March is Women’s History Month in the United States, which has every blog and magazine publishing their issues plastered with the lives of women from years past and the struggles they overcame to find their place in history.
But not many publications focus on Women’s History Month itself. That in and of itself is as important as the women we remember ever year.
A brief timeline of Women’s History Month in the U.S. –
1911: Several causes (socialist rallies, workers’ rights, and the women’s suffrage movement) overlapped to become what we know as International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8th.
1978: A school district in Sonoma, California, is reported to have begun celebrating a Women’s History Week that covered the week of March 8th to coincide with the established observance. This starts a movement across the country for better observance of women’s role in history, in colleges and local governments.
1980: U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the week of March 8th, 1980, would be observed as Women’s History Week. The movement for acknowledging women’s contributions to history gains momentum.
1986: 14 states have declared the month of March as Women’s History Month observance.
1987: President Ronald Reagan begins an annual tradition of issuing presidential proclamations of March being observed as Women’s History Month.
2011: The first federal report on women since 1963 is released by the Obama Administration, highlighting changes of women’s standing in American society over time. It is a clear view of how history plays into current events.
All of these historical points have led us to the Women’s History Month we celebrate today, paying homage to our foremothers and sisters of decades past.
But something important to remember this March, and every March, are the women making history today: the women fighting for their people and bringing change for the better, the women making advances in technology and science, and the women taking the time to love themselves in opposition to a world that demands their submission.
Celebrate our predecessors, but don’t let those among us who are fighting on to be forgotten- let them claim their place in the history books.