🌅 The Origin of Women’s History Month

SOURCE

Library of Congress

WHAT TO KNOW

• In 1987, Congress passed a joint resolution designating March of that year as Women’s History Month and asking President Ronald Reagan to issue a proclamation calling on Americans to celebrate women’s national historical contributions with appropriate activities. Reagan did as requested and the first official national Women’s History Month was born. Congress passed similar resolutions each year from 1988 to 1994, requesting and authorizing a proclamation from the sitting president, which was always issued. Since 1995, presidents have skipped waiting for Congress, instead issuing annual proclamations designating March as Women’s History Month under their executive authority.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The inspiration for a national Women’s History Month can be traced back to 1978, when a trio of graduate students at Sonoma State University in California helped the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women (which still meets today) host the first Women’s History Week. In 1980, after a collection of women’s groups successfully lobbied for national recognition, President Jimmy Carter issued a Presidential Statement asking Americans to recognize National Women’s History Week from March 2-8 of that year. Seven years later, the National Women's History Alliance successfully campaigned to have the week-long celebration extended to a full month.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Organizers of the original Women’s History Week in 1978 hosted the event the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day, which had been recognized in Europe since 1911. However, the earliest documented celebration actually occurred two years earlier in the U.S., when the Socialist Party of America held the first national “Woman's Day” in February 1909.