March 2022
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Why is Women’s History Month Celebrated in March?
It always takes a fierce and strong movement to make a change. Unequivocally, it’s never easy, but it takes a strong group of fearless women to stand up and demand change. So, this is what happened over 100 years ago in the factory industries of New York City. Women were tired of being underpaid, undervalued, and overworked. So, they organized a strike for better working conditions.
The celebratory month has its roots in the socialist and labor movements — the first Women’s Day took place on Feb. 28, 1909, in New York City, as a national observance organized by the Socialist Party. It honored the first anniversary of the garment worker’s strikes in New York that had taken place a year earlier when thousands of women marched for economic rights through lower Manhattan to Union Square. (That strike, in turn, honored an earlier 1857 march, when garment workers rallied for equal rights and a 10-hour day.) Within two years, Women’s Day had grown into an international observance that spread through Europe on the heels of socialism.
Beyond Women’s History month is to connect and uplift an inspiring woman in your life. If you’re a mother to a young girl or know a close relative or friend, educate her on the importance of education, equality, and equity for all girls and women. Help her recognize that National Women’s History Month is a celebration of the ideas, experiences, and shared history of females around the globe.
www.timesmagazine.com
https://www.aauw.org/