Women's History Month

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Overview

Women's History Month is an annual month-long celebration and commemoration of women and their contributions to historical and contemporary events that occurs in March.

Background

In 1978, the school district of Sonoma, California organized a weeklong celebration of women'ts contributions. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8th as National Women's History Week through a presidential proclamation. In 1986, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.^[1]

Developments

Online Tributes

In 1997, National Women's History Alliance (NWHA)^[10] launched their website, which is the first women's history choice on all search engines. Every year the National Women's History Alliance annouces Honorees and yearly themes.[] In 2019, NWHA announced the "Visionary Women: Champions of Peace & Nonviolence" theme. The honorees are Kathy Kelly (Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence), Zainab Salbi (Founder and Former CEO of Women for Women International),
Graciela Sanchez (Co-founder and Director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center), Deborah Tucker (President of the Board of Directors of the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence), Dr. E. Faye Williams (President/CEO of the National Congress of Black Women), Sister Alice Zachmann (Founder and former Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission USA), Elise Boulding (Creator of Peace and Conflict Studies), Sarah Brady (Gun control Advocate), Dorothy Cotton (Civil Rights, Activist), Peace Pilgrim (Spiritual Leader and Peace Activist) and Mary Burnett Talbert (Anti-lynching activist, Orator, and Suffragist).

Criticisms

On March 1st 2013, Journalist Karen Swallow Prior wrote a peice for The Atlantic^[4] entitled "The End of Women's History Month" that denouced the passive engagement in womens history that happens year around and the annual celebration that "bestows marks, yet also perpetuates, their marginalization."

On March 8th, 2016, writer Mari Brighe wrote a piece for Bustle^[2] that detailed her personal experience as a trans woman during Women's History Month and the lack of inclusivity. Similarly, in 2017 writer Barbara Sostaita wrote a piece for Huffington Post^[3] about white feminism and the need to honor women of color.

On March 23rd, 2018, Time Magazine^[5] published an online article written by Nancy Goldstone entitled "I'm a Historian, and I Think Women's History Month Is a Mistake." She writes that,

"by allowing women to be shunted off to the side in this way -- for no matter how impressive the academic department, or how large the museum, or how many previously unknown females are highlighted in the month of March, that is what we are doing -- we ensure that women remain a subset of history rather than integral components of recognized major events."

#WomensHistoryMonth

On March 1st, 2019, the hashtag #WomensHistoryMonth began trending on Twitter. Twitter users began posting about events related to the month, shoutouts to importnt women, and reminders to celebrate marginalized groups of women.

On February 26th, 2019, Twitter user @KWilliamsYYC^[6] tweeted about a Women's History Month debate happening at Mount Royal Universy that will debate whether or not Trans rights affects women's right. (shown below, left). Shw goes on to explain
that "To claim to advocate feminism while also contending that trans activism stymies women’s rights is incongruous to the foundational liberatory tenets of feminist praxis." On March 1st, Otis College^[7] tweeted about a Wikipedia edit-a-thon aimed at " improving content on gender non binary people, cis and trans women, the arts, and feminism on #Wikipedia!" (shown below, right).

Kimberly Williams @KWilliamsYYC 1/9 Dear friends: In light of the upcoming event, "Does trans activism negatively impact women's rights?" being held during Women's History Month at @mountroyal4u (see the attached screenshot), I want to make the following points: Critical Thinking Series: "Does Trans Activism Negatively Impact Women's Rights?" March 15, 2019 1 3-4:30 P.M. Jenkins Theatre Meghan Murphy, founder of the popular feminist website Feminist Current, will be arguing "Yes" while Julie Rei Goldstein, actress and voice-over artist, will argue "No." This event is sponsored by the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies, the Faculty of Arts, the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, and the Rational Space Network. 9:37 AM -26 Feb 2019

OtisCollege @OtisCollege In celebration of Women's History Month, we are joining with @artandfeminism to host a @wikipedia edit-a-thon! Be a part of a global project aimed at improving content on gender non binary people, cis and trans women, the arts, and feminism on #Wikipedia! March 6 from 3pm to 7pm!

That same day, Twitter user @JennMJack^[8] tweeted "Today is the start of #WomensHistoryMonth . Pls remember "women" includes trans and cis, poor and working-class, gender non-conforming, unrespectable, Black, Indigenous, and Brown, disabled, and folx of all embodiments and expressions. Don't be trash." (shown below, left). The tweet gained 281 retweets and 489 likes in a day. Twitter user @mufuckinuuh^[9] tweeted, "Reminder: Women’s History Month starts in March. Women from marginalized communities need to be represented and included in the conversations/movement. Black women, brown women, disabled women, sex workers, trans women etc. I’m not here for the bs so don’t try it" (shown below, right). The tweet garnered 26 retweets and 52 likes in a couple of days.