March 2025 represents the advent and observance of Women’s History Month (WHM). This is an annual period that highlights the contributions of women to events/situations in history and contemporary society.
The first celebration of women, i.e., Women’s History Day, took place on February 28, 1909, in New York City. In 1978, an educational task force in Sonoma County, California, kicked off Women’s History Week on March 8, which became International Women’s Day. In March 1980, after celebrations had spread across the country, President Jimmy Carter declared that March 8 was officially the start of National Women’s History Week. Since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women’s History Month.
The need for a period to celebrate women has come from the fact that women have been often ignored historically. As recently as the 1970s, women’s history was an unknown topic in the general public’s consciousness and in K-12 school curricula.
Currently, women are as important as ever, but even today, there are safeguards that must be put in place in order to ensure societal parity for them. Ultimately, the need for a period to celebrate women has come from the fact that women deserve to be protected for their important worldly contributions.
There was a time not too long ago when women were not allowed to have their own credit cards, buy property, wear pants, and more. Today, the right to vote was attained due to advocacy connected with the Women’s Movement. Even now, women haven’t attained 100 percent parity. In fact, the current presidential regime is doing its job to move women backward, as seen in psychological attacks on women serving in combat in the military, taking away a woman’s right to do whatever she deems fit with her body, and more. In other words, women didn’t fully enjoy the freedoms that they had up until recently, before Trump’s deconstruction of America. The current regime is in the process of attempting to take us backward to the challenging past.
However, there is a great light on the horizon, and its hue shines with the essence of HOPE! Though it’s true that “deconstruction” is currently ongoing, it’s also true that there is room for RESISTANCE! This would be a logical strategic objective.
Women hold up half of the sky—depending upon where they reside, it is often more than that! Many women have stepped up to the plate to enhance the lives of women and girls. Women, who usually tend to nurture those around them, can play a huge role in helping to “save” all of society, including, hopefully, cooperative men.
It is often said that when one door closes, another will open. That’s one of nature’s more esoteric laws, and it rings true! Women are now in a unique position to take control of their own destinies. This is true because “growth” usually accompanies the expansion of knowledge, and along with this, can help people better understand how to work together to accomplish collective goals. Democracy is one of these worthy goals.
African American women should band together with others to fight the malevolent onslaught of far-right policies. It is high time that we understand that life on Earth appears to be a gigantic experiment to see if diverse people can successfully live together. Why is this important? We can probably rest assured that more than one race of people will always occupy the Earth, and because of that, we’d better learn how to get along with each other. There are people who are enemies of our country and others who actually have the capacity to blow up the whole planet!
With that said, women tend to be the peacemakers of the world. Of course, not ALL of them follow that blueprint. They are, however, often uniquely situated to serve as ambassadors and socio-political organizers. In this regard, women should be highly valued. And Women’s History Month is a great time to remember this and to actualize this ambitious goal. Aluta continua.
(Reprinted from the Chicago Crusader)