Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month by presidential proclamation. The month is set aside to honor the contributions of women throughout American history. Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. In 1978, The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week.” The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year. As Women’s History Week started to gain traction and popularity across the country, a group of women’s rights activists and historians lobbied for national recognition. Finally, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced a Presidential Proclamation recognizing the week of March 8th, 1980 as National Women’s History Week. Then in 1987, Women’s History Week turned into Women’s History Month, as it’s known today.
Each year, The National Women’s History Alliance selects a theme for Women’s History Month. This year the theme is, “Celebrating Women Who Tell Stories,” which highlights women who have used their voice and creativity to share stories that educate, inspire, and entertain individuals. Some amazing individuals who embody this theme are Malala Yousafzai and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
At age 11, Malala was already advocating for women’s rights. She grew up in Mingora, Pakistan and relished going to school and learning about the world surrounding her. However, by the time she was 10 years old, Taliban extremists began to take control of the Swat Valley and many of her favorite things were banned. Girls were no longer able to attend school, listen to music, or watch TV. By the end of 2008, the Taliban had destroyed over 400 schools. Filled with outrage, Malala Yousafzai decided to stand up to the Taliban. At first, she started anonymously blogging for the British Broadcasting Cooperation and wrote about her experience under the Taliban’s rule. Soon after, Malala and her father started to advocate for girls’ education on social media. On October 9th, 2012, fifteen-year-old Yousafzai was on the bus returning from school with her friends when two members of the Taliban stopped the bus and asked, “Who is Malala?” When they identified Yousafzai, they shot her in the head. Fortunately, she was airlifted to a Pakistani military hospital and then taken to an intensive care unit in England, where she recovered. After her injury, she was able to stay in England and starting going back to school. Although she was able to go to school, she decided to keep fighting “until every girl could go to school.” Malala continued to fight for women’s rights in a gamut of ways ranging from creating a fund to internationally support girls’ education to publishing an autobiography to inspire others. In December of 2014, Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. At age seventeen, she became the youngest person to be named a Nobel laureate. Since then, Yousafzai has continued to advocate for the rights of women and girls.
Similarly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a very influential advocate for women’s rights, whose main goal was to achieve gender equality. Ginsburg graduated from Cornell University in 1954, finishing first in her class, and then enrolled in Harvard. At Harvard, Ginsburg learned to balance life as a mother and her new role as a law student. She also encountered a very male-dominated, hostile environment, with only eight females in her class of 500. The women were chided by the law school’s dean for taking the places of “qualified males”, but Ginsburg paid no attention to the discrimination and continued to excel academically in her classes. However, her husband was diagnosed with cancer soon after, requiring intensive treatment and rehabilitation. Ginsburg not only tended to her young daughter and convalescing husband, but she also took notes for him in classes while she continued her own law studies. Despite her outstanding academic record, Ginsburg continued to encounter gender discrimination when seeking work after graduating from law school. Eventually, she became a professor at Columbia University, where she became the school’s first female tenured professor. In 1993, she was appointed to the supreme court by President Bill Clinton. As a judge, Ginsburg presented a strong voice in favor of gender equality and was known to break tradition, fearlessly speaking her mind and helping to provide equality for all.
Sources:
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ruth-bader-ginsburg
https://www.youthforhumanrights.org/news/2014-malala-yousafzai.html
https://blog.londonspeechworkshop.com/4-inspirational-women-using-their-voices-to-drive-change