March is Women's History Month! The annual celebration of women's history first began when then President Jimmy Carter designated the week of March 2-8, 1980 as Women's History Week. He said at the time that the "achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well." In 1987, the U.S. Congress officially designated March as Women's History Month.
Here are five women, from across eras, who are notable for their contributions to U.S. and world history and deserve to be celebrated all year. Read their biographies below to learn more about the portrayal of women in U.S. history textbooks and social studies standards, as well as to find more resources you can use to celebrate in your classroom.
Five Women Who Made an Impact in History
1. Mary Church Terrell: Civil Rights Activist
Mary Church Terrell was an American civil rights activist and one of the first African American women to earn both a Bachelors and Masters degree in the United States. The daughter of former slaves, Terrell was one of the first anti-lynching advocates and a supporter of the women's suffrage movement. She was also one of the founders of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Resource: Mary Church Terrell | Unladylike2020 for Grades 6-12
2. Jovita Idar: Mexican-American Journalist
Jovita Idar was a Mexican-American journalist, nurse, and civil rights activist. Growing up as in Texas, Idar witnessed segregation, lynching, and various other injustices against Mexican-Americans and other people of color. Using journalism as a form of activism, she publicly tackled some of the toughest subjects such as racism, inequality, and educational deficits in schools such as the lack of bilingual education at this time.
Resource: Jovita Idar | Unladylike2020 for Grades 6-12
3. Susan B. Anthony: American Women's Rights Activist
Susan B. Anthony was an American women's rights pioneer and activist. At the start of Anthony's career as an activist, women's rights were almost non-existent. By being resilient, focused, and dedicated to her beliefs, Anthony converted several others to the cause. Anthony played a key role in the start and success of the women's suffrage movement. This movement was a decade-long struggle that ultimate resulted in women gaining the right to vote in the United States.
Resource: Susan B. Anthony's Genius for Grades 6-12
4. Malala Yousavzai: 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Activist
From a young age, Malala saw herself as an advocate for girls’ education. She gave speeches and blogged about her own experiences living under constant threats to her education from the Taliban. In 2012, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she was traveling home from school. After surviving the attack, she continued to advocate for education and women’s rights. Malala Yousavzai made headlines as the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Resource: Malala for Grades 6-12
5. Dolores Huerta: Activist, Labor Leader
Dolores Huerta worked to improve social and economic conditions for farm workers while also fighting against discrimination. Having grown up as the daughter of immigrant farm workers, Huerta had experienced firsthand many of the issues she has stood up against. She started the Agricultural Workers Association in 1960 which eventually combined with the National Farm Workers Association and became the United Farm Workers.
Resource: Dolores Huerta Reader | Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum for Grades K-2
For more stories of amazing, lesser known yet influential women who shaped U.S. history, check out these classroom resources collections on PBS LearningMedia:
- Teaching Women's SuffrageCollection for Grades 3-12
- RebelGirlsCollection for Grades 9-12
- Unladylike2020 Collection for Grades 6-12
Learn More About the Portrayal of Women in History Books
In 1973, Janice Law Trecker conducted a study assessing how women were being portrayed in U.S high school history textbooks. The article, "Women in U.S. History High School Textbooks," highlights the results of that study. The study focused on female representation during colonial and revolutionary times, education, the women’s rights movement and suffrage, reform movements, abolition and the Civil War, labor, the frontier, both World Wars, family patterns, intellectual and cultural trends, as well as the current for the study — 1970s — position of women in society.
Her analysis found that at the time, textbooks not only omitted many women in history, but they downplayed the adversities they faced based on their social, legal, and cultural differences. Her research noted that efforts had been made to increase Black History content, yet it mostly focused on the achievements of black men. Trecker’s call to action: a new attitude that “breaks away from the bias of traditional views of women and their `place’, and attempts to treat both women and men as partners in their society.”
A little over a decade later, in 1986, Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault published a follow-up article, "Integrating Women’s History: The Case of United States History High School Textbooks," which served as a report card on the status of women’s representation in U.S. history textbooks published since 1979 in response to Trecker’s call to action.
Revising incomplete and stereotypical history
Tetreault observed that attempts had been made since the 1970s to right the picture of women in history, yet what had been added to textbooks was more of a supplement to history instead of integrating with history. Additionally, she found that “copy and visuals which can be properly categorized as women’s or relational history [were] miniscule.” Ultimately, Tetrault stated that in order to assist women to think of their own situations in history, our textbooks must be rid of stereotypical thinking.
What changes have occurred over the decades?
Fast forward three decades. The National Women’s History Museum released "A Report on the Status of Women in the United States Social Studies Standards" in 2017. Scholars from the National Women’s History Museum analyzed standards from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. The goal was to understand how women’s history is being characterized and to identify if women are being excluded in the standards’ framework. After all, the report notes, textbook companies rely on state standards when creating and developing content.
The National Women’s History Museum’s report found that standards prioritize women for national or regional accomplishments, further emphasizing the importance of leadership. State standards address a small sample of topics and groups. Standards overemphasize women’s domestic roles and do not reflect current trends or ideals in society and education. When looking at women referenced in History standards, 63% of women are White, 25% are African American, 8% are Hispanic, 4% Native American/Alaska Native, and less than 1% of Asian American or Pacific Islander race, which only highlights one individual from Hawaii.
The report stresses that while women might not be mentioned within a standard, that does not mean they must be excluded. Educators should include women and their experiences into their curriculum while meeting the standard’s goals. Overall, the National Women’s History Museum’s hope is that “this report will inspire teachers, scholars, students, and parents to examine the ways in which women’s historical experiences are presented in classrooms.”
