Today marks the beginning of Women’s History Month with the theme entitled “Women in Spirituality.”

This year the focus is on the variety of expressions from women’s spirituality and reactions to it throughout time.

The primary goal of the National Women’s History Project is to promote a positive portrayal of women so girls can feel more self-assured and have self-esteem.

The goals of the NIU chapter are to inform the campus community about the richness of women’s spirituality in music, art, dance, ritual and other forms of religious practice.

Lois Self, director of the Women Studies Program, said, “In the past, we’ve had good programs designed for the faculty, staff and community. This year, we want student participation.

We want to get more people involved in recognizing the diversity of women experiences of spirituality. It affects every culture.”

“Our goal is not to endorse religion, but open up considerations to the whole variety of experience,” Self said.

Keeping these goals in mind, this month is full of seminars, workshops and plays.

The week starts out at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday with Rev. Linda Slabon giving a workshop on spirituality. It will be focusing on how religious views have an impact on professional and political discussions that affect women’s lives and how personal spirituality directly affect women’s self-esteem.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, actress and writer Carol Lynn Pearson will be performing her one-woman play “Mother Wove the Morning.” Pearson dramatizes the lives of 16 women from history: an Egyptian priestess, a Shaker deaconess, a Biblical woman, an agnostic woman, a medieval witch and others. Admission is free.

At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, International Women’s Day, a luncheon and program, will offer international cuisine. In addition, three women from three continents will speak about the crossing of gender with their spirituality and religious beliefs.

Other activities featured this month are a panel discussion on “Women in the Church, Now and in the Future,” The Electronic Quilt, The Quilting Bee and Rosemary Radford Ruether giving two seminars on “Global Feminism and the Gaia Tradition” and “Women’s Spirituality in a Cross-Cultural Perspective.”