The Eyrie - Volume 42, Issue 4 - March 2023

Women’s History has been celebrated since 1987. It was originally only a week long until President Jimmy Carter changed it to the whole month of March. This month was entitled to honor and acknowledge the contributions of those women who sacrificed their lives and reputation to make today a place where everyone is looked at as equals.

Rosa Parks

One of the more well known women who helped change history was Rosa Parks. She changed history for many

reasons and was a crucial part in the making of women’s rights and African American rights.

According to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks was the “mother of the civil right movement”. In 1955, she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, that action alone changed history. She became an instant icon and it hasstayed that way throughout history.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ginsburg is someone who spent her life fighting against gender discrimination. She died in 2020 due to metastatic pancreatic cancer, she was 87 years old. Ginsburg was a supreme court justice for the United States. She also founded the Women’s Rights Project when she was a lawyer. She fought for protections against gender discrimination in the high court.

Sarah Josepha Hale

She is someone who is not very known but still did so much.

According to the Women’s National History Musem, in 1837, she became the editor of a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book. She raised money to preserve Mount Vernon by holding one of the first craft fairs, all the crafts were made by women. Women couldn’t donate back then so she decided to do the craft fair so they could participate. She used her platform as editor to bring notice to women’s education, abolishing slavery and even colonization. Hale was criticized for her stances on gender roles. She encouraged many women in her career to focus on the domestic side of things when writing.

The History in Schools

The history books may bury some of the important aspects that women are a part of. The books brush over some of the important women, so there is less class time talking about what some women have done in history.

“[Classes] should highlight more important women throughout history,” senior McKinley Martin said. “I feel like a lot of times they get buried, and we just hear about the men’s perspective.”

There have been many women throughout history who have been overlooked by the men who stand in front of them. Some women help the men who stand in front of them, yet, they don’t get mentioned.

“Without Martha Washington buying a commission [his military rank] for George,” Kim Wahaus said. “He would never have been in the military.”

Women make up most of society and it has been explained that they are also more inclined to participate in society more than men. Yet, they are still overlooked, even after what they do for the world around them.

“Women are fifty-one percent of society,” Kim Wahaus said. “They vote more. They purchase more, and they educate more than men do, yet we leave them out of the story. So when we have a month to recognize a group of people who have been systematically subjugated we take that time to celebrate it.”

Learning about the history of things is important so that you know what truly happened and the work that went into making something happen.

“It’s really important to understand the work that people put into making change,”

Jennifer Schlicht said.

“ Eleanor Roosevelt was basically the brains behind her husband’s presidency, but she didn’t get recognized for that because she couldn’t run for president,” Schlicht said.

Women would not be elected as president because society put the stereotype that women are too emotional. Society didn’t believe that women could run a household let alone a country.

“People think women are too emotional, but how many women have started wars?” Schlicht said.

The Role Models

Women now are changing the lives of teen girls around them. Having major business roles and showing what girls can do when they are older is inspirational.

“My mom’s best friend is the vice president of Hallmark,” senior Kate Widdler said. “She’s a role model in my life because she has shown me what a woman in business can do, and she’s had people underestimating her entire life and she’s proven that she can handle it.”

The family that girls have around them can build them into the people that they will become. Family is a built-in role model of how you start shaping your life.

“I grew up with a mom who owns her own business, and a sister who has shattered the glass ceiling in every way that you can possibly imagine,” Wahaus said. “My sister is vice president of customer relations and all content media for AMC theaters worldwide.”

The women who have taught valuable lessons need to be recognized so that women worldwide can start being recognized for what they are doing to lives around them. The lessons we learn make us who we are.

“My best friend… taught me to never be afraid of being smart,” Wahaus said. “As girls, we tend to dumb ourselves down to fit in. She’s also taught me how to reinvent yourself when you need to.” Even if you grow up in a traditional house, there could still be some-

one who you look up to. Modeling your life after someone’s accomplishments is something that many people do.

“My grandmother… She would travel a lot by herself. Wherever she went, she didn’t need a bunch of people to go with her, and she was pretty independent,” Schlicht said. “She told me that, you’re smart enough you don’t need a man to take care of you. You don’t have to get married if you don’t want to.”

The Political Party

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns started the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage in 1913. According to Bratanica, his union was also associated with the National American Women’s Suffrage Association.

The union and association fell in 1914 due to their tactics. They tried to make the suffrage work be on the federal level and not the state and local level, and that led to the fall out.

However, in 1916 Paul and Burns changed the name of the group and their tactics. Changing the name to “The National Women’s Political Party,’’ they began to have direct confrontation with the problem of unequal rights. Their work didn’t go unrecognized, because on March 22, 1972 the equal rights amendment was

passed, so there was legal equality for all sexes.

So many women worked to make a change in the future so girls and women today can grow up in a place that is welcoming to them. Recognizing those women is the whole reason for this month, to look at what they did and sacrificed for the people of today.

“That’s why we have [a month], to celebrate the people who helped make history in our country,” Wahaus said. “To uplift and empower those stories.” e