Women’s History Month is an annual celebration that occurs in the month of March. Women’s History Month is an observance to highlight the contributions of women to society. We also celebrate this month to recognize many women’s often under-recognized achievements. Women’s history recognition started as originally a day then a week, then finally getting what it deserves, a full month.
Women’s History Month in March originally stemmed from a myth. It is possible that this occurred in March 1857 or in March 1908, when there was a strike by New York’s female garment workers. The women came together from different factories, demanding better work conditions/opportunities and a right to vote. This group of people inspired others and eventually created a union. This origin story was debunked by historian Francoise Picq, who called attention to the fact that there was no documentation or news article when it could have possibly taken place in 1857.
The truth is that it started from International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was first formed at the Second International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910. One of the leaders at the time was Clara Zetkin. Zetkin wanted to separate the working women from the main feminist movement because they felt that the movement focused more on wealthy women than the poor. There was no set day of Women’s International Day until 1921, when Zetkin set the date to March 8 to honor the workers’ strike. The idea of celebrating women on a specific day spread to Europe, although in the US, the connection it had to socialism and communism made people cautious. To make this holiday more acceptable to other people, American feminists welcomed this made-up story about a strike in the US being the holiday’s origin. The story actually started in 1957 from a French newspaper that wanted to separate the holiday from socialist and communist groups, not separate from the US. This myth was created to help make the day more acceptable during the Cold War.
By the 1970s, American feminist groups extended International Women’s Day to Women’s History Week. This was an effort to louden women’s history within schools. In 1975, the United Nations moved to sponsor the holiday. As more and more people and groups supported this idea, they began to celebrate the whole week. This led to former President Jimmy Carter designating the first National Women’s History Week. The week included March 8.
Finally, by 1986, 14 states acknowledged the month of March to be Women’s History Month. In 1987, the US Congress recognized this and confirmed Women’s History Month as an annual observance.
Women’s History Month is an important observance. This month celebrates many contributions and achievements made by women. Many of these accomplishments that women have made are mostly unrecognized. Take the time this month and learn about how women have impacted society.
