Marching Into Women's History Month

Welcome March!  The month when nature awakens from winter’s chill.  I feel lifted, shedding heavy layers and floating into the light of spring.  March is a month of transformation and I find it so fitting that it has become a month about women.  March 8 marks International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.   

March is also Women’s History Month which we’ll commemorate by looking at four historical heroines of the Sexual Revolution:  Helen Gurley Brown; Marsha P. Johnson; Estelle Griswold and Pat Maginnis. Each week in March, our blog will feature one of these women.

Women’s History Month actually started as National Women’s History Week when President Jimmy Carter designated it March 2 – 8, 1980.  Here’s the message he wrote when he did it:

“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation.  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 was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

A lot has changed since 1980.  For instance, now we celebrate women’s history all March long.  It gives us more of an opportunity to learn about and appreciate the women who have come before us – the challenges they faced, the obstacles they overcame and the paths they forged.  We owe so much to so many!  Maybe one way that we can honor these women from the past, is to find ways to support and encourage the women who cross our paths in the present.

Happy Women’s History Month!