Welcome to Women’s History Month: here’s how to honor it
Oh frabjous day, callooh, callay it’s here, Women’s History Month 2015! The month has been going strong since 1995, and was actually expanded from “Women’s History Week,” which had been in effect since 1981, because HOW are you supposed to fit all the amazing women of history into one tiny week, it CAN’T BE DONE. As both a feminist and a holiday lover, I’m obsessed with Women’s History Month, because it’s basically a MONTH-LONG HOLIDAY ALL ABOUT FEMINISM. All of March, I have confetti cannons going off in my heart.
So how do we celebrate the women who have made our world great? This month, consider any/all of the following as completely valid ways to celebrate the ladies of the past, present, and future.
Consume art made by women
Read books by women. Watch films directed by women and television run by women. Go to exhibitions celebrating female artists. Women have been making incredible art for centuries, and we’re now living in a golden age of women’s art. So think about getting yourself on a lady-only-artist diet for March. You will consume ALL the greatness.
Shadow a woman you know who has a job you think is awesome
On your day off, play “Take Your Daughter To Work Day” with a relative or a friend. There is a woman in your life whose job you think is super-awesome (and may even be a career option for you at some point). So ask your police aunt if you can do a ride-along in the next few weeks, or your friend who’s shooting a film if you can shadow her for a day on set.
Volunteer for an organization that helps women
There are SO many organizations every day working to better the lives of women. You can take a weekly shift just for this month at a women’s shelter, or use your social media platform to promote a women’s health cause you believe in, or find a young woman who wants to do what you do and take her to lunch and be a mentor! If you’re like me, volunteering always feels like that thing you don’t have any time for, and then you MAKE time, and you’re so glad you did because giving back is literally the best thing ever and I promise I’m using the word “literally” correctly.
Wikipedia one history-making woman every day this month
I mean, yeah, I know who Cleopatra and Amelia Earhart WERE, I have maybe one or two facts from elementary school about them somewhere in my brain, but a lot of that elementary school knowledge is dusty as heck (as in, please don’t hold a gun to my head and ask me to name all the state capitols). So take five minutes every day this month, Google a famous lady you’re a little rusty on, and get yourself some knowledge!
Check out this incredible archive on Women’s History Month’s Flickr page.
From early women suffragettes to the working women of America during WWII, and from famous women captured just doing their thing to pamphlets and documents urging equality for all, the official Women’s’ History Month photo archives are worthy of falling down the rabbit hole. Need more proof? Here’s a preview of some cool photos we found:
Yeah, that’s just a sample. Go forth and deep dive. Women’s history is awesome, fascinating and endlessly inspiring in the continued fight for equality.