March is Women's History Month, and, in celebration, we have set up a display to the right of the circulation desk across from the new fiction. This observance is relatively new. In fact, it is younger than I am (not much younger, though). In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (CA) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a "Women's History Week” during March. The response to the program was positive and prompted schools throughout the state to plan Women's History Week celebrations. The idea spread to the East a year later when a member of one of the planning groups attended the Women’s History Institutes at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) co-sponsored a Joint Congressional Resolution to declare a national Women's History Week. The next few years saw school systems across the country develop curriculums for Women's History Week. Educators considered it "an effective means to achieving equity goals within classrooms." The National Women's History Project petitioned Congress in 1987 to expand the week to a month, and since that year, the National Women's History Month Resolution has passed in both the House and Senate.
Why is women's history important? Women's history gives us a more complete understanding of America's past. Women after all, comprise half of the country's population. Long before the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, women's efforts and experiences affected political, cultural, and social history.
You can learn more about Women's History Month by visiting the National Women's History Project's website. The next time you are at the library, be sure to take a look at the Women's History Month display. All of these books are in circulation; however, you don’t have to limit yourself to these titles. Search the catalog for even more books about women’s history, issues, and notable women. Doing a search for “women biography” returns hundres of results! That’s a few too many to scroll through, but if you have a particular subject in mind, add it to the search. You’re bound to find stories about women sportswriters, war correspondents, athletes, activists, politicians, professionals, entertainers, reformers, and much more.
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