The History of Women’s History Month

We celebrate Women’s History Month each March to honor the legacy, contributions and resilience of women and girls around the world, but a recognized time dedicated to celebrating women wasn’t formally added to the calendar until 1980. What originally became a national, monthlong celebration began as a locally celebrated women’s history week.

In 1978, a California group called the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned the first ever “Women’s History Week.” The event was scheduled during the week of March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day, which had been observed throughout the world since the early 1900s. International Women’s Day has roots in the Socialist movement in America; in 1909, the Socialist Party held an anniversary celebration of the garment worker’s strikes in New York that occurred in 1908. As socialism spread throughout Europe in the following years, so did women’s day observances. By 1975, the U.N. officially began recognizing International Women’s Day.

In 1979, other communities around the country began recognizing their own women’s history weeks with the annual “Real Women” essay contest, educational programs and the Santa Rosa, California parade.

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