A few weeks back, on March 8th, I’m sure many of us were celebrating and embracing International Women’s Day in full force. But as we near the end of March, which is Women’s History Month, it’s the perfect time to look back on the origins of the month, as well as current events and trailblazers for women’s rights.
Women’s History Month was born out of a movement that started in Sonoma, California in 1978. The Sonoma school district created Women’s History Week, planned around International Women’s Day, to increase education and awareness of women’s topics. There was overwhelming support for the week, causing many other schools to join in.
In 1979, Sarah Lawrence College held a conference highlighting women’s history. The college heard about the success of the movement in California, and Women’s History Week began to spread even more.
By 1980, President Carter recognized Women’s History Week as an official week of celebration in March. The project grew and grew until, by 1986, many states were already declaring the entire month to be Women’s History Month. Finally, in 1987, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month, and the tradition carries on and gets bigger and better every year.
Here’s a then and now look at some of the people who have played (and continue to play) a crucial role in women’s history over the years.
Then
Sojourner Truth
After escaping slavery and winning a court case against a white man to rescue her son from slavery, Truth became one of the most influential activists of all time. In addition to being a dedicated abolitionist, she advocated for women’s rights as well. She delivered one of the most famous speeches on these issues, “Ain’t I A Woman?”, at an Ohio women’s rights convention in 1851.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Wollstonecraft was a feminist writer from London. Her most famous work is “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” in which she explains that women are not inferior to men. She argued for women’s right to education and to be treated as equals.
Susan B. Anthony
Anthony was the founder and president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She was a true leader in the women’s suffrage movement and brought national attention to the issue when she was arrested for attempting to vote.
Now
Malala Yousafzai
Malala is known for her bravery in defying the Taliban and suffering a shot to the head at the young age of 15. She survived the attack and has become a powerful advocate for human rights and girls’ right to education. Her activism led to her being awarded the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history.
Hillary Clinton
It goes without saying that Hillary broke down so many barriers for women as the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. party. She has spent her entire career fighting for women, supporting equal pay and women’s health rights, among so many other issues.
Lilly Ledbetter
Ledbetter is one of this year’s National Women’s History Project honorees. She was a manager at Goodyear tire factory and faced daily sexual harassment. After years with the company, she discovered that she was being paid significantly less than men doing the same job, filed a sex discrimination case, and took her case to the Supreme Court. The court didn’t rule in her favor because she had filed the complaint more than 180 days after her first paycheck. But Ledbetter didn’t give up. On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes time restrictions on discrimination cases more flexible. She continues her activism and outreach today.
These women offer examples of the amazing grit and passion that contributes to change. With the Women’s March in January kicking off the year, 2017 will go down in history books as another important year for women’s history. Whether you marched or not, we’ll all be able to say that we witnessed something incredible that day, something that carried out the true meaning and spirit of Women’s History Month.
All information and picture sources come from http://www.nwhp.org/ and http://www.biography.com/