#wcw | When We No Longer Celebrate Women’s History Month
What is Women’s History Month?
I am embarrassed to say that up until about two years ago, I had no idea that March is Women’s History Month. While I was aware that March 8th is International Woman’s Day and had seen it showing up on social media, I never knew the history of Women’s History Month and I really never gave it too much thought… until this March. I decided I should do some research about #IWD and Women’s History Month because I am seeing it everywhere.
How it started
In 1978, a school district in Santa Rosa, California decided to honor women’s achievements by participating in a Women’s History Week which historically has been the same week as March 8th, International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day has been celebrated on March 8th since 1911.
In 1978, a school district decided to honor women’s achievements by participating in Women’s History Week event. Since then, schools across the country began to participate in Women’s history Week. Eventually, the celebration grew from a week-long activity to a month of observance. In 1987, the celebration became official when legislation was passed to designate March as Woman’s History Month in the United States.
Since 1987, annual themes of Women’s History Month is declared by the National Women’s History Project, a non-profit organization with a mission to honor and preserve women’s history. The 2019 theme is “Visionary Women: Champions of Peace & Nonviolence”.
The hashtag #IWD has over 475K posts on Instagram and while I can’t quite figure out how many tweets have been tagged with #IWD, there are a ton. Perhaps International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month have both been on people’s radar and I’ve just been living under a rock. I love the idea of celebrating women’s achievements and am glad that an entire month is dedicated to it. However, I can’t pretend I don’t hope for a future where there no longer is a need to emphasize the importance of celebrating women’s achievements.
Many women are inspired to celebrate and elevate others and it is one of our goals at Work In Progress to do the same. We dedicate a weekly post #wcw a.k.a “women crush Wednesdays” to talk about the women we’re crushing on because there is no shortage of women role models that can inspire you to be anything you want to be. Women today no longer have to worry about losing their rights for being pregnant thanks to Justice Ginsburg, one of our favorite role models who campaigned for equal rights for pregnant women and the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978. I was in shock when I found out that not long ago it was legal to discriminate against pregnant women but I’m also aspired to do my part when it comes to catalyzing changes in our world. My hope is that these #wcw posts can encourage readers to celebrate women not just during the month of March.
I look forward to a world where we no longer need to observe Women’s History Month because both men and women take every chance to celebrate women’s achievements as they happen.
Work In Progress is a platform hosted by two twin sisters passionate about transitions in work and life. Our series “#womencrushwednesday” features profiles of women who inspire us to do better and be more than just ourselves.
