Inspired by other organizations, WeGo Global decided to dedicate the month of March to advocate for women’s rights and equality.

“There is a bunch of different global organizations that designated March 8 as International Women’s Day, so that was something that was on the radar last year. We were focusing on refugees then so we just said, ‘well maybe we’ll have women’s rights be our focus for second semester next year,” WeGo Global adviser Maggie Haas said.

The club created and planned different events in order to express their message, including selling t-shirts, a bake sale, and a protest.

“When our t-shirts come in, we want to wear our shirts on the same day. We also have a sort of hashtag thing, idea where you hashtag the women that you admire and look up to from a global perspective,” Haas said. “We want to do stuff with highlighting famous women who have made an impact around the world.”

The most significant event took place on March 8, International Women’s Day, where WeGo Global and French teacher Lindsey Evans teamed up to create a special bake sale.

“I was contacted by Miss Evans a couple weeks before. She was saying how we should combine our two groups and have a wage gap bake sale. I thought, ‘That sounds like a great idea!’” Haas said. “(Junior) Zury Rodriguez came up with some fantastic posters and we hung them up early to get some buzz and get people talking about it.”

The bake sale was not only created to express the wage gap in the United States but to express the wage gap women face around the world.

According to OECD, the wage gap globally in 2013 between women and men was 15.46 percent.

“You look at women around the world who are forced to marry early which either cuts their education short or they don’t get an education at all. So you look at a situation where you have women who are uneducated and that closes a lot of doors for them,” Haas said. “You look at the average wage for women versus men, it’s going to be less because those opportunities, due to cultural perspectives and limitations, just aren’t there for women. The wage gap does exist.”

Also on International Women’s Day, WeGo Global organized a peaceful protest where students stood up with a sign that read, “I stand up for __” for a minute at 10 a.m.

“It was empowering for the students to be able to make a social statement about something they felt passionate about,” Haas said.

The money collected from the bake sale and t-shirts will be donated to organizations dedicated to women’s rights.

“We have two organizations. One of them is Women for Women and the other one is Global Fund for Women. Even if we’re only sending $180, that $180 can do a lot for someone,” Haas said.

Although, according to Haas, full equality for women will take some time to reach, little movements like the one WeGo Global created will help students feel more comfortable with confronting the issue.