Celebrating Women’s History Month

Oprah once said, “You have to look back to see how far you’ve come.” And so, every year, we take the month of March to honor women.

Of course, we celebrate women and their achievements all year long, but from time to time we need to be reminded to take the time to focus on women.

According to history books, the first women’s day was celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Germany, and Denmark. However, in 1909, there was a march in New York City to ask for better working conditions for women and to highlight the need for women to gain the right to vote.

Since 1909, women in the United States and around the world continued to do great work in business, education, technology, and the arts. In 1972, Title IX (of the Education Amendments) was passed banning sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. As a result of this landmark legislation, more attention was focused on the need to celebrate the tremendous accomplishments that women have made.

A task force was created in California in 1977 titled Women’s History Week to persuade school principals to comply with Title IX. Then, in 1980, President Carter named March 2-6 as Women’s History Week.  Congress took it one step farther in 1981 and designated the month of March as Women’s History Month.

At the time President Carter said, “The achievements, leadership, courage, strengths, and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

What took us so long to honor women? Now, that is a great question and I wish I had the answer.

I do remember taking my 10-year-old niece to the Smithsonian American History Museum. There was a section on the Suffragette movement, and I heard my niece cry out, “What do you mean women couldn’t vote?” I shared with her that her grandmother and all the women in the US at that time couldn’t vote until 1920. She was horrified.

I reminded her that it was the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution that gave white women the vote in 1920, which wasn’t that long ago.

So, take a moment during March to thank the amazing women who have made outstanding contributions to our world. While March is Women’s History Month, lets acknowledge the contributions of women when we see them. I am grateful that their work has created the amazing world we live in today. I look forward to seeing and learning about what women will do next.