(Updated) 6 Articles to Read: To Enhance Your Knowledge of Women’s History and Gender Inequality
(Updated) 6 Articles to Read:
To Enhance Your Knowledge of Women’s History and Gender Inequality
by: Aria Spears
March is Women’s History Month! Women’s History Month began in 1987. It is a dedicated month to celebrate the often-overlooked contributions of women to United States history. Here are six articles to enhance your knowledge of women’s history.
1. WOMEN’S HISTORY MILESTONES
Women’s history is full of trailblazers in the fight for equality in the United States. From Abigail Adams imploring her husband to “remember the ladies” when envisioning a government for the American colonies, to suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fighting for women's right to vote. Women blazed trails with the rise of feminism and Hillary Clinton becoming the first female nominee for president by a major political party. American women have long fought for equal footing throughout the nation’s history.
Bonus: Watch a Women’s History Documentary
2. FEMINISM’S LONG HISTORY
Feminism, a belief in the political, economic and cultural equality of women, has roots in the earliest eras of human civilization. It is typically separated into three waves: first wave feminism, dealing with property rights and the right to vote; second wave feminism, focusing on equality and anti-discrimination, and third wave feminism, which started in the 1990s as a backlash to the second wave’s perceived prioritizing of white, straight women. This wave seeks to center the experiences of women of color and other underrepresented minorities. The movement has also evolved since the 2010’s to include #MeToo.
3. WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. Starting in the 1820s and 1830s, It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. But on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
4. THE SURPRISING HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Internationally celebrated International Women’s Day has controversial origins. Today, it is a holiday celebrated in over 100 countries around the world, but it started with a socialist group in the United States in 1909. Socialist and communist countries such as Russia and China were the first to catch on to the holiday celebration, but today it is a widely celebrated event.
5. TOP 11 FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS TO WATCH OUT FOR in 2023
LA Weekly shares the top ten women entrepreneurs in the United States making waves in the world of business in 2023. They come from a variety of industries and backgrounds, but all are inspiring examples of the contributions of women.
6. ECONOMIC INEQUALITY BY GENDER
In this entry we present data and research on economic inequalities between men and women. Whenever the data allows it, we also discuss how these inequalities have been changing over time.
As we show, although economic gender inequalities remain common and large, they are today smaller than they used to be some decades ago.
Education about gender inequality is not only for the four walls of your school! Take it upon yourself to learn and educate yourself on the events that may not be covered in the classroom. Women’s history is not only for March but every month. Emphasizing the contributions of women through history can help inspire the young women of today to reach for more and expand the possibilities of what they could accomplish. Celebrate the women in your life and those leading in our country!