THE HISTORY OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

By Marian Wright Edelman Founder and President Emerita, Children’s Defense Fund

There is an African proverb that says “women hold up half the sky.” Women constitute half the world’s population, but still have not realized half of the world’s potential, received half of the world’s resources, or exercised half of the world’s power. But women have always been the invisible backbone—unseen but strong—of transforming social movements and of anchor institutions in society: our families, congregations, schools, and communities. March is Women’s History Month in our nation, and a chance to reflect on women’s transformational impact on American history and turn it into inspiration and action for the future.

The National Women’s History Alliance, which champions women’s history across the U.S. all year long, puts it this way: “History helps us learn who we are, but when we don’t know our own history, our power and dreams are immediately diminished. Multicultural American women are overlooked in most mainstream approaches to U.S. history, so the National Women’s History Project champions their accomplishments and leads the drive to write women back into history . . . The impact of women’s history might seem abstract to some, and less pressing than the immediate struggles of working women today. But to ignore the vital role that women’s dreams and accomplishments play in our own lives would be a great mistake. We draw strength and inspiration from those who came before us—and those remarkable women working among us today.”

This annual observance is marking an anniversary this year. Its origins in the United States began 45 years ago in 1978, when the