Honoring women making history

     March is Women’s History Month.

     To be honest, sadly, I never knew the story behind how Women’s History Month came to be… Thanks to the handy dandy internet, I’ve learned a lot about the month dedicated to amazing, trailblazing females!

     Another sad fact: I had no clue that an actual website existed in honor of this occasion (womenshistorymonth.gov).

     The idea of a Women’s History Month was first mentioned in 1981, pretty recent in terms of honors such as this. (Black History Month in February was created in 1926.)

     Women’s History Month started out as just a week in March, and was known as Women’s History Week. It wasn’t until the National Women’s History Project (now known as the National Women’s History Alliance) petitioned Congress in 1987 to designate the entire month of March toward women’s history, that it became Women’s History Month.

     So how did the movement to honor women in March come about?

     March 8 has been celebrated as International Women’s Day since 1914 in Germany. In 1978, an education task force in Santa Rosa, Calif., started a local celebration the week of March 8 to honor women who made a difference in the history of this country. That idea quickly spread across the country as more and more communities were also honoring great women.

     The National Women’s History Alliance comes up with a different theme for Women’s History Month every year. The theme for 2021 is: “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.”

     This theme is extended from 2020, following the 100^th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement when they gained the right to vote in 1920. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many celebrations in 2020 honoring the centennial of the suffrage era had to be cancelled or postponed or held virtually.

     And today, 101 years after women gained the legal right to vote, we’re seeing states all over the country trying to curtail one’s right to vote, one’s access to voting, and the ease of voting, whether in-person or via absentee ballot.

     We all know notable, historic women who have made a difference in our world, a name for themselves: Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Frank, Queen Elizabeth II, (for that matter, even) Princess Diana, Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, Shirley Chisholm, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sally Ride, Madeleine Albright, Malala Yousafzai, etc., etc., etc.

     And now, even today, there are women of all ages from all backgrounds who are making history and will continue to make history.

     Vice President Kamala Harris certainly made history as the first Black woman and first Indian woman to not only be a presidential running mate, but elected Vice President. (Shirley Chisholm, also a Black woman, was elected to Congress in 1968, and ran for president in 1972.)

     In 2005, Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 race, and the first female to win an IndyCar Series race in 2008.

     Aside from her history-making decision in the mid-1950s in refusing to give up her seat for a white man on public transportation, Rosa Parks also had another first added to her name: The first woman to lie in honor upon her death in October 2005.

     Sarah Palin was the first female vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 2008.

     In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for her movie “The Hurt Locker.”

     Shannon Eastin was the first woman to officiate an NFL game in 2012, the Green Bay Packers vs. the San Diego Chargers.

     Lauryn Williams became the first female to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Williams is both a sprinter and a bobsledder.

     Iowa’s own Governor Kim Reynolds made history herself as our state’s first female governor.

     Gina Haspel became the first woman named director of the CIA in 2018.

     Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar both became the first Muslim women elected to U.S. Congress in 2018.

     More and more women are making history and will continue to make history and go on to do some amazing things in this country.