Written By Rachel Haynes, Staff Writer
This year’s women’s history month theme is “Women Shaping a Sustainable Future”, and the women’s equity club is educating on some amazing individuals who have done so.
Each year, women’s history month has a new theme, chosen by the National Women’s History Alliance, that honors inspiring women who have impacted or will impact the world in a positive way. Last year’s theme was “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations”, geared towards women who have had some sort of influence in the field of education. Some mentionable figures in this area include Malala Yousafzai, Fanny Jackson Coppin, Patsy Mink, and Lucy Wheelock. All of these incredible women helped shape education through their protests, strong ideas, and advocacy.
Women’s History Month was started by a group of five women educators in 1978, who wanted to celebrate the achievements of women throughout history. This began as a week-long celebration in Sonoma county, California. The group was led mainly by Molly Murphy MacGregor, and it was then known as “Women’s History Week”. Over the next two years, her idea would spread among various different school counties until it eventually reached President Jimmy Carter. In 1980, the first official National Women’s History Week was declared, recognizing the triumphs and accomplishments of women in the past that had been far overlooked for years. Eventually, in 1987, Congress voted to expand the week, dedicated to influential women, into the entire month of March.
This March, the theme is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future”, which is all about women who have impacted the environment through their advocacy and inventions. These figures are even more important now than ever to recognize as Earth’s environments have been in an uncertain state for far too long. Based on the current direction of the world in areas like climate change, deforestation, and pollution, much can be learned from these intelligent women.
The Women’s Equity Club hopes to shed light on some of these ladies. The club will be participating in their own “Women’s History Week” in honor of MacGregor’s idea that kick-started it all. The club members plan on making announcements throughout the week highlighting women who have dedicated their lives to helping the environment. Look out for information on women like Jane Goodall and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during third period announcements!
From these women, the club members have felt their values of standing up for what one is passionate about and using ones voice reinforced; the club is a place for people to voice their opinion on different topics affecting not only women, but struggles throughout the world. The next meeting will be about the impact of women in history, through their genius inventions and activism, fighting for equality for all. The club hopes to see you there!