Women’s History Month

By: Lilly Kate Diaz ‘20

As we are coming to a close on Women’s History Month, I figured it would only make sense for me, a women, to write about why this month is important (and why women are great).

Here’s some background on WHM:

• WHM has been celebrated since March 1987 when Congress + Presidents issued proclamations for WHM.

• International Women’s Day came before WHM.

• WHM used to be celebrated weeklong within the school district of Sonoma, California, in 1978.

• Eventually all schools began celebrating women all weeklong and Pres. J. Carter claimed March 8th to be Women’s History Week.

• And soon after, around 1987, National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to celebrate women all month long every March.

Now that I’ve given you some basic info on this great month, here’s some reason why this month is necessary and needs to be celebrated.

1. Acknowledging Women

While this month is about recognizing and shining the light on Susan B. Anthony, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sojourner Truth, or Maya Angelou, it’s also the month to recognize women of all backgrounds! This month is all about recognizing the great contributions women have given in our lives, country, and world. And though this comes once a year, make sure to always thank/respect all the great women in your life (and those who aren’t).

2. ♫ Who Ya Gonna Call? Mythbusters! ♫

Jokes aside, this month is also about tearing down myths about what women can and can’t do. Whether it’s kicking ghost butt or writing code into space, this month gives evidence on how women can do anything men can do (and sometimes, even better than men). Which brings me to my next point down below.

3. Empowering Young Girls/Women

This month is important because not only are we acknowledging the current and past women, but future women. As a kid, it was disappointing to see how textbooks focused on how many men were “huge” contributors to this country/world – I hardly read much on women’s contributions. This month is dedicated to empowering future generations of women and telling them that they can be whoever they want to be – that there is no limit to what you can contribute to this world. The women who have created history in the past are inspiration to women who will create future history (oxymoron, I know).

As March ends, remember to acknowledge women from the past, current, and present. Recognize their worth and great contributions to this society and world. Fellow queers/everyone, recognize ALL of your sisters. Men, respect women. And most importantly:

women lift each other up.

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