If you were unaware, the month of March is Women’s History Month. This month is to celebrate all women and celebrate how far we have come. Its a great time to notice the women who have fought for our equality.

How it got started

Women’s History Month actually started back in 1978. Back then, it was actually just a week. It started in Santa Rose, California and spreaded from there to become a worldwide event. In 1987, it was moved from just one week in march to the whole month when congress passed the public law. Before it was declared, there were already 14 states who celebrated women’s history month.

Theme

Every year, women’s history month has a theme. The year of 2021 had the theme of “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced”. The year of 2022 had the theme of “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope”. This years theme is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”. These themes are created by The National Women’s History Alliance. They choose this theme to encourage women to tell there story and to support those who have already shared. Without We wouldn’t be where we are today without these strong women who have shared there experiences and fought for the female gender as a whole. This alliance actually has its own website that you can find at nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org. If you look under theme the website quotes “From the earliest storytellers through pioneering journalists, our experiences have been captured by a wide variety of artists and teachers.  These include authors, songwriters, scholars, playwrights, performers, and grandmothers throughout time. Women have long been instrumental in passing on our heritage in word and in print to communicate the lessons of those who came before us. Women’s stories, and the larger human story, expand our understanding and strengthen our connections with each other.”

I strongly encourage you to check out there website to get more information on the organization. You can donate to this amazing cause as well under the about tab. Below I will list some info listed on the website that I personally found fascinating.

• “In 1980, we were a group of women who noticed that women were absent from our texts. No more than 3% of the content was devoted to women”.
• “We promote a multicultural women’s history perspective by honoring women of diverse cultural, ethnic, occupational, racial, class, and regional backgrounds”.
• “We convinced Congress and the White House of the need for our nation to celebrate and recognize women’s role in history on an annual basis”.

There are many important female figures who have made a difference in women’s rights. Two activists that really worked towards gender equality are Rosa Parks and Susan B Anthony. Rosa parks is known for refusing to give up her seat to a white individual. As you probably know, during this time, white individuals rode at the front of the bus and had power over the blacks who rode in the back of the bus. This was Rosas was of taking a stand against segregation. I asked Hailey Peterson who she thought was an important and she told me Rosa Parks as well. “I would say Rosa Parks because she was standing up for her rights”. Susan B Anthony helped give a path to enforcing the 19th amendment that gave women the rights to vote.  She didn’t act much on her personal life because she was devoting her time to be a full time women rights activist. These are just two of the many women’s right activist. Emma Haag is a junior at Great bend High School. I asked her if there is any important women figures that she knows about and she said “Amelia Earhart because she was the first women to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean”.