The fourth-annual Farley Hall Be Fine Day, Farley Hall’s signature event promoting dialogue on femininity and raising money and awareness for the YWCA Women’s Shelter in North Central Indiana, will take place Friday.
The festivities are scheduled to kick off Thursday at 9 p.m. in Farley Hall’s Middle Room with a “Coffee House” event. The Coffee House will center around a talk given by a representative from the YWCA on the organization’s work and mission.
Sophomore Catherine Sullivan, the Farley Be Fine Day’s co-coordinator along with sophomore Clare Cahir, said that they hope the event will help bring awareness to the YWCA’s work in the community.
“It would be a great thing if we could spread the word about what this type of organization does for the women in the community of South Bend,” Sullivan said. “They’re a wonderful organization that takes in battered women, women with drug issues and their whole model is to just help everyone and be there for people.”
The mission of the YWCA — to increase the opportunities, health and safety of all women — resonated with Farley Hall’s residents, Cahir said.
“We love to push the empowerment of women, so we partnered with the women’s shelter in South Bend, the YWCA,” she said. “ … Being an all-girls dorm, [the YWCA’s mission] really connects with how we like to push the image of a strong woman.”
The Coffee House will also include performances by student musicians.
Friday morning will see residents of Farley Hall out around campus distributing buttons and bananas to promote Farley Be Fine Day and the YWCA women’s shelter.
Farley Be Fine Day’s main event, “A Walk in Her Shoes,” features a walk around North Quad in high-heels. A Walk in Her Shoes will take place at 4 p.m. Friday, and one can register online through the Farley Be Fine Day’s Facebook page or in person at the event.
Cahir said that the high-heel walk provides a playful yet serious opportunity to examine expectations of women in society.
“[The high-heel walk] is supposed to be light-hearted, a little funny, but … it’s supposed to be a representation of hardships women go through,” she said. “ … The high heels themselves are supposed to be representative of a wide array of issues that women face.”
A Walk in Her Shoes will give many men a chance to walk in high-heels for the first time, an experience which, although it may seem silly, is a glimpse into modern femininity, Cahir said.
“Guys are welcome — we have high heel shoes of all sizes. I know it’s a surface level thing, but it kind of gives you an insight into the depths of being a woman,” she said. “It’s a representation of being a woman and shows how some of our hardships are based on something superficial.”
Cahir said she was optimistic about how Farley Be Fine Day’s events could promote a discussion of the issues faced by women in light of Notre Dame’s single-gender dorm system.
“Almost especially because of how the dorm system at Notre Dame is, that gives us the perfect opportunity to push women empowerment — since we’re separated into all-girls dorm,” she said. “I definitely think that types of issues that women face our generation — or at least in the campus community we’re in right now — you don’t see [them discussed] super often.”
Sullivan said that she hopes that Farley Be Fine Day will encourage a culture of female empowerment and camaraderie on campus.
“Being in a college setting, it’s always on your mind — look out for your girls,” she said. “Especially at Notre Dame, the way the dorms are set up and the way the culture is here, it’s very important for girls to feel they have [people looking out for them].”
