March is Women’s History Month. If you are like me, Women’s Hi
story Month is not something I know a lot about or something that I can remember hearing about before coming to work at the UMKC Women’s Center. I remember in school hearing about Black History Month but Women’s History Month? Not until this year.
While it could be my perspective or school district, I find it odd that so many of us haven’t heard of Women’s History Month. So I decided to do a little web research to find out what it was all about.
Women’s History month started out in 1978 as Women in History Week, which was an effort to use education as a way to recognize and celebrate women’s accomplishments and contributions throughout history. Following this in 1980, a group of women got together and formed the National Women’s History Project. The Project was created to make sure women were being recognized for their contribution and roles in American history. The NWHP has worked for 25 years on this goal. Women’s History Week became Women’s History Month in 1987.
Each year the NWHP chooses a theme for Women’s History Month. For 2010 the theme is “Writing Women Back in History.” The theme is not just for 2010 but also for the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project. The theme is about the need to make sure that women are not getting written out of history.
The National Women’s History Project and the celebration of Women’s History Month are things that we should make the effort to not only be aware of, but also to take pride in all that women have accomplished throughout history and making sure that all those accomplishments continue to be recognized, celebrated, and shared with future generations.