It’s March again — A.K.A. Women’s History Month, of course!
After a series of unofficial community, school district, and women’s organization celebrations of Women’s History Week, United States President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8, 1980, National Women’s History Week. Later in 1980, the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) was founded in order to persuade Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month. Only seven years later, the event was declared a national holiday. Even today, decades later, Women’s History Month is celebrated in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Even with the success of Women’s History Month and the NWHP, there remains a significant imbalance in how much the public knows about women in history. We all know Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt (who were really cool and did awesome things for America, BTW), but there are dozens more women who deserve recognition.
Here are (just a few of) the women I admire in history:
1. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
While Susan B. Anthony is kind of America’s go-to woman as far as the women’s suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who worked closely with her for decades, was more of a behind-the-scenes kind of girl. She was a prolific writer, co-authoring the Declaration of Sentiments, and she often wrote Anthony’s speeches. In the Declaration of Sentiments, she satirizes the Declaration of Independence, writing: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”
2. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)
In a world where women were discriminated against no matter their talents and abilities, it was difficult for Elizabeth Blackwell to find a medical school that would accept her. But in 1947, Blackwell was accepted to Geneva Medical College under unexpected circumstances. An article by Dr. Howard Markel puts it this way: “Dr. Lee decided to put the matter up to a vote…If one student voted ‘No,’ Lee explained, Miss Blackwell would be barred from admission. Apparently the students thought the request was little more than a silly joke and voted unanimously to let her in.”
Good thing, because Blackwell’s career didn’t end after she earned her doctorate at Geneva and became the first female medical doctor in the United States. She set up a practice in New York City only a year after she graduated and went on to serve patients worldwide. Later in her life, after a career of activism and writing, she established a medical school for women in London.
3. Ella Baker (1903-1986)
Ella Baker dedicated her life to the pursuit of economic and social justice for African Americans and women. She joined the NAACP as field secretary in 1940, and she acted as director of branches for three years. She co-founded In Friendship to combat Jim Crow laws, helped with the organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and worked to grant voting rights to Southern African Americans.
Baker gained even more influence when she helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At this point, she left the SCLC to work with younger students through a philosophy of “nonviolent direct action,” according to the Ella Baker Center. Baker kept up her leadership and activism until her death in 1986.
4. Fe del Mundo (1911-2011)
Unfortunately, the discrimination against women in medical science didn’t end with Elizabeth Blackwell. Fe del Mundo was not the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School, but she was the first to be accepted and to earn a degree.
She was accepted 10 years before Harvard began officially admitting female students to its medical school, but admissions officials didn’t realize her gender until she had actually arrived at the school. After del Mundo arrived back in her native country, the Philippines, in 1941, she devoted her life’s work to pediatrics and helping the poor and underprivileged.
5. Dolores Huerta (born 1930)
Many have heard of César Chávez and his work with farm laborers. Not as many have heard of his friend and colleague, Dolores Huerta, who broke down gender barriers and challenged gender discrimination within the farm workers’ movement. She co-founded the United Farm Workers and founded the Agricultural Workers Association in order to lobby US politicians for migrant workers’ rights. Even at the age of 84, Huerta continues to inspire many and continues to advocate for the rights of working women and children.
I enjoyed learning about these courageous women! Thank you Susannah for sharing their stories!