For the entire month of March, the United States celebrates Women’s History Month. It’s an invitation for individuals, businesses, and the government to reflect on the role women have played in our history. For some, this could mean highlighting the accomplishments, inventions, and movements that women have championed. For others, it could be an opportunity to take stock of the gender inequality still prevalent in our society and propose solutions. When commemorating Women’s History Month, there should be a balance between celebrating the accomplishments of women and acknowledging the somber realities of the challenges we’ve faced – past, present, and future.

In 1981, Representative Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution designating the week of March 8th as “Women’s History Week,” later declared to be "National Women's History Month." Image from PowertoDecide.org.

The National Women’s History Museum writes, “Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978.” In 1980, when the bill to celebrate Women’s History was first introduced, the acknowledgment was only going to be for a week. Susan Scanlan, the then-Legislative Aide to Representative (later Senator) Barbara Mikulski, tells the story of how they passed the legislation in an interview for The National Women’s History Museum. Scanlan says that Representative Mikulski told Scanlan that the week “should be August 26th when we got the right to vote. And I looked at her – she’s from Maryland – and I said, ‘Barbara? Do you want to be outside parading on August 26th when it’s hotter than the hinges of hell?’ and she said ‘No, Susan, I think you’re exactly right. Now let’s see, what other dates do we have?’ And I said, ‘There’s International Women’s Day’ And she said ‘In March? Go for it.’” In 1987, Public Law 100-4 was passed by Congress to create Women’s History Month.

According to the 2021 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, “closing the global gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years” because of the pandemic. In some of the most notable categories studied by the World Economic Forum’s report, the United States ranked 30th best in the world for Economic Participation and Opportunity, 36th for Educational Attainment, and 87th in Health and Survival.

When considering the state of gender equality in the United States, it is imperative to take an intersectional lens. It is a disservice to everyone to assume that all women suffer equally. The devastating but undeniable truth is that women of color carry the burden of racism that white women will never know, and transgender women carry the burden of transphobia that cisgender women will never know. According to the US Department of Labor blog, “To earn what white, non-Hispanic men earned in 2020, Asian American and Pacific Islander women had to work until March 9. Mothers won’t catch up until June 4 (compared with fathers, on average). For many women of color, Equal Pay Day falls later and later into the year. For Black women, it is not until Aug. 3. For Native American women, it is not until Sept. 8. Lastly, for Latinas, Equal Pay Day is more than 9 months into the year on Oct. 21.”

According to the US Department of Labor blog, “To earn what white, non-Hispanic men earned in 2020, Asian American and Pacific Islander women had to work until March 9. Image from JusticeatWork.com.

However, hope for gender equality is not completely lost. The United States and Canada’s “average (population-weighted) [performance] score is 76.4%, a strong improvement since the last edition (+3.5 percentage points). Because of this step forward, it will now take 61.5 years to close the gender gap in this region.” Though the pandemic drastically affected the United States’ efforts towards gender equality, the US Department of Labor writes, “There’s clearly a lot of work to be done, but it is possible to level the playing field for working women by increasing transparency around wages across the board, disrupting occupational segregation, expanding access to paid leave and child and elder care, and creating more good union jobs.” With the open and loud invitation to celebrate women’s accomplishments and struggles, Women’s History Month has sought since 1986 to encourage the thoughtful reflection of our progress towards gender equality.

Works Cited

Jones, Janelle. “5 Facts about the State of the Gender Pay Gap | U.S. Department of Labor Blog.” Blog.dol.gov, 19 Mar. 2021, blog.dol.gov/2021/03/19/5-facts-about-the-state-of-the-gender-pay-gap.

National Women's History Museum - Administrative Offices. “History of Women’s History Month Video- NWHM.” YouTube, 21 Nov. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgGOBbjeNZU. Accessed 22 May 2019.

Raj, Anita. “Where Is Gender Equality in the United States?” Georgetown Institute of Women Peace and Security, 5 Nov. 2020, giwps.georgetown.edu/where-is-gender-equality-in-the-united-states/.

“Women’s History Month.” National Women’s History Museum, www.womenshistory.org/womens-history/womens-history-month.

World Economic Forum. “Global Gender Gap Report 2021.” World Economic Forum, 21 Mar. 2021, www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021/in-full.