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Recognizing women
Discover why Women’s History Month is celebrated in March and how it began
Each sitting U.S. president since 1995 has issued a yearly proclamation honoring the role of American women in history.
Every March we celebrate Women’s History Month, highlighting all the sacrifices, contributions and achievements of women, helping to make a difference and changing society’s perspective.
While March was chosen by Congress in 1987, Women’s History Month first started as International Women’s Day on February 28 in 1909, when socialists and suffragists held meeting in Manhattan.
Then in March of the next year, German activist Clara Zetkin suggested at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, that Women’s Day should be recognized as an international holiday. And with 17 countries in attendance, it was made official.
In March 1911 International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, however the United States was unsure, and it was until 1975 when the United Nations recognized it, as American continued to rally for Women’s Day.
In March 1914, the Women’s suffrage parade took place in Washington D.C. with more than 8,000 women, demanding a constitutional amendment guaranteeing their right to vote, and in March 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was finally passed in the Senate.
A task force in California then created Women’s History Week, celebrating the accomplishments of women, and with more and more groups celebrating the full week starting on March 8, President Jimmy Carter made the first National Women’s History Week official in 1980.
It was only a matter of time until all states recognized the holiday as an annual federally recognized observance. Congress then declared the entire month of March Women’s History Month in 1987, and each sitting U.S. president since 1995 has issued a yearly proclamation honoring the role of American women in history.
