Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.”
Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.”
In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.”
Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month.
Since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.
History of the Women's Movement
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution passed Congress in June 1919. It was ratified by the last state on August 18, 2020. This is the 100th year that women have had the right to vote in the US. Women who campaigned for the right to vote were called Suffragists. The word suffrage means the right to vote. The first large effort to obtain voting rights for women started in 1848 with a convention at Seneca Falls, NY. The participants included such important people as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They published their famous “Declaration of Sentiments” listing grievances about how women were not given their rights. It was very similar to the Declaration of Independence. Other meetings featured the speeches of Sojourner Truth who spoke for black women.
It was in 1851 that Elizabeth Cady Stanton met Susan B. Anthony who would go on to be one of the most famous soldiers of the women’s movement. Susan B. Anthony and others faced arrest and public defamation for attempts to vote. In commemoration of her life’s work, Anthony became the first woman featured on a special US minted $1coin from 1979 to 1981.
It was after her death that the modern movement gained steam under Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Ida B. Wells and Carrie Chapman. These women were instrumental in securing the 19th Amendment and creating the National Organization for Women. The lengths they were willing to go to included jailing, torture, beatings, and a hunger strike showed they’re strong belief in the rights of women to be politically equal to men. Paul’s life and those who struggled with her were depicted in the 2004 Iron Jawed Angels.
Through the work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other important women in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, more equality was gained for women. Although true equality has not yet been achieved (women are still paid less than men for the same work), women are represented in the highest offices in the land and in corporations around the world. The current Vice President of the United States (Kamala Harris) gives women the hope of achieving even the highest office possible.