said Oboza. “I have rose above the challenges of naval service as a female in uniform with authenticity and grace. As a mental health provider, I preach and live by the philosophy that you should be true to yourself.”

• Date Taken: 03.21.2024
• Date Posted: 03.29.2024 09:52
• Story ID: 466893
• Location: US