from the publishers of: Verywell, Real Simple, EatingWell, Shape, Parents, Health and Allrecipes
In 1978, a school district in Sonoma, California, organized a Women’s History Week as a way to teach children about some of the important women who made an impact on the world. These students and teachers had no idea their presentations of essays, poster boards and a parade of school children would turn into a national month-long celebration, but it did. Annually, schools, organizations and communities around the country use the month of March to honor the influential women who have helped shape our world today.
As you prepare to celebrate the annual Women’s History Month, take inspiration from the origins of the holiday and look for ways you can support or celebrate women’s accomplishments in your own community. Whether that’s encouraging other women in your workplace or volunteering with an educational program for girls, women supporting women is what it’s all about.
Two years after the Women’s History Week celebration in California, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed a National Women’s History Week during the week of March 8, 1980. When he announced the proclamation, he said, “Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America were as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”
As communities around the country adopted Women’s History Week celebrations, many areas found that one week just wasn’t enough. By 1986, fourteen states had declared their own month-long celebrations of women’s history, and in 1987 the National Women’s History Project (now known as the National Women’s History Alliance) asked Congress to declare an official Women’s History Month. On March 12, 1987, Congress passed legislation designating the month of March 1987 as Women’s History Month. Between 1988 and 1994, Congress also passed resolutions authorizing future presidents to proclaim the month of March as Women’s History Month. Since this legislation was passed, every president has issued an annual proclamation for the month of March.
Since there are millions of women worth celebrating, the National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) chooses a theme each year and selects featured honorees who have advanced the world for women within that category. In 2022 National Women’s History Month theme is “Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope.” According to the NWHA, it “is both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history.”