Women's History Month is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Celebrated during

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

in the United States, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, corresponding with

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

on March 8, it is observed during October in Canada, corresponding with the celebration of Persons Day on October 18. A weeklong observance in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

, in 1978 was subsequently championed by

Gerda Lerner Gerda Hedwig Lerner (née Kronstein; April 30, 1920 – January 2, 2013) was an Austrian-born American historian and woman's history author. In addition to her numerous scholarly publications, she wrote poetry, fiction, theatre pieces, screenpl ...

and the

National Women's History Alliance The National Women's History Alliance (NWHA) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. The NWHA was formerly known as the National Women's History Project. Based out of Santa Rosa, California, sin ...

to be recognized as a national week (1980) and then month (1987) in the United States, spreading internationally after that.

History

In Australia

Women's History Month was first celebrated in Australia in 2000, initiated by Helen Leonard, convenor of the National Women's Media Centre, working with the Women's Electoral Lobby. The organisation of annual Women's History Month celebrations is incorporated as part of the work of the Australian Women's History Forum.

Annual themes

Since 2005, the annual celebration of Women's History Month in Australia has centred on a different area of women's achievement. Promotional materials and events are focused around the theme and organisations, institutions and community groups are encouraged to use this theme for their own events. AWHF hosted Women's "History Month Finale: The Great Debate 2014", marking the end of its official commemorations. * 2013: Finding Founding Mothers * 2012: Women with a Plan: architects, town planners and landscape architects * 2011: Women in the Business of Food * 2009:

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Women * 2008: Women with a Mission: Australian women contributing overseas * 2007: Arm in Arm:

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

and non-Indigenous Women Working Together * 2006: Musical Belles: Women in Music * 2005: Celebrating Racy Women

In Canada

Women's History Month was proclaimed in Canada in 1992, where its purpose is to give Canadians "an opportunity to learn about the important contributions of women and girls to our society – and to the quality of our lives today". October was chosen to coincide with the celebration of the anniversary on October 18 of the decision of the court case ''Edwards v. Canada'', more commonly known as the Persons Case, in which it was established that Canadian women were eligible to be appointed senators and in general had the same rights as Canadian men with respect to positions of political power.

In Hungary

The archaeologists of the Szent István Király Museum (Székesfehérvár) made several Facebook posts in honor of Women's History Month in 2021, the first time in Hungary. Also this year, in the Hungarian National Museum there was an exhibition with a title of "Women in Art" in March.

In Russia

Since 2017, there is a group of female volunteers (Women's Museum in Moscow) who spend a virtual month of women's history in Russian
Facebook Groups

In Ukraine

The Gender Museu

in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

hosts events in honor of Women's History Month in Ukrainian.

In the United States

Women's History Month started in March 1987.

Women's History Week

In the United States, Women's History Month traces its beginnings back to the first

in 1911. Laura X organized a march in Berkeley, California, on

in 1969; International Women's Day had been largely forgotten in the United States before then. The march led to the creation of The Women's History Research Center, a central archive of the women's movement from 1968 to 1974. Laura X also thought it unfair for half the human race to have only one day a year and called for National Women's History Month to be built around International Women's Day. The Women's History Research Center collected nearly one million documents on microfilm, and provided resources and records of the Women's liberation movement that are now available through the National Women's History Alliance, which carried on their ideas, including successfully petitioning Congress to declare March as Women's History Month. In 1978, the

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

Sonoma, California Sonoma () is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma' ...

participated in

Women's History Week Women's History Month is an List of month-long observances, annual observance to highlight the Women's history, contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, ...

, an event designed around the week of March 8 (International Women's Day). In 1979, a fifteen-day conference about women's history was held at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

from July 13 until July 29, chaired by historian

. It was co-sponsored by Sarah Lawrence College, the

Women's Action Alliance The Women's Action Alliance (WAA), or simply the Alliance, was a feminist organization in the United States which was active from 1971 to 1997. It was founded by Gloria Steinem, Brenda Feigen Fasteau and Dorothy Pitman-Hughes. The board of direct ...

, and the Smithsonian Institution. When its participants learned about the success of the Sonoma County's Women's History Week celebration, they decided to initiate similar celebrations within their own organizations, communities, and school districts. They also agreed to support an effort to secure a National Women's History Week. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women's History Week. The proclamation stated, "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. As Dr.

has noted, 'Women's History is Women's Right.' It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision. I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women's History Week, March 2–8, 1980. I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality – Susan B. Anthony,

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Bomefree; November 26, 1883) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and Temperance movement, alcohol temperance. Truth was ...

Lucy Stone Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was an American orator, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and Suffrage, suffragist who was a vocal advocate for and organizer of promoting Women's rights, rights for women. In 1847, ...

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (née Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quakers, Quaker, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position ...

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

, and

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...

. Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people. This goal can be achieved by ratifying the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that 'Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.'" Carter was referring to the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

, which was never ratified, not to the amendment which did become the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution after his presidency. In 1981, responding to the growing popularity of Women's History Week, Sen.

Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senat ...

(R-

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

) and Rep

Barbara Mikulski Barbara Ann Mikulski ( ; born July 20, 1936) is an American politician and social worker who served as a United States senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she also served i ...

(D-

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

) co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a Women's History Week. Congress passed their resolution a
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 several years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as Women's History Week. Schools across the country also began to have their own local celebrations of Women's History Week and even Women's History Month. By 1986, fourteen states had declared March as Women's History Month.

Women's History Month

In 1987, after being petitioned by the

National Women's History Project The National Women's History Alliance (NWHA) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. The NWHA was formerly known as the National Women's History Project. Based out of Santa Rosa, California, sin ...

, Congress passe
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 1988, U.S. presidents have issued annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women's History Month on occasion. State departments of education also began to encourage celebrations of Women's History Month as a way to promote equality among the sexes in the classroom.

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and other states developed and distributed curriculum materials in all of their public schools, which prompted educational events such as essay contests. Within a few years, thousands of schools and communities began to celebrate of Women's History Month. They planned engaging and stimulating programs about women's roles in history and society, with support and encouragement from governors, city councils, school boards, and the U.S. Congress. In March 2011, the Obama administration released a report, ''Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being'', showing women's status in the U.S. in 2011 and how it had changed over time. This report was the first comprehensive federal report on women since the report produced by the

Commission on the Status of Women The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, principal organs of the United Nations. CSW has bee ...

in 1963. Some organizations have issued statements marking Women's History Month, for example the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

and the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

. A President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in History in America recently sponsored hearings in many parts of the country. The Women's Progress Commission will soon conduct hearings to promote interest in preserving areas that are relevant in American women's history. Some of the groups promoting this interest are state historical societies, women's organizations, and groups such as the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

Presidential Proclamations of Women's History Week

1980 (scroll down)

1982

1983

1984

Presidential Proclamations of Women's History Month

1988

1989 and 1990

1991

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1995

2009

2010

2011

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Annual themes of Women's History Month, declared by the
National Women's History Project The National Women's History Alliance (NWHA) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. The NWHA was formerly known as the National Women's History Project. Based out of Santa Rosa, California, sin ...

*1987: "Generations of Courage, Compassion, and Conviction" *1988: "Reclaiming the Past, Rewriting the Future" *1989: "Heritage of Strength and Vision" *1990: "Courageous Voices – Echoing in Our Lives" TWomens have to be equal *1991: "Nurturing Tradition, Fostering Change" *1992: "A Patchwork of Many Lives" *1993: "Discover a New World" *1994: "In Every Generation, Action Frees Our Dreams" *1995: "Promises to Keep" *1996: "See History in a New Way" *1997: "A Fine and Long Tradition of Community Leadership" *1998: "Living the Legacy" *1999: "Women Putting Our Stamp on America" *2000: "An Extraordinary Century for Women 1900–2000" *2001: "Celebrating Women of Courage and Vision" *2002: "Women Sustaining the American Spirit" *2003: "Women Pioneering the Future" *2004: "Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility" *2005: "Women Change America" *2006: "Women, Builders of Communities and Dreams" *2007: "Generations of Women Moving History Forward" *2008: "Women's Art Women's Vision" *2009: "Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet" *2010: "Writing Women Back into History" *2011: "Our History is Our Strength" *2012: "Women's Education – Women's Empowerment" *2013: "Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination:Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" *2014: "Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment" *2015: "Weaving the Stories of Women's Lives" *2016: "Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government" *2017: "Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business" *2018: "Nevertheless, She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination against Women", referring to

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the long ...

's "

Nevertheless, she persisted "Nevertheless, she persisted" is an expression adopted by the Feminism, feminist movement, especially Feminism in the United States#Fourth-wave feminism, in the United States. It became popular in 2017 after the United States Senate voted to re ...

" remark about

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

. *2019: "Visionary Women: Champions of Peace & Nonviolenc
Home
*2020: "Valiant Women of the Vote", marking the Women's Suffrage Centennial *2021: "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced", continuing previous year's theme due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

*2022: "Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope" *2023: "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories" *2024: "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion" *2025: "Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations”

References

External links

Women's History Month
in the United States

in Canada
Australian Women's History Forum
incorporating Women's History Month
Archive of past Women's History Month websites
in Australia from the Pandora Archive {{U.S. Holidays, state=collapsed Commemorative months March observances Women in history Women's history American Association of University Women