Erica Siaulinski, Staff Writer
Women’s history month, a celebration that takes place each March, every year since 1987. The month was selected to honor women’s overlooked and under-appreciated attributes to history, culture and society.
The traditional celebration of women’s history month comes from a week-long celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned and further launched a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978. To correspond with International Women’s Day, which is held on March 8th traditionally. Presentations were given at dozens of schools in the area in which hundreds of students became participants in a “Real Woman” essay contest as well as a parade downtown.
The celebration was a huge hit and quickly spread across the country and other communities began to honor and celebrate their own Women’s History Week. Both inside and outside of school districts, this event was seen as an amazing opportunity to educate students on women’s attributes to history, science and mathematics.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter released an official proclamation declaring that the week of March 8th would be recognized as National Women’s History Week. U.S. Congress followed, the next year passing a resolution declaring a national celebration. Six years following the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned for Congress to extend National Women’s History Week into the entire month of March. Successfully making March Women’s History month in 1987.
While the entire month of March is recognized as Women’s History Month in the United States, International Women’s Day on March 8th is recognized globally by over 20 different countries around the world. First celebrated in March of 1911, the day offered a chance to honor women and their sacrifices made throughout history, as well as their achievements and accomplishments.
Some use the day as a way to appreciate all women, in some cases, people give women gifts to show their appreciation. Schools sometimes use the opportunity to learn more about women’s attributes to society and their abundant accomplishments.
The United Nations has sponsored each International Women’s Day since 1975. When adopting the agreement of observation of National Women’s Day, the United Nations General Assembly recited the following as its reasoning “To recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.”
Since then, each month March has been honored as Women’s History Month.
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