Women’s History Month Made in the 80’s

Could women’s history exist in the decade of decadence? In the midst of the decade of Reagan could women’s issues advance? Does this matter today? Yes.

The 1970’s

In our Cyndi Lauper article, I said the following about being a woman in the 1970’s.

“According to an article in Ms Magazine in 2013 there were many things women could not do when the 1970s began. This included keeping a job if they were pregnant, report sexual harassment, refuse to have sex with their husband, get a credit card, and have an abortion.”

But there was something that my female classmates could not do in the 70’s. They could not study women’s history. They could not see themselves and their contributions to not only the US, but the world. The topic was virtually unknown in K-12 and even many colleges and universities.

In 1978, the Education Task Force of Sonoma County Commission of the Status of Women would start to change that. Led by a woman named Molly Murphy MacGregor they would create a week of women’s history in the schools. The programs and essays were met by the county with overwhelming positive response. The week ended with a parade in downtown Santa Rosa, California.

In 1979 Molly went to the Women’s History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and spoke of the successes and response to their women’s history week. Others in the symposium would agree to take it to their schools and their communities and end the 70’s with women’s history being explored and celebrated in collaborative cells across America.

The 1980s

In less than 2 years lobbying efforts and national attention to these women’s history weeks would lead to President Jimmy Carter to start off 1980 with a February Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8th as Women’s History Week.

On the heels of this Democratic Representative Barbara Mikulski and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch co sponsored the Congregational Resolution for National Women’s History Week in 1981 with strong bi-partisan support.

State school boards in MD, PA, NY, OR, and AK jumped in quickly. Suddenly, children in school districts across America were learning about women in history. Most of them for the first time. But there came a dark side to that. Every year lobbying efforts had to fight for the declaration to continue. But the movement was growing.

1986 and 1987

By 1986 14 States had declared March to be National Women’s History Month with significant programs added to K-12 curriculums. This momentum could no longer be ignored by Washington. So in 1987 congress declared that Women’s History Month was March in perpetuity! There was no longer a need to fight for an annual declaration for a week, women’s history had a month.

Children now had Amelia Earhart, Jane Adams, Rosa Parks, Nellie Bly, Harriet Tubman, Maya Angelou, Eleanor Roosevelt, and so many more as part of their education. Women of history were in history books and being taught in all 50 states.

Impact Today

I wish I could tell you that we now have utopia where all women are equal. That is not our reality. Things have gotten much better, but they have also gotten worse in the wake of the Dobbs decision and states like Texas and Florida removing important content from school libraries and school curriculum.

However, the information is still out there and 3 generations have been raised with knowing the women I have already listed along with ones that were current news when I was in school. While groups try to reverse women’s rights and remove them from history once again, the roadmap to fight for equality has already been written. New chapters can, and will, be written by Millennials, Z, and the upcoming Gen Alpha. And Gen X? Many of us have some ramping up to do and a little more social evolution, but we can get in that fight. We know survival and we are scrappy and resourceful. As we learn from the younger generations we can offer them what we know as living history fighting for a better today and tomorrow.

Problems Today

In 2023 I asked a lot of my friends one simple question.

What is this year’s theme for Women’s History Month? Most could not tell me it was “Celebrating Women Who Tell Stories.” It is a shame. They missed out on great content that included stories of then and now of women in print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more.

This year’s theme is “Advocates for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” If there was ever a month to pay attention to, this is the one.

Importance of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Women’s History Month

As recently as 2016’s Women’s March movement, we saw a lot of problems of the tension of racial integration being resisted. There were not only racist elements that have plagued the movement for over a century now, we also have transphobia. A case can be made that trans rights are critical to women’s rights.

When we eliminate black women and other women of color and trans people from this fight, we embrace gender stereotypes and other tropes that further subjugate and undermine the rights of all women.

To know that this year we have an opportunity to learn about the women of history and now that are fighting for intersection, each other, and others will bring us further into third wave feminism and intersection. We might be able to use these lessons to change the dystopian reality in front of us before it is too late.

I am a man. But I am also a feminist. I will never apologize about that. My adult child is Trans. I will never apologize for affirming and accepting my child. I live in a racially diverse neighborhood. My neighbors are my friends. They live a different reality than I do. I want the people I love to have a reality that is not threatened daily. I will never apologize for loving them and seeing them as what they are, my peers and equals.

In this online column we celebrate women every Friday. Every Friday I can expect at least 2 private messages from white men who do not like that I am celebrating women. Additionally, I will get at least one complaint that I am celebrating some women who are queer or sexually empowered.

But there are women and trans people who are reading these stories and finding inspiration, hope, and identity. A few upset people is a small price to pay for the rewards.

To be clear. I am not a hero. I am just a guy telling stories about people I know and others that I admire.

When I write about Joan Jett, I am also writing about a woman named Sarah. When I write about Madonna I am also writing about a woman named Heather. The same is true of my writing about Molly Ringwald, I am also writing about a woman named Dawn.

I wrote these stories in February knowing March was coming. I set the stage of telling the stories of women I knew in my youth who exposed me to women of history that inspired them. Those inspirations served to inspire amazing women who inspired me and I somehow inspired others just telling you about them.

When I write about women. I am writing about you, me, and all of us. We need the strong women of history and now to have a better today and a better tomorrow. Not all the amazing women are in history books or the news. They are in classrooms, offices, and all sorts of other spaces. For many of you, the important women making history and a better world are in the mirror.

If you liked this article, you may like the cover story we did on feminism and Cyndi Lauper.

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