Feminists, historians and writers will converge on Harvard this week, as the University celebrates the 14th annual Women's History Week.

The event, culminating in a symposium marking the 200th anniversary of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, kicks off today and will feature discussions by several noted scholars in the field.

"It's a chance for Harvard students, faculty and staff to be exposed to new scholarship in the fields on women's history and gender history," said Women's History Week co-chair Caroline D. Alyea '88, a fifth-year history graduate student.

Some of the week's highlights include a lecture by Yale University Professor of American Studies and History Nancy Cott on U.S. women's history in a contemporary context and a lecture by University of Virginia Professor of History Ann Lane on the trial of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission V. Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Women's History Week is planned by graduate and undergraduate students and is funded by various departments and organizations, including the Bunting Institute and the Radcliffe Union of Students.

On Friday, the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies will sponsor the seventh annual Colloquium on Gender, Culture and Society, entitled "Vindicating the Rights of Women."

The colloquium will feature woman who have been important to the field of feminist theory and women's studies, discussing where women's rights stand today, said Associate Professor of History Ellen Fitzpatrick, who will moderate the panel.