Celebrate Women’s History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month

We honor and celebrate the women who have achieved great things throughout American history during Women’s History Month each March.

The History of Women’s History Month

1908: 15,000 female garment workers march through New York campaigning for change.
1909: The first Women’s History Day took place on February 28, the one-year anniversary of the strikes.
1911: International Women’s Day is honored for the first time on March 19.
1914: March 8 is designated as International Women’s Day—and it’s remained the same date ever since.
1980: President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the week of March 8 to be the first National Women’s History Week.
1987: The National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to celebrate Women’s History Month throughout the month of March.
1995 to today: Each president has issued a proclamation designating March as Women’s History Month.

Female Energy Pioneers

•    Hazel R. O’Leary: The first female and first African American to lead the U.S. Department of Energy. She helped commercialize energy-efficient appliances and increased funding for research in renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.
•    Maria Telkes: A chemist and physicist known as the “Sun Queen.” She invented a solar distiller that turned seawater into drinkable water and helped design the world’s first modern residence heated with solar energy.
•    Beatrice A. Hicks: Pioneered the development of sensors in heating and cooling systems. She also developed a gas density switch used in the Apollo space program.
•    Edith Clarke: The first professionally employed female electrical engineer. She created the Clarke Calculator, which is a graphical device used to simplify the equations used to understand power lines.

Did You Know?

•    The Wyoming territory was the first place to give women the right to vote in 1869.
•    The U.S., United Kingdom and Australia celebrate Women’s History Month in March. Canada celebrates in October. 
•    The 19th Amendment (1920) excluded Native American, Black, Asian American and Latinx women from voting. It took more than 50 years for them all to gain voting rights.

Use #WomensHistoryMonth on social media to share stories of inspiring women in your life and celebrate and uplift women worldwide.