Tag: Women’s History Month
Every March the UK, Australia, and the U.S. celebrate women by using the entire month to highlight the sizable contributions women have made to history throughout the centuries. Canada observes Women’s History Month in October. In the United States, the movement for setting aside a special time to observe women’s history began when Congress passed a law authorizing the president to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as Women’s History Week. In 1987, after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress authorized the entire month of March as National Women’s History Month.
The week initially was chosen to coincide with the International Women’s Day celebration, which occurs globally on March 8th each year. Women’s History Month is used to study the many different women who have had active, but often overlooked, roles throughout history. In schools students write reports, put on plays and engage in other activities to enhance their study of women’s history.
Today there are TV channels offering biographies, movies and documentaries of some of the most powerful and important women in history, but that has not always been the case. The need for a special time to focus on women’s history came from the recognition that for centuries the roles of women in the development of their countries’ history had been overlooked or downplayed. The month serves as a time to highlight their contributions and to create awareness of role models girls and women can look up to and emulate.
