women's history month essay examples

Write Your Way Through Women’s History Month: 62 Inspiring Journal Prompts

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on Published: October 13, 2022  - Last updated: December 26, 2023

Categories Writing , Creativity , History , Inspiration , Society

March is Women’s History Month, and what better way to celebrate than by writing your way through it?

These 62 journal prompts will inspire you to explore the accomplishments of women throughout history, reflect on your own experiences as a woman, and more.

Whether you’re a student looking for essay ideas or want to do some personal reflection, these prompts will get you thinking about women in a new light. Happy writing!

62 Women’s History Month Journal Prompts

• What is your favorite thing about being a woman?
• What are the biggest challenges you face as a woman?
• What’s the purpose of Women’s Month?
• What do you like best about Women’s History Month?
• What’s your favorite way to celebrate Women’s History Month?
• Who’s the most famous woman in history?
• What are the colors for Women’s History Month?
• Why is Women’s History Month in March?
• How do you talk about Women’s History Month at work?
• What aspect of women’s history do you find most interesting?
• Why do you think it’s essential to learn about women’s history?
• What do you think is the most critical issue facing women today? Why is this important to you?
• Do you sometimes feel you aren’t taken seriously as a woman in this society? If so, why?
• What do you think are the biggest challenges to gender identity?
• Do you think we can achieve gender equality by 2030? Why or why not?
• Why is it important for women to learn more about their health and mental health?
• Do you think women are treated fairly in today’s society? Why or why not?
• What influences have contributed to your attitudes and beliefs about women and your place in the world?
• What are some good questions to ask about women’s rights?
• What obstacles do women face when pursuing their dreams and goals in today’s society? Do these obstacles affect men as well? If so, how?
• What makes you feel empowered as a woman?
• What do you think we can do to make girls and women feel empowered today?
• What’s been your biggest accomplishment so far?
• What’s the best piece of advice an inspiring woman has given you?
• Who inspires you to be a better person? How do they inspire you?
• What significant contribution have women made to your world?
• Who’d it be, and why would you have to pick one influential woman from history to meet?
• What other groups can women work with to promote equality in your world?
• If you could meet an influential African American woman, who’d you choose and why?
• Do you think men and women are inherently different from each other?
• What do you think are the four qualities women should have and 4 qualities men should have?
• Why is the right to vote so important?
• How is Women’s History Month celebrated in schools?
• What women-led organization do you think should be more well-known than it is? Why do you think it should be better known?
• What was it like to be a woman in the 1920s?
• How has being a woman changed over time?
• How can we encourage more women in the sciences?
• What do you think about the idea of “equal opportunity”? Is it possible? Why or why not?
• What do you think about the #MeToo movement?
• What do you think about the Women’s March?
• How does our current political climate affect women’s rights around the world?
• What do you think about the recent Supreme Court decision that states cannot ban abortion?
• If you could abolish one law restricting women, what would it be and why?
• Describe how your gender has affected your life and career choices.
• What common misconception about women’s history would you like to correct?
• What’s one of your favorite stories about an inspiring woman from history?
• How do you think changing our understanding of women’s history can help us create a better future for ourselves and our communities?
• How can you use your creative writing skills or influence to help other girls and women learn about their history?
• How has your mother or grandmother inspired you?
• What are your favorite books, movies, or shows (TV) that feature strong female characters?
• What can men do to help in the fight for gender equality?
• How would you like to inspire the next generation of women?
• What do you think of hearing the term “women’s issues”? Which of these are most important to you personally and why?
• What would you say to young girls today who are struggling with their gender identity and self-esteem?
• What’s your favorite work of art by a famous woman, and why?
• What are your favorite books by women authors? Why do these books mean so much to you?
• How would your life change if there were more women in power today?
• What do you think is the most important thing women should know about each other?
• What would it be if you could tell the world one thing about women?
• What was it like to be a woman growing up in your family or community?
• How would society change over the years (art, literature, science) without the contributions of women?
• Write down a short story about an influential woman who changed the world.

The History of Women Is an Opportunity to Learn About the World

Women have made a difference in the world for millennia in the United States and worldwide, but their accomplishments have often been overlooked or overshadowed by men. Since our society has become more inclusive and knows how important women are, we pay more attention to their contributions and accomplishments.

Women’s History Month is an opportunity to learn about the past, the present, and the future. It’s not just about women but also about rights in the United States , as with Black History Month or National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Women’s history month is here to teach people that there are many men and women who have fought for equality and justice in society. It also reminds us that in some communities, we still have a long way to go before women have the same rights and opportunities as men.

Women have always played an important role in our world, but their contributions are often overlooked or ignored. Women’s history is an opportunity to learn about these inspiring women and their accomplishments.

Women’s history is an opportunity to learn because it helps us understand what makes us human and our biggest challenges as a society. It helps us understand how we got here and where we’re going next.

Women’s History Can Be Taught in a Variety of Ways

Women’s history can be taught through books, films, museums, and exhibitions. However, the best way to convey women’s history is through personal stories.

When teaching women’s history, it’s important to use various resources, such as written materials, films, and television shows, museums and exhibits, and personal stories from people with different backgrounds, to reach different audiences with different interests and needs.

A museum or exhibit is a good starting point for teaching about women’s history because it allows people to experience the topic firsthand by interacting with objects related to the topic being studied so they can form their own opinions about what they see. This type of lesson is especially appropriate for student groups who are visual learners because they’re seeing objects, not just reading about them in a book or on a screen.

Another way to teach women’s history is to invite guest speakers into the classroom. They can come and talk about their experiences to show what life was like for women in different times and places. This helps students understand how different things were for different groups of people depending on where they lived and their times. It also helps them understand how important each group was to society as a whole, even if they were sometimes treated differently than other groups of people.

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The History of Women’s Heritage Month Essay

Every March of every year is known in the United States as the Women’s Heritage Month (WHM), also referred to as Women’s History Month. During this month, many events and celebrations take place to honor women’s contributions to the history and development of the country. However, what today is considered a tradition was not always treated this way. Although almost every person had a woman in their life to whom they could regard highly in their time of need, the country-wide acknowledgment still required a lot of work. WHM is a result of countless women’s hardships and devotion from the beginning of the 20th century – they steadily fought for the right to be acknowledged and rightfully deserved it.

The WHM history begins with a single demonstration that had no precedent at that time. On February 23, 1909, women of New York City marched through the streets demanding the improvement of work conditions and vote rights (Gordon, 2019). Their example launched the first wave of feminism in the U.S. and motivated women in other parts of the world. As a result, at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, Women’s Day was pronounced international (Gordon, 2019). The first International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated on March 19, 1911, in U.S. and Europe. The wave of feminism lasted until the women’s right to vote was achieved and receded shortly after, but it managed to lay a foundation for the future steps.

The WHM history continues in the second half of the 20th century. The IWD was revived during the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, coinciding with the gradual ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (Gordon, 2019). Moreover, with the help of feminist activists, the Women’s History Week (WHW) concept was initiated by California’s Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women in 1978 (Gordon, 2019). Together with the Sarah Lawrence College’s Women’s History Institute, California’s Commission on the Status of Women managed to transfer the matter of WHW to the U.S. Congress. Consequently, in 1980 the WHW was declared officially, only to be prolonged to a month in 1987 (Gordon, 2019). Overall, WHM went hand in hand with the women’s emancipation, and it is in their close connection where the WHM’s significance and importance lie.

Although I value history greatly, I never needed its help to acknowledge WHM because I already had a perfect reason right in front of my eyes – my mother. She always inspired me with her unbreakable will, which she preserved even in the most challenging times. For six years, she managed to take care of three children all by herself. During that time, she got into a traffic accident and could not walk for some time. Nevertheless, she knew the children needed her, so she pushed herself beyond limits so that she could walk again. When she could finally come back to work, another tragedy happened at her workplace that almost took away her life. Despite that, she never forgot her duty as a mother; she managed to recover against all odds. She inspired me never to give up and fight for everything I want in life. She taught me, by her example, that even the impossible is possible.

WHM’s history is a history of a struggle for the greater purpose; that is why its celebration and remembrance are so significant. On all possible scales – from a single mother caring for her children to all women across the globe – they showed their strength, defended their rights, and the world acknowledged it. Therefore, it seems only fitting to pay respect and show gratitude for every feat they accomplished.

Gordon, H. R. (2019). Women’s History Month. In Gelsthorpe, L., Bernat, F. P. & Frailing, K. (Eds.)., The Encyclopedia of Women and Crime , John Wiley & Sons.

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IvyPanda. (2023, March 8). The History of Women’s Heritage Month. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-history-of-womens-heritage-month/

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1. IvyPanda . "The History of Women’s Heritage Month." March 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-history-of-womens-heritage-month/.

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IvyPanda . "The History of Women’s Heritage Month." March 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-history-of-womens-heritage-month/.

60 Writing Prompts About Women’s History Month

March is National Women’s History Month—a time to celebrate women and their accomplishments (big and small) that have shaped the world we live in.

Use the prompts below to celebrate and commemorate the important women in your life, your classroom, and your textbooks!

Using This Guide

Just as there is no wrong way to fight for equality, there is also no wrong way to use this guide.

But if you need some help getting started, try one of these ideas:

• Add up the number of letters in the name of your favorite actress. Use that number to pick your prompt.
• Ask your teacher or librarian which prompt they think you’d be most interested in.
• Scroll through the list and pick the first prompt that stands out.

Let’s Get Writing!

• Why do we need an entire month dedicated to women’s history?
• Who is your favorite woman athlete? Why?
• Write a letter to the most influential woman in your life.
• If you could meet one influential woman from history, who would it be?
• Do you think our country will have a woman president in the next decade?
• Why do you think we haven’t had a woman president yet?
• What does it mean to be a feminist?
• Research one woman in STEM, and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• How can you be a better advocate for women’s rights?
• What’s the most important thing you’ve learned during Women’s History Month?
• Think of the women in your family. What are some qualities that you hope to learn from them?
• Do you think the media puts unfair expectations on women and girls?
• Write a poem about feminism using the following words: work, claim, yes, foot
• Think of three women today who you think will be influential in history. What will they accomplish?
• Who is your favorite actress? Why?
• Research one woman in art history, and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why?
• Do you think that society puts too much pressure on gender roles?
• Write an acrostic poem using the word “WOMEN”.
• Do you think school dress codes wrongly target girls?
• Research one Nobel Prize-winning woman, and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• How can you show respect to the women in your life?
• Do you think sports should be segregated by gender? Why?
• Who is your favorite female book character? Why?
• Have you ever witnessed gender inequality or bias? How did it make you feel?
• Think of a friend who identifies as a girl. How can you help ensure that she is treated equally?
• What do you think the U.S. would be like if women still couldn’t vote?
• Research your favorite female author and write 3-5 paragraphs about her life.
• Do you think there are any real differences between men, women, and non-binary individuals?
• What are some stereotypes people have about women?
• Why do you think women get paid less than men? When do you think this will change?
• What is the most important thing you’ve learned from a woman?
• Research a woman in politics and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• Who is your favorite female singer or performer? Why?
• Pick an important woman in history and write an acrostic poem about her.
• Research a local woman-owned business. Write an advertisement or commercial for their business.
• Historically, women have always been paid less than men in the same job. Why do you think this is?
• Pick a woman from recent history (1950 – present), and write a journal entry from her point of view.
• Do you have a favorite female streamer? What is it about her content that you enjoy?
• Write a letter to your favorite woman teacher, thanking her for something she taught you.
• Why is feminism sometimes viewed as a negative thing?
• Research an LGBT+ feminist icon and write 3-5 paragraphs about their accomplishments.
• Write a story about a girl, using the following words: strong, lift, great, time
• Who is your favorite feminist icon? Why?
• Write about a time when you saw two women supporting each other.
• What achievement(s) made by feminists in history are you most grateful for? Why?
• What do you think is the biggest challenge that women and girls face today?
• Why do you think toys are still sold by gender in many places?
• Pick an indigenous woman in history, and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• Do you think athletes in women’s sports should be paid the same as athletes in men’s sports?
• Helen Keller is best known for being an author and advocate, despite being born deaf and blind. Research another disabled woman in history and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• What is your favorite story told by your mother or grandmother about their childhood?
• Why do you think society still separates boys and girls, despite years of feminism and the fight for equality?
• What do you think is the hardest thing about being a woman today?
• Pick a Black woman in history and write 3-5 paragraphs about her accomplishments.
• Should careers that hire mostly women hire more men?
• Should careers that hire mostly men hire more women?
• Locate your birthday on this list , and write about an event that took place on that day in history.
• Do you agree or disagree with this quote: “ A lack of equality harms everyone” ?
• Do you think adult feminists have an obligation to be good role models for young feminists? Why?

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By Kelly Gorski

History looks different when the contributions of women are included." The National Women's History Project

Although women have been shaping human history since the dawn of civilization, the concept of Women's History Month has its roots firmly implanted in the date March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories protested untenable working conditions. As recently as the 1970s, the influence of women in history was a virtually nonexistent topic in public school curricula or even an element within general public consciousness and discourse. To address this situation, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women recognized "Women's History Week" during one week in March in 1978. In 1981 Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) cosponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women's History Week. In 1987 Congress expanded the celebration to a month, and March was declared Women's History Month.

Did You Know?

Sometimes questions are more important than answers." Nancy Willard

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey:

• Thirty-seven percent of women sixteen or older are employed in managerial, professional, and other related positions, compared with thirty-one percent of men.
• Revenue for women-owned businesses in 2002 reached more than $939 billion—fifteen percent higher than 1997.
• There were 116,985 women-owned firms with receipts of $1 million or more.
• The median annual earning of women sixteen or older who worked year-round was $32,168 in 2005.
• Women earned seventy-seven cents for every dollar earned by men in similar career positions.

The ever-changing socio-political climate of the sixties caused women to question their invisibility in traditional American history texts, public school curricula, and even social discourse. During the sixties, the aspirations of and the opportunities for women were broadened and produced a growing number of female actors, athletes, artists, scientists, educators, and historians.

Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, one of the early women's historians, stated, "[W]ithout question, our first inspiration was political. Aroused by feminist charges of economic and political discrimination . . . we turned to our history to trace the origins of women's second-class status."

Throughout history, women have made significant contributions to every discipline and all other areas of life. Women have influenced our culture and the progression of literature, photography, music, math, science, research, and so much more. The originality, beauty, endurance, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women's lives have shaped our collective history, and all of this must be written back into it.

How Can We Teach It?

It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union." Susan B. Anthony

There are several things you can do with your students in the classroom to celebrate Women's History Month and the role deaf women played in particular:

• Have a motivational speaker who is involved with women's rights and privileges come speak to your classroom or to your school.
• Ask your students and other teachers to have their students participate with your class in writing essays or poems related to Women's History Month.
• Ask your students to nominate their favorite historical or contemporary female figure and explain what made them choose those particular people.
• Write a press release about your observance of Women's History Month.
• Ask your students to think of a clever angle to capture the media's attention.
• Delve into history and explore the impacts women have made, like Susan B. Anthony, Joan of Arc, Clara Barton, Cleopatra, and Sojourner Truth; and then review modern women and their influences, such as Maya Angelou, the late Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, Julia Gillard, Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Gloria Steinman, Margaret Thatcher, and Naomi Wolf.
• Focus specifically on women who are deaf who overcame various obstacles unique to deaf women and succeeded: Kitty O'Neal, the world's fastest woman; Claudia Gordon, a successful lawyer; Marlee Matlin, a brilliant actress; Heather Whitestone, the 1995 Miss America; and Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a scientist.
• Have your students watch any of the DCMP titles listed below; these are sure to incite some healthy discussion.

A woman is like a tea bag—only in hot water do you realize how strong she is." Eleanor Roosevelt

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) has titles in its collection that promote recognition of women's historical accomplishments, and education regarding how women can further themselves through research, education, and advocacy.

The series Women First and Foremost: Volumes One-Three tells the story of courageous American women, their place in history, and selected individual accomplishments. Volume one includes women's impact on medicine, literature, and abolition.

The series Career Options for Women profiles many women in various career fields, and remarks from coworkers and supervisors provide additional layers to the description of all the jobs that are highlighted.

The title Bloomers to Ballot details how women had to go against the church, their fathers and husbands, and society's expectations to gain the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement in Wyoming and Colorado during 1870-1896 is emphasized.

You may also want your class to read Harry Lang's article Finding Deaf Herstory and History: Resources for the Classroom , which is about Edmund Booth, a deaf forty-niner, and Laura Redden Searing, a deaf poet and Civil War journalist. Lang, a professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, concludes with an encouragement to deaf and hearing scholars to continue the development of deaf studies books and resources.

Making a Difference for Deaf Women

The young women of today—free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation —should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price... the debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future." Abigail Scott Dunaway

Women have long championed equal pay for equal work, affordable child care, the fight against the undervaluing of women who take on unpaid careers such as being a stay-at-home parent or caregiver for aging relatives, and the underreporting of domestic violence and sexual assault for both men and women. However, for all women have done throughout history, one often overlooked minority is that of deaf women.

Women's History Month draws attention to the women who have fought for the rights we have today, and simultaneously highlights the ongoing struggles for women's equality. While this month was originally meant to bring the world's attention to women, their accomplishments and plights worldwide, it has now also become a venue to celebrate the accomplishments that women have made and the positive changes that have come about in modern times. However, much is still left to be done.

Many organizations have taken on the monumental tasks of making our world a better place, and some choose to focus on women and women's role in society. Check out these two great organizations to learn more about how you can support deaf women by helping these organizations—and maybe getting involved yourself:

Deaf Women United ( DWU ): Deaf Women United is committed to continuing a community of support of Deaf women from all walks of life. You can play a significant role in assuring the success of our mission to promote the lives of Deaf women through empowerment, enrichment, and networking.

Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services ( ADWAS ): ADWAS is committed to providing services to Deaf and Deaf-Blind victims of sexual assault and/or domestic violence. The mission of ADWAS is a belief that violence is a learned behavior and it should not be tolerated.

March is the time set aside for specifically celebrating women in history, their achievements, influences, and dedication to both hearing and deaf women across America, but we should celebrate our collective history every day! Everyone needs to be involved, and accessible media from the DCMP can help you learn and celebrate year-round.

About the Author

Kelly Gorski is former communications editor for the Described and Captioned Media Program.

Tags: educators , history

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Women’s History Month: 6 Lesson Plan Resources for Teachers

March is Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day, March 8, is also a part of the celebration each year. For educators and students, the month provides a wonderful opportunity to explore and dig deeper into women’s contributions, struggles, and triumphs throughout history.

A great place to start is the National Women’s History project , where students can explore this year’s theme, “Nevertheless, She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.” Teachers will find some great resources for incorporating women’s history into lessons this month and beyond, as well as for exploring gender roles and stereotypes with students.

• TeachingHistory.org’s Women’s History Resources : This is a one-stop shop for diving deep into Women’s History Month. Educators will find learning resources, lesson plans, and a long list of quizzes and printables for the classroom.
• Online Exhibits From the National Women’s History Museum : Let students explore women’s history with these hands-on digital exhibits and accompanying lesson plans . Plus, the NWHM has produced a number of other valuable resources, including biographies, videos, and interactives.
• EDSITEment Women’s History Resources : Produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities, these resources include lesson plans and teaching resources that cover women in politics, the arts, and military and civilian service. The comprehensive plans highlight the time required and subjects covered, and they include worksheets and links to required reading and resources.
• Women’s History Resources for Teachers : These resources from the Library of Congress encourage teachers and students “to put primary resources to work in the classroom.” Featuring packaged lesson plans, this is a great resource. There are also wonderful audio and video resources, thorough primary source collections, and a number of photo projects. You may also want to check out the library’s official Women’s History Month page .
• Science NetLinks Women’s History Collection : This collection provides some interesting lesson plans that look at women in STEM fields. The page features science lesson plans and teaching resources for all students of all ages. Plus, teachers can filter results by grade level, and there is also a great list of science-specific outside links to lesson plans.
• ReadWriteThink’s Women’s History : Educators will find thoughtful lesson plans, a list of links to online women’s history resources, and after-school ideas for teaching women’s history for parents. There are teacher-written lesson plans available for grades 3–12.

Discussing Gender Roles and Stereotypes in Class

In The Trouble With Women’s History Month from Teaching Tolerance, Maureen Costello raises a point about the need to add context. Although it’s easy to highlight influential women, she writes, Women’s History Month is also the perfect time for students to confront gender stereotypes and societal norms. We’ve compiled some age-appropriate resources and lessons that will help educators approach these topics in ways that are developmentally appropriate. Here are a few for students in elementary school, middle school, and high school:

• Think Outside the Box: Brainstorming About Gender Stereotypes , Teaching Tolerance (Grades K–5)
• Women’s History Month Resources , Anti-Defamation League (Grades K–12)
• The Hunger Games Gender Empowerment Lesson Plan , Center for Healthy Teen Relationships (Grades 6–12)
• Gender Expression Lessons , Teaching Tolerance (Grades K–5)
• He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue , ReadWriteThink (Grades 6–8)

Reading Lists and Additional Collections for Students

There are many great women’s history reads and resources online. These reading lists and additional resource collections may help spark curiosity in your classrooms.

• Women’s History Teaching Resources , Smithsonian Education
• Women’s History Resources , Zinn Education Project
• A Collection of Teaching Resources for WHM , Scholastic Teachers
• The Origins of Women’s History Month , History
• Women’s History Lesson Plans , Share My Lesson
• The Best History Websites for WHM , EdTechTeacher
• Women’s History Month Reading List , Reading Rockets

In dialogue: Writing women’s history

By Marion Turner, Margaret Chowning, Virginia Trimble, and David A. Weintraub March 27, 2023

Over the last century, radical shifts in historical scholarship have filled glaring gaps in the way we understand gender from the past and in the present. By developing new methods of writing history, feminist scholars have produced more pluralistic and inclusive histories globally. In celebration of this collective effort, we asked four of our authors the following question: What do we find when we read ‘women’ into histories that often exclude them?  Their responses, ranging from medieval British literature to postcolonial Mexico to modern astronomy, illuminate the necessity of excavating women and womanhood from the past and the gifts we all enjoy upon doing so. This Women’s History Month, we present this dialogue to honor the innumerable women who make up our history as well as the many who write it.

Marion Turner |  The Wife of Bath: A Biography

In Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey , the heroine, Catherine Morland, confesses that she cannot make herself enjoy reading history: “The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all—it is very tiresome.” Across time, the kinds of records that we have, and the kinds of stories that historians have most wanted to tell, have undoubtedly focused on men: on kings, soldiers, parliaments and other institutions which rigorously excluded women for most of history. Women’s histories are harder to excavate, but can be glimpsed and sometimes uncovered, if you know where to look and if you want to tell those unheard stories.

My 2019 biography of the fourteenth-century poet Chaucer— Chaucer: A European Life —was the story of a privileged man’s life, a story that had been told in different ways by many male biographers before me. I tried to do many things in this book, and one of those things was to look more at the women in Chaucer’s life. Very little work had been done on his daughter Elizabeth, for example, and I was able to find out fascinating information about the nunnery in which she lived. The nuns had been chastised for dancing and partying too much and having too many overnight guests. Similarly, while medievalists had long known that the earliest Chaucer life-record involved Chaucer being given some clothes, I put this record under a closer focus. The clothes had been given to him by his female employer, the countess of Ulster, and she was choosing to dress her young page in a scandalously tight and revealing outfit—in a style that was roundly condemned by contemporary chroniclers.

“Women’s histories are harder to excavate, but can be glimpsed and sometimes uncovered, if you know where to look and if you want to tell those unheard stories.”  

Nuns, parties, and fashion: these are as important in understanding Chaucer’s life and world as his work as a Member of Parliament, a Customs’ Officer, and a diplomat. And these more traditionally ‘male’ strands of history are not exclusively male either. His second trip to Italy, for instance, was made with the aim of organising a marriage alliance; he got his job as a Customs’ Officer at least partly because of his sister-in-law’s liaison with John of Gaunt.

My most recent project focuses primarily on recovering medieval women’s stories. It concentrates on an extraordinary female character—the Wife of Bath—and explores why and how she emerged in the late fourteenth century and how she has been treated across time, most recently with Zadie Smith’s 2021 adaptation. Taking this fictional woman as a focus, I created a methodology that allowed me to write a composite and experimental ‘biography,’ by delving into the lives of many fascinating medieval women.

I found, for example, a group of women who formed a union in the 1360s to complain to the king and mayor of London about price-fixing by a prominent male merchant. I found a widow who took over her husband’s skinning business, producing furs, ran it successfully, employed apprentices, and remembered a female scribe, as well as other women, in her will. I found a maid who abandoned her employer half-way across Europe in order to begin a social ascent, eventually gaining a far better job in Rome and dispensing patronage to her former employer. I found female blacksmiths, parchment-makers, and ship-owners. I found women who suffered abuse and women who made their voices heard in exposing misogyny and violence.

Perhaps most importantly, by tracing long histories, it became absolutely clear that things have not steadily improved across time. Women’s voices were sometimes suppressed more in later centuries than they were in the medieval era: for example, 1970s adaptations of the Wife of Bath were more misogynist than fifteenth-century versions. Recent events in the US have reminded us that the history of women’s rights is not an ongoing forward march. In my own study of the Wife of Bath, I saw hopeful signs in the last twenty years, when more female authors have made their voices heard and have produced intelligent and sensitive adaptations. But women’s voices are by no means heard equally with men’s, even today. The work of listening to women’s voices is as urgent now as it has ever been.

Margaret Chowning |  Catholic Women and Mexican Politics, 1750–1940

Bucking the recent trend toward long, story-telling titles, I decided to call my recent book   simply “ Catholic Women and Mexican Politics.” This was after some false starts that included the word “gender” somewhere in the title. Although there is gender analysis in my project—both comparisons between women’s and men’s experiences, and discussions of gendered political discourses—the research centers on the real Catholic women who led other Catholic women, first into new relationships with priests within the church and then into political battles and collaborations with priests in an effort to try to preserve the special role of the Catholic church in Mexico.

“In my field of Mexican history, by the time women’s history was dead we had hardly begun the work of retrieving women from the archive.”  

My embrace of social history and women’s history is a bit of a contrarian (some would say antiquarian) position among feminist scholars, most of whom—at least since 1986, with the publication of Joan Scott’s famous essay that called gender (not women) a “useful” category of analysis—have seen “women’s history” as a more or less failed experiment. Too easy for non-feminist historians to ignore, too focused on stories of overcoming male oppression, too predictable and narrow in its themes. The very universality of those themes across time and space, thrilling in the early days of women’s history, eventually made them seem banal.

But in my field of Mexican history, by the time women’s history was dead we had hardly begun the work of retrieving women from the archive. Potentially important stories (not just about oppression; not predictable; capable of altering the traditional narrative) were abandoned in favor of a framework of gender (itself sometimes producing predictable results, though that is not my point here).

I lucked out in my project. The archive revealed not just a rather shocking change in women’s relationship to the church after the turmoil of Mexican independence (women suddenly came to lead lay associations with men as members, “governing” them in an upending of the natural order of things), but also a story of Catholic women first organizing and leading lay associations and then using those lay associations as vehicles to mobilize petition campaigns in defense of church power and privilege. Since the proper and appropriate role of the church in Mexican society was at the center of politics from independence in 1821 to well into the twentieth century, this meant women were weighing in on vital political issues. And they were being paid attention to. The way the liberal press handled women’s petitioning falls into the category of predictable gendered political discourse, but the way the conservative press squirmed and shuddered its way to an embrace of women’s petitioning was as interesting as the way the church managed to accept Catholic women as leaders of important parish organizations.

This story of Catholic women shifts the traditional narrative of Mexican history, not just by showing that women seized political power much earlier than generally thought, but also by refocusing our attention on the liberal and anticlerical reform era of the mid-nineteenth century, and away, to a certain extent, from the 1910 Revolution. I was lucky to find such a story, but I found it because I was interested in women and not just gender.

Virginia Trimble |  The Sky Is for Everyone: Women Astronomers in Their Own Words

Perhaps it should be unnecessary to say (but perhaps isn’t) that we all want our stories to be as accurate as possible in history of science as well as in chemistry, cosmology, condensed matter physics, and all the rest. Properly including the contributions of women scientists, as well as other minorities, is part of this process.

Now, assuming we all agree about this goal, other questions arise. One not much asked is whether our science would have progressed more rapidly if the capabilities of women had been more fully incorporated in the past. An example from my “alternative history” file is the case of Cecilia Helena Payne (later Gaposchkin). Her 1925 astronomy PhD dissertation at Harvard was a “first” in several respects, but the astronomically important point was that she demonstrated (using observations gathered by women and men, plus theoretical contributions from men) that stars are made mostly of hydrogen and helium. She finished this about when her fellowship funding ran out, was later employed at Harvard College Observatory by Shapley, and then had to work mostly on what he ordered. This was stellar photometry, variable and binary stars, not more about chemical composition of stars.

“If you take away the (not always properly recognized) contributions made by women, do you significantly slow down the progress of science?”  

My “what if” is this: What if she had continued along her own lines? Would she have discovered the differences in heavy element abundances between different populations of stars and thus laying the foundation for our understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies? This foundation is now credited to Eggen, Lynden-Bell, and Sandage in a 1962 paper, perhaps 30 years after she might have got there following her own path. There are surely other examples from other parts of science. Names to conjure with include Rosalind Franklin, Marietta Blau, and Lisa Meitner.

A different follow-on question is this: If you take away the (not always properly recognized) contributions made by women, do you significantly slow down the progress of science? Some of these contributions were made by wives, or sometimes sisters or daughters, of scientists who generally get most of the credit. Others came from women hired, cheaply, to act as human computers and other assistants to the men. Clued-in astronomers today would surely think of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who discovered the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variable stars, used (and sometimes misused) in studies of galaxies and cosmology today.  

A second example that comes incompletely to mind is the computers who worked with Chandrasekhar over the years at Chicago, carrying out complex numerical calculations that fed into his results in stellar structures, stellar dynamics, and most of the other topics on which he made major impact. It is a sobering aspect of the issue of women’s under-recognized contributions across the sciences that I am going to have to stop to look up her name, though she was parodied as Canna Helpit in a paper supposed to be by S. Candlestickmaker (meaning Chandra, whose 1983 Physics Nobel Prize primarily recognized work done 50 years earlier, before he had her or other computational assistants). His papers generally recognize her role, and some of his autobiographical material records her as catching and correcting mistakes in his own calculations. She does not, however, generally appear as a co-author, though his work would surely have proceeded more slowly without her input.  

I return triumphant with the name of Donna Elbert (1928–2010) who worked with Chandra from 1948 to 1979, and whose name (thank you, Astrophysics Data System) appeared as co-author on 17 of his 187 astronomy papers published during those years. She wrote (after Chandra’s death) about working with him, and a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA celebrated her in a press release on September 18, 2022. What can or should we do about all this? Does it help to write and edit books? Such was not the primary motivation for Dr. Weintraub and me—though we hope it won’t hurt!

David Weintraub |  The Sky Is for Everyone: Women Astronomers in Their Own Words

In helping Virginia Trimble compile autobiographical essays by women astronomers, I learned something particularly eye-opening from one of our chapter authors. Meg Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale. She wrote about an encounter she had with a male astrophysicist during her postdoctoral years at MIT. At a dinner one night, the senior scientist, believing himself to be an expert on the subject, announced that there had never been any good women artists. Urry’s response to this assertion comes from a famous essay by Linda Nochlin entitled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Nochlin explains, “As we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class and, above all, male. The fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education.”

“Histories that include women are exceptions because the victors usually write the histories. And women, historically, have not even been participants in the fight, let alone the victors.”  

And so, women have been excluded from histories of art, of science, of literature, of politics—the list of excluded areas of human endeavor is nearly unbounded. This we know. But why? The answer is simple: Throughout most of human history and in most cultures, they have been—and even continue to be—excluded from actively working in the professions of art, of science, of literature, of politics, and so much more. A person cannot be written into the story if that person is not allowed in the room.

So, what have I learned? My eyes and ears are more open. I am more attuned to and notice the double standards and barriers still placed before my female colleagues. And I am much more aware that many changes are still needed before the playing fields are level. I also recognize that this story is repeating itself. Most professions still are exclusionary. In many countries, those excluded are still women. In other countries, the “firsts” are no longer women; instead, they are persons of color or those whose sexuality is nonbinary. Histories that include women are exceptions because the victors usually write the histories. And women, historically, have not even been participants in the fight, let alone the victors. These histories open our eyes to what might have been and to what should be. The latter is more important, and these histories might help us reach a better, more inclusive future much sooner.

This exchange was facilitated by Akhil Jonnalagadda as part of the  Princeton University Press Publishing Fellowship program .

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• HISTORY & CULTURE

How women claimed their place in America’s history books

Frustrations over the exclusion of women from America’s national narrative boiled over in the 1970s—leading to the creation of Women’s History Month.

Women have always been part of history. But for centuries, their participation in it was overlooked: Early history texts often excluded women altogether, aside from accounts of powerful women like queens. Historians—who were almost entirely men—often saw the past through the lens of the “great man” theory, which holds that history is largely shaped by male heroes and their struggles.

That changed in the 20th century, with the birth of women’s history as an academic discipline, a push to recognize the achievements of women—and a movement to ensure women had equal access to the academic institutions where their history might be taught. In the United States, the result was National Women’s History Month, an annual celebration born from the activism of historians intent on making sure women got their due.

( These stories highlight a century of change for women .)

The U.S. has celebrated Women’s History Month every March since the 1980s. Here’s a look at how it began—and the obstacles its founders faced along the way.

Women’s history becomes an academic discipline

In the mid-20th century, a burgeoning women’s rights movement begged to differ with the “great man” theory of history. Although women historians had been excluded from the profession by virtue of their sex in the 19th century, a group of feminist historians began to search for traces of women of the past.

Women did not appear in history books in the same ways men did. Historians had largely overlooked their letters, diaries, and other materials, and passed over their contributions and importance to society. A few exceptions included Mary Beard , who wrote a series of books about American women and their historical agency; and Eleanor Flexner, who wrote Century of Struggle , a pioneering 1959 work about the American suffrage movement. But as the women’s liberation movement gained strength, feminists bristled against the pervasive lack of women’s stories in their history books.

For Hungry Minds

( Read about Women's History Month with your kids .)

“In my courses, the teachers told me about a world in which ostensibly one-half the human race is doing everything significant and the other half doesn’t exist,” Gerda Lerner, a historian at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, told the Chicago Tribune in 1993. “This is garbage, this is not the world I have experienced.”

Lerner began teaching women’s history in the late 1960s and eventually joined colleagues at Sarah Lawrence who were creating the nation’s first master’s degree program in women’s history. These fledgling historians looked for traces of noteworthy and ordinary women, highlighting issues like race, sexuality, and patriarchy and arguing for the importance of women’s contributions to politics, the sciences, and other fields. Though the small cadre of historians “could have fit into a telephone booth” at first, in Lerner’s words , they were bolstered by a growing number of women’s liberation activists.

As a graduate of one of the newly founded women’s studies programs at California’s Sonoma State University in the 1970s, educator Molly Murphy MacGregor asked the same question as Lerner and others. Administrators at the high school where she taught had tried to pressure her to cancel a class on women’s history, arguing that there was simply not enough material to fill six weeks of instruction. Textbooks that did cover basic women’s history buried it—for example, one text said Congress gave women the right to vote in 1920 without mentioning the work of pioneering suffragists who fought for that civil right.

Where were the women? she wondered. “The history of women in the United States seemed to be written in invisible ink,” MacGregor recalled in a 2020 PBS documentary.

The first Women’s History Week

MacGregor was spurred to action. In the late 1970s, she put together a slideshow on the history of American women in areas like politics, environmental activism, and the abolitionist movement and was amazed at the response. Students came away from the presentations with newfound pride and an interest in the stories of women like Harriet Tubman and Rachel Carson.

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But when MacGregor learned that students rarely checked out or were assigned the tiny assortment of women’s history books available in local elementary schools, she took action by joining the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women.

The commission had been created in 1975 and tasked with eliminating gender discrimination and prejudice. One of its goals was to help Sonoma County schools comply with Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments—a landmark law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in any educational program that receives funding from the federal government.

MacGregor and others on the commission felt that the lack of women’s stories in educational materials constituted a violation of Title IX, creating an inequitable gap that exacerbated unequal treatment of the sexes.

In response, they proposed that the community host a women’s history week. Timed to intersect with International Women’s Day , a global celebration of women held annually on March 8, the first-ever Women’s History Week kicked off with a parade, a presentation, and distribution of curriculum materials for local schools.

( Learn about the radical roots of International Women's Day .)

The push was far from universally liked. “We were dismissed as being self-serving men haters,” MacGregor told the PBS documentarian in 2020. But the celebration elicited a landslide of interest from women around the country. Suddenly, a local commemoration ballooned into a larger push to celebrate women’s history on a national scale. The group quickly coalesced into the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women’s History Alliance).

Federal recognition of women’s history

As it equipped teachers across the nation with materials and curricula on women’s historical achievements, the NWHP also began to lobby the federal government to recognize women’s history. Their first victory came in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter declared the first National Women’s History Week from March 2 to 8. “Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people,” he said in an address .

In 1981, Democratic Representative Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah sponsored a bipartisan bill to declare the week of March 8 National Women’s History Week. The weeklong celebration took place annually until, in 1987, Congress followed the lead of several U.S. states and passed a joint resolution declaring the entire month of March Women’s History Month.

In the years since, the push to recognize and include women in the study of history has continued. In 1999, a national women’s history commission created by President Bill Clinton recommended initiatives to find “hidden women” in museums and archives, establish statewide women’s history initiatives, and incorporate women’s history more extensively in educational curricula. Historians also began unearthing the contributions of historically marginalized women, going beyond white, cisgendered, heterosexual women to explore the vivid stories of women across society.

( Subscriber exclusive: A century after women's suffrage, the fight for equality isn't over .)

But the work continues. A 2017 survey by the National Women’s History Museum found that state educational standards overemphasize women’s domestic roles and overlook the breadth and depth of women’s history. Still, there’s reason to hope. After all, the effort to recognize women of the past is one of persistence and creativity. As MacGregor recalled in an oral history in the early 2000s, “The real story is we said “OK, this is a challenge, and what are we going to do with it?”

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Visiting Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion? You must join the virtual exhibition queue when you arrive. If capacity has been reached for the day, the queue will close early.

10 inspiring stories of women at the met.

We would not be here if it weren’t for women. That’s true both literally and figuratively. The women in my life raised me to be who I am today; I would not be writing this without them. But it is also the diverse women whom I’ve read about—who have broken barriers for me, and whose art has inspired me—who are the reason I am able to write for The Met. March is our time to celebrate the vital contributions women make to our lives and to our society. Join us as we highlight just a few of their inspiring stories that have shaped The Met collection.

Alice Neel: They Are Their Own Gifts , 1978 | From the Vaults

A self-proclaimed “collector of souls,” the American painter Alice Neel (1900–1984) is known today for her powerful, psychologically rich portraiture. In this rarely seen documentary, Neel’s signature candor and wit are on full display as she reveals the stories behind her diverse subjects, who ranged from family and friends to artists, activists, and even strangers she met on the street.

Learn more about Neel in her upcoming retrospective, Alice Neel: People Come First .

From the Vaults : A View from the Projection Booth

The author, Robin Schwalb, at the rewinder in Thalia Theater, New York (1978).

Robin Schwalb, Senior Audio-Visual Specialist Emerita, began her career at The Met in the Junior Museum projection booth in 1981. Working knee-deep in 35-mm and 16-mm film, Schwalb recalls a time before The Met Film Archive was available at our fingertips . Read about Schwalb’s fascinating journey as a projectionist and artist amidst the evolution of The Met’s media production team.

Art on Its Own Terms: Curator Amelia Peck on Gee's Bend Quilts in My Soul Has Grown Deep

My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South , by Cheryl Finley, Randall R. Griffey, Amelia Peck, and Darryl Pinckney, featuring 112 full-color illustrations, is available at  The Met Store  and  MetPublications . Cover: Thornton Dial (American, 1928–2016).  The End of November: The Birds That Didn't Learn How to Fly  (detail), 2007. Quilt, wire, fabric, and enamel on canvas on wood, 72 x 72 in. (182.9 x 182.9 cm). Gift of Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2014 (2014.548.5). © Thornton Dial

In rural Alabama, there exists a small hamlet called Gee’s Bend, in which the tradition of quilting has been upheld by a community of African American women for generations. Some of the most vital contributions to African American visual culture in the history of the United States, these quilts have also sparked crucial conversations on what we consider “art” versus “craft.” Amelia Peck, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Decorative Arts, challenges this distinction and the historically invalidating “domestic” label used by art critics. Learn more in the interview as she speaks on her essay “Quilt/Art: Deconstructing the Gee's Bend Quilt Phenomenon.”

The exhibition catalogue My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South is available at The Met Store and MetPublications .

The Artist Project : Andrea Bowers

“She’s expanding aesthetics to prioritize other colors or forms or textures that have been seen as nominal or insignificant or too feminine.”

The Artist Project is an online series in which contemporary artists respond to works of art in The Met collection. In this episode, feminist artist Andrea Bowers responds to the work of Howardena Pindell, an African American painter and mixed-media artist whose work explores artistic process and political issues such as racism and sexism. Through Pindell’s work, Bowers challenges the notion of art-making as a politically neutral act, and offers striking interpretations of her thematically rich oeuvre.

Lilith (1994)

The Met · 1985.1: Lilith

If you’ve ever had the chance to see Kiki Smith’s 1994 sculpture Lilith in person, you’ll know this art object is unexpected, startling, and just a little creepy. Located in a chance corner of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing, Lilith hangs off the wall at a surprising and unnatural angle. Listen as Ian Alteveer, Aaron I. Fleischman Curator, illuminates the feminist story behind this intriguing sculpture.

Jodi Archambault l Being Seen

“The world likes to see American Indians in the past, and that’s something that causes a lot of difficulty with being seen today in America.”

In this episode of Met Stories , Jodi Archambault, artist and former policy advisor to President Barack Obama, speaks about how the display of Native American art in museums affects how visible she feels as an Indigenous woman in America. Watch as she shares her heritage, upbringing, and a beaded dress she created , which communicates the narratives of both those before her and those to come.

Unearthing Hatshepsut, Egypt’s Most Powerful Female Pharaoh

[@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "__block", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop Seated statue of Hatshepsut on view in  Gallery 115 , alongside other objects depicting the pharaoh.

“How should a female pharaoh be depicted?”

Hatshepsut was the first important female ruler known to history. Though she is less widely known than her later successor Cleopatra (51–30 B.C.), Hatshepsut's two-decade reign (ca. 1473–1458 B.C.) brought remarkable economic prosperity and artistic ingenuity to Ancient Egypt. Learn about the story of her attempted erasure from human memory and the excavation of her feminine form in this article and the catalogue for the 2005 exhibition, Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh .

The Red Queen and Her Sisters: Women of Power in Golden Kingdoms

Mask of the Red Queen , A.D. 672. Mexico, Chiapas, Palenque, Temple XIII. Maya. Jadeite, malachite, shell, obsidian, limestone, H. 14 7/16 x W. 9 1/16 x D. 3 1/8 in. (36.7 x 23 x 8 cm). Museo de Sitio de Palenque "Alberto Ruz L'Huillier" (10-461006, 10-629739 0/39, 10-629740 5/55), Secretaría de Cultura—INAH

We are all too used to seeing women depicted on the periphery of history, if they’re mentioned at all. However, thanks to recent archaeological finds in Latin America, new light has been shed upon the power of high-status women in ancient American civilizations. Read more about the discovery of their exquisite ornaments and how these regalia complicate our understanding of gender roles in the ancient Americas.

Learn more about the exhibition  Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas .

Storytelling and West African Cinema

Still from Zin'naariyâ! ( The Wedding Ring , 2016), written and directed by Rahmatou Keïta. Courtesy Sonrhay Empire Productions

“Griots transmit knowledge from generation to generation. Every time a story is transmitted, it takes on new shape, and as such can be related to cinema and a director's interpretation of a story.”

Storytelling has been at the heart of Sahelian tradition for centuries. Griots, or jeliw , are the narrators of their culture’s oral traditions, history, and poetry. This article is presented in conjunction with a panel discussion moderated by Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the African Film Festival , and Yaëlle Biro, Associate Curator of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. In it, filmmakers Rahmatou Keïta and Fanta Nacro explore parallels between cinema and orality, and each medium’s ability to pass down the collective memory of generations.

Learn more about orality in Sahelian tradition in Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara , as well as its importance as a key source of information for historians today .

Wangechi Mutu on The NewOnes, will free Us

“I've chosen to stick with the subject of the female body as a platform for what we feel about ourselves as humans.”

In 2019, The Met invited Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu to animate its historic facade. Mutu responded with The NewOnes, will free Us , four bronze caryatids that—rather than struggle against the weight of the building—stand before it fantastically. Listen as Mutu discusses the feminine strength within each figure, and the gender and racial politics with which they contend.

There are over two hundred caryatids in The Met collection— view them online .

The Met · Wangechi Mutu on The NewOnes, will free Us

These are just a few of the inspiring stories of women and art at The Met. Be sure to head to our YouTube channel and Perspectives for more video and editorial pieces celebrating women’s vast contributions to art history and society.

Lela Jenkins

Lela Jenkins is a MuSe Digital Intern in the Digital Department.

Women's History Month

Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month by presidential proclamation. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in American history.

Did You Know? Women’s History Month started as Women’s History Week . . .

Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978. The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.

In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians—led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women's History Alliance)—successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week. 

Subsequent Presidents continued to proclaim a National Women’s History Week in March until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued an annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”

The National Women’s History Alliance selects and publishes the yearly theme. The theme for Women's History Month in 2021 captures the spirit of these challenging times. Since many of the women's suffrage centennial celebrations originally scheduled for 2020 were curtailed, the National Women's History Alliance is extending the annual theme for 2021 to "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.

Click here to download the NWHM 2021 Women's History Month Resource Toolkit , filled with links to biographies, events, and programming to celebrate this important month.

To learn more about the history of Women's History Month, please visit the Library of Congress .

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Assignments for Women’s History Month

The month of March is dedicated to highlighting the women who have, and who are making historical and societal impacts. As we celebrate women by teaching our students about women’s vital roles throughout history, we invite you to assign some of the assignments below that showcase both the works of famous women and their personal stories.

Students can practice expanding their knowledge and learning from credible sources as they write in the Information, Argument, or Narrative genre. Each assignment provides a link to educational resources. You’ll also find NEW Sentence Combining activities which enable students to practice this foundational skill while celebrating Women’s History Month.

Sample Assignment

Explore Women’s History Month Assignments for Elementary School >

Explore women’s history month assignments for middle school >, explore women’s history month assignments for high school >, elementary assignments.

• Response to Reading ft. “The Story of My Life” by Helen Keller
• Response to Reading ft. “Miriam Finds Her Wings” by Elisabeth Greenberg  
• Persuasive Writing About Rosa Parks
• Narrative Poem ft.“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
• Informational Poetry Response About “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
• Quick Write About Gender in Sports
• Opinion Quick Write ft. Maya Angelou & Eleanor Roosevelt  
• Opinion Letter About Gender Stereotypes & Toys  
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Amelia Earhart
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Clara Barton
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Madame C.J. Walker
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Ruby Bridges
• Y ouTube Biography Short Summary: Harriet Tubman
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Laura Ingalls Wilder
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Abigail Adams
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Sacajawea
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Anne Hutchinson
• YouTube Biography Short Summary: Rosa Parks

Middle School Assignments

• Poetry Analysis ft. “Dying” by Emily Dickenson
• Rhetorical Analysis ft. “Ain’t I A Woman?” by Sojourner Truth
• Persuasive Speech ft. “Ain’t I A Woman?” by Sojourner Truth
• Persuasive Essay About Zyahna Bryant
• Informational Poetry Analysis About “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
• Skill: Analyzing a Text/Topic ft. “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” by Agatha Christie
• Opinion Quick Write About Gender in Schools
• Opinion Quick Write ft. Maya Angelou & Eleanor Roosevelt
• Narrative Summary About Emma Edmonds

High School Assignments

• Compare & Contrast ft. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Historical Analysis ft. “Pride & Prejudice” by Jane Austen
• Narrative Writing About Rosa Parks
• Poetry Analysis About “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman
• Skill: Supporting With Evidence ft. “Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry For That Word” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Every assignment includes an attached rubric that is concise and student-friendly to best support students as they write. Because every assignment is completely customizable, you can always replace or edit the rubric (such as using a state-specific rubric, or using a custom district rubric ). You can also use any of these assignments as a template to feature any prompt, reading, or video you’d like your students to respond to. Simply copy the assignment to save it, then edit the prompt.

About Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.”

In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.

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A Reflection on Women’s History Month

By Nadra Stevenson

March 1, 2022

As I reflect on Women’s History Month, I feel inclined to think about the women closest to me—the matriarchs of my family. They won’t be found in history books years from now, nor will you find news clippings of their local accomplishments. They can be found in our family photo albums and in the hearts and minds of the people they’ve touched. 

What I remember most about the women in my family is that they did it all! They worked, they cared for their children, and they cared for the home. They served at church and often served as a hub for people in their neighborhoods who were in need, even when they didn’t have much to give.  

With this being my view of womanhood—filled with examples of women who could do it all—I found myself trying to do it all as well. I see a lot of women in education doing the same thing. We gloat about balancing pick-up, drop-off, dinner, homework, care of loved ones, engaging presentations, and well-run classrooms, schools and meetings.  

Yet, through all the hustle and bustle, did we set aside time for self-care?  

The women in my life taught me how to grind, and I wouldn’t be who I am today without that lesson. However, I didn’t learn how to rest. 

As women, we often wear “tired” as a badge of honor, as if it deems us more worthy of holding our current roles. We often choose work that involves the heart, and heart work is hard work. Nevertheless, we must remember that caring for ourselves is essential.  

Prioritizing yourself isn’t selfish; it’s necessary to continue to be your best. I want to urge women to discover their passions outside of their vocation and make time for the other things that they love. Engaging in these activities bring rest and the renewal we need to continue moving forward.  

I want my children to say that their mother did work that mattered, and she did it well. With that said, I want them to know that what mattered was not only my work for others, but also the activities I did for myself. Balance is the gift I want to leave behind.  

As we reflect on the legacy of women and all that they have accomplished, let’s also think about how we must care for ourselves in order for us to do the same.  

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“Writing Women Back into History!”

Did you know  Dr. Patricia Bath, recognized as the first Black woman physician to receive a medical patent, invented the laser phaco revolutionizing all aspects of cataract surgery? 

Did you know that teenager Barbara Johns led a high school walkout to protest conditions that helped lead to public school desegregation nationwide?

Did you know that some enslaved women in the South were spies for the Union during  the Civil War that ended slavery?

Did you know that women suffragists were the first citizens allowed to speak to a Congressional committee, which changed that practice forever?

Did you know that women led the reforms of the early industrial age to end child labor?

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Our History is Our Strength

The National Women’s History Alliance, formerly the National Women’s History Project, is a leader in promoting Women’s History and is committed to the goals of education, empowerment, equality, and inclusion.  

Since 1980 the National Women’s History Alliance has made groundbreaking progress in accessibility of women’s history educational materials and advocacy. We share resources across the women’s history educational community, serving as a hub or clearinghouse for our partners and friends. We are best known for its leadership in founding and annually promoting Women’s History Month.

More than Women’s History Month, the NWHA is a:

• National publisher and clearinghouse for information and resources on multicultural women’s history
• Source of advice and support to strengthen the network of women’s history groups and partners
• Primary promoter of the women’s suffrage movement and Equality Day on August 26
• Convener of the national networking conferences

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Women’s History

From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.

Women’s History Milestones: Timeline

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&nbsp;and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fighting for women’s right to vote, to the rise of feminism and Hillary […]

Equal Pay Act

Wage Gap The Equal Pay Act was an effort to correct a centuries-old problem of gender-based wage discrimination. Women made up a quarter of the American workforce by the early 20th century, but they were traditionally paid far less than men, even in cases where they performed the same job. In some states, female workers […]

Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) achieved historic gains as U.S. secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, she was a teacher before becoming involved in social reform. She was the first woman to serve on the New York State Industrial Commission, as well as the first to hold a U.S. […]

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor.

More to History: Women Take to the Skies During WWII

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The Origin of the Seneca Falls Convention

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The First Woman to Swim the English Channel Beat the Men’s Record by Two Hours

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The Surprising History of International Women’s Day

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Under pressure, Little League Baseball allows girls to play

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MPS Essay Contest

Annual mps middle and high-school essay contest: wisconsin women making history, guidelines and entry form.

• 2023 MPS Contest Instructions
• MPS Notable Women List
• 2023 MPS Essay Contest Submission Form

Essay Contest Purpose

In honor of March as Women’s History month, the UWM Women’s & Gender Studies invites middle-school and high-school students from the Milwaukee Public Schools to explore and celebrate the histories of Wisconsin women by participating in our annual essay contest.

Wisconsin women have had a diverse and complex history both before and after the territory of Wisconsin became a state in 1848. Many have raised families, educated children, and worked in their communities as volunteers. Others have held paid jobs and pursued careers, combining family and work responsibilities.

However, their contributions to Wisconsin have often remained invisible, because historians have only recently considered activities by women as worthy of attention. Most women’s lives and experiences are still unknown. To reclaim the history of the private lives and public roles of Wisconsin women is to discover how people lived and what they valued. Until we know what women did and thought and experienced, we will only know half the story.

The purpose of the essay contest, Wisconsin Women Making History, is to help tell the other half of the story. You can be a part of the process: Explore and learn about the amazing and courageous contributions women have made, and continue to make, to our communities, cities, and state.

Wisconsin Women Making History

Students are to choose one Wisconsin woman, of any background and from any historical period (including the present), and write about that woman’s contribution to her community, city, town, or to the state of Wisconsin. We encourage students to use a variety of ways to gather information, including interviews and community or school library resources. Please see our list of 50 Notable Wisconsin Women to help get students started.

Judges will choose winning essays at the middle and high school levels. Winners will receive a monetary award and be invited to attend the annual Women’s & Gender Studies Student Awards Ceremony held in March, which is Women’s History month. All participants will receive a certificate of achievement. Essays will not be returned; students should make a personal copy if they wish to retain their work. Winners will receive gift cards.

• Essays should include a persuasive explanation of why the student chose to focus on a particular woman and what this woman means to the student.
• Essays should be well organized, with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Essays should make use of evidence, and should include specific examples.
• Students should identify their sources of information in footnotes, in the body of the essay, or in a works cited page.
• Essays should be well written, with proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling.

Essay Contest Rules

• ALL MPS middle and high school students , grades 5-12 are eligible.
• Essays should be between 300 and 1000 words typed using 12 point professional font , double-spaced, and one inch margins on all sides.
• Essays should have an original title (not contest name) at the top of the first page.
• Do not include your name on the essay. Your name should only appear on the entry form.
• Include a completed 2023 Entry Form with your essay. Photocopies of an entry form are acceptable.
• Students should sign an entry form and ask their teacher to do the same to certify that the essay is an original work.
• Entries should be mailed by the deadline of February 28, 2023 to:

Or via email:

To: [email protected] Subject: MPS Contest Submission/Last Name

Contact the Women’s & Gender Studies office at [email protected] for deadline and other information.

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Morgan Spurlock, Documentarian Known for ‘Super Size Me,’ Dies at 53

His 2004 film followed Mr. Spurlock as he ate nothing but McDonald’s for a month. It was nominated for an Oscar, but it later came in for criticism.

By Clay Risen and Remy Tumin

Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker who gained fame with his Oscar-nominated 2004 film “ Super Size Me ,” which followed him as he ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days — but later stepped back from the public eye after admitting to sexual misconduct — died on Thursday in New York City. He was 53.

His brother Craig Spurlock said the cause was complications of cancer.

A self-described attention hound with a keen eye for the absurd, Mr. Spurlock was a playwright and television producer when he rocketed to global attention with “Super Size Me,” an early entry into the genre of gonzo participatory filmmaking that borrowed heavily from the confrontational style of Michael Moore and the up-close-and-personal influences of reality TV, which was then just emerging as a genre.

The film’s approach was straightforward: Mr. Spurlock would eat nothing but McDonald’s food for a month, and if a server at the restaurant offered to “supersize” the meal — that is, to give him the largest portion available for each item — he would accept.

The movie then follows Mr. Spurlock and his ever-patient girlfriend through his 30-day odyssey, splicing in interviews with health experts and visits to his increasingly disturbed physician. At the end of the month, he was 25 pounds heavier, depressed, puffy-faced and experiencing liver dysfunction.

The film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, grossed over $22 million, made Mr. Spurlock a household name, earned him an Academy Award nomination for best documentary and helped spur a sweeping backlash against the fast-food industry — though only temporarily ; today, McDonald’s has 42,000 locations worldwide, its stock is near an all-time high, and 36 percent of Americans eat fast food on any given day.

“His movie,” the critic A.O. Scott wrote in The New York Times , “goes down easy and takes a while to digest, but its message is certainly worth the loss of your appetite.”

The film became a touchstone in American culture. By making himself a part of the story, Mr. Spurlock could be considered a forerunner of TikTok influencers and citizen-journalist YouTubers.

And even after the backlash against fast food subsided, “Super Size Me” remained a staple in high school health classes and a reference point for taking personal responsibility for one’s own diet.

But the film also came in for subsequent criticism. Some people pointed out that Mr. Spurlock refused to release the daily logs tracking his food intake. Health researchers were unable to replicate his results in controlled studies.

And in 2017, he admitted that he had not been sober for more than a week at a time in 30 years — meaning that, in addition to his “McDonald’s only” diet, he was drinking, a fact that he concealed from his doctors and the audience, and that most likely skewed his results.

The admission came in a statement in which he also revealed multiple incidents of sexual misconduct, including an encounter in college that he described as rape, as well as repeated infidelity and the sexual harassment of an assistant at his production company, Warrior Poets.

The statement, which Mr. Spurlock posted on Twitter in 2017, came as he was gearing up for the release of a sequel to the film, “ Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! ” on YouTube Red.

He stepped down from his production company, and YouTube dropped the film; it was instead released in 2019 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Morgan Valentine Spurlock was born on Nov. 7, 1970, in Parkersburg, W.Va., and grew up in Beckley, W.Va. His father, Ben, owned and operated an auto-repair shop, and his mother, Phyllis (Valentine) Spurlock, was a junior high school and high school guidance counselor.

He later said he grew up as a fan of 1970s and ’80s British comedies like “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Blackadder.”

“I was doing funny walks round the house at 6 or 7,” he told The Independent in 2012 .

He studied film at New York University and received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1993, then began his career as a production assistant on film projects around New York City, beginning with Luc Besson’s “Léon: The Professional” (1994).

He also began writing plays, including “The Phoenix,” which won an award at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival.

Mr. Spurlock’s first foray onto the screen was a proto-reality show called “I Bet You Will,” which was also one of the first web-only programs. In five-minute segments, he would dare people to do something gross, or humiliating, or both — eating a “worm burrito,” for example — in exchange for a wad of cash.

The show drew millions of viewers, as well as the interest of MTV, which bought the program a few months after it debuted.

During a Thanksgiving visit to his parents in 2002, Mr. Spurlock saw a TV news story about two women who had sued McDonald’s, claiming that the chain had misled them about the nutritional value of its hamburgers, fries and sodas and caused them to gain significant weight.

“A spokesman for McDonald’s came on and said, you can’t link their obesity to our food — our food is healthy, it’s nutritious,” he told The New York Times in 2004 . “I thought, ‘If it’s so good for me, I should be able to eat it every day, right?’”

And thus, “Super Size Me” was born.

Mr. Spurlock took to fame eagerly, and, with his wide smile and handlebar mustache, was hard to miss. He became an unofficial spokesman for the wellness movement, hobnobbed with celebrity chefs — and scrambled to find a new project.

He did not want to lose the momentum generated by “Super Size Me,” nor did he want to go down in history only as the guy who ate a lot of Big Macs.

“I’ll be that guy till I die,” he told The Independent.

A follow-up film, “Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?” (2008), was not nearly as well received. Critics assailed him for making light of an international terrorist and for oversimplifying complicated global politics. More bricks were thrown when it emerged that he had put himself at significant personal risk while in Pakistan while his wife was at home with their newborn son.

Eventually, he did get somewhat past the shadow of “Super Size Me”: He teamed up with the actors Jason Bateman and Will Arnett to explore the male grooming industry in “Mansome” (2012) and followed the band One Direction around, resulting in the film “One Direction: This Is Us” (2013).

He produced films by other documentarians, including “The Other F Word” (2011), directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, about punk rockers who became fathers, and “A Brony Tale” (2014), directed by Brent Hodge, about the subculture known as Bronies — adults, mostly men, who love the animated series “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”

And he continued to make projects that leaned on the participatory style of “Super Size Me.” He created and starred in a series called “30 Days” for FX, in which a person, often Mr. Spurlock himself, would spend about a month embedded in a community much different from his own. One episode saw him spend 25 days in a Virginia jail.

Mr. Spurlock was married three times, to Priscilla Sommer, Alexandra Jamieson and Sara Bernstein; all three marriages ended in divorce. Along with his brother Craig, he is survived by another brother, Barry; his parents; and his sons, Laken and Kallen.

His decision to discuss his sexual past, which came at the height of the #Metoo movement, was met with a mix of praise and criticism. Though many people lauded him for coming forward, critics suggested that he was trying to get ahead of a story that was going to emerge anyway.

All agreed, though, that the decision came with consequences: “Career death,” The Washington Post declared it in 2022 , noting that the once-ubiquitous Mr. Spurlock had largely disappeared.

Clay Risen is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk. More about Clay Risen

Remy Tumin is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics. More about Remy Tumin