Jimmy Carter’s landmark Presidential Proclamation takes place in 1980. He makes the significant declaration for women all across the country, that the week of March 8th would be designated as Women’s History Week. For the next 7 years, 1 out of 52 weeks within the full calendar year was one in which women’s history was celebrated with this designation. This shifted in 1987 when Congress expanded this week for women's history to the entire month of March. With women coming a significant distance since, their incredibly historic process continues to pave the path for women of the future. In contemporary times, Women’s History Month is largely celebrated by acknowledging this journey. This is a crucial practice considering the issues that women have faced for extended periods of time on both social and systemic levels.
Given gender-based disparities in places like education and the workforce, a portion of these problems are implicitly intrinsic. They are often perpetuated through actions that denote the strength of women, their intelligence, and their abilities. The impact manifests in other tangible ways like less representation of women in the media. Women and Hollywood, a site detailing inclusion in the film industry, finds that only 34% of 2019’s top grossing films included women as speaking or named characters. However, other issues that women face at much higher rates also include things like sexual harassment and assault. These issues continue to bleed into all settings, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds that women filed 78.2% of the 27,291 sexual harassment charges within the workplace between fiscal years 2018 and 2021.
In a world where violence and mistreatment towards women is so common, these numbers become painfully predictable. Even with intrinsic barriers against success already blight women disproportionately, issues like workplace harassment put a new barrier past the preliminary one. Unfortunately, other examples are prominent. In terms of cultivating upward mobility, many career paths are highly exclusionary of women as employees. The US Census Bureau highlights this, noting that though women make up around half of the US workforce, they only account for 27% of STEM careers. Even while the world advances in areas like technology and the economy, women are often the ones left behind. This system only perpetuates an unwelcoming future for women.
With this, recognizing systemic issues is the first step within thwarting them. The role of Women’s History Month is one that acknowledges the need for betterment within the future while also shedding light on the progress women have already made. It's important to carry and remember the stories of women throughout the remainder of the year. Despite the inherent hurdles, accomplishments from women have proven to be both plentiful and profound. Within recent political news, the United States saw Kamala Harris as the first female Vice President. Honduras’ first female President, Xiomara Castro, saw a landslide success in the 2022 election. In the US Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice on April 7th, 2022. With more women filling roles as leaders, women break down barriers that prevent success and uplift opportunities for a brighter future.
Though the month of March comes to a close, women’s history is remembered year-long through the lasting legacy it plays in daily life. Between Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Proclamation, Congress’ 1987 expansion upon celebrating Women’s History Month, and modern day, the progress of women within history creates more opportunities for women of the future.
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