Hidden Figures No More: How National Women’s History Month Came to B

At a time when strong women need recognition more than ever, what better time to celebrate the power of women than right now – March is Women’s History Month!

Women have been a vital part of the fabric of this country since its inception, yet their hard work and dedication throughout history has often gone unnoticed, underappreciated, and undervalued. Women’s History Month is something that took a lot of time, effort, and total dedication to establish, here’s how it was achieved:

In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women recognized the lack of appreciation for female contribution to history, and decided to put in the work to change that. The Commission decided it was time to take action, and proceeded to create a week of women’s celebration centered around the March 8^th “International Women’s Day”.

The Commission’s week was a great success and soon, The Women’s History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College made a bid to have the week celebrated on a national level. Finally, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8^th National Women’s History Week.

After the roaring success that came about from National Women’s History Week, which included schools achieving equity goals in the classroom, and local organizations sponsoring essay contests on the subject matter, National Women’s History Week transformed itself into National Women’s History Month in 1987. Ever since the establishment of National Women’s History Month, there has been a notable rise of schools integrating Women’s History into educational programs, and conferences and events on the subject are becoming more and more abundant in the month of March.

In the years since the declaration, http://womenshistorymonth.gov/ has been planning and hosting events in the hopes to spread awareness and knowledge of the dedicated women of history, and The National Women’s History Project has declared this year’s theme for National Women’s History Month as “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business”.

As said by President Jimmy Carter, “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

So get out there! Hug your mom, value your friends, thank your teachers, and spend this March celebrating the power of women.