If we peek into the “her-story” books, March 8th became International Women’s Day in 1911. Yet, it was not until the mid-1980s with co-sponsorship from Maryland Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski that Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women’s History Week.

Shortly thereafter, former President Jimmy Carter signed a Presidential Proclamation declare the week of March 8, 1980 as the first National Women’s History Week later expanded into National Women’s History Month.

Interestingly enough, 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project (NWHP). In the 1980s, NWHP was a pivotal force lobbying for women’s history month. The 2010 NWHP theme is “Writing Women Back into History” to acknowledge the contributions of women because “it often seems that the history of women is written in invisible ink. Even when recognized in their own times, women are frequently left out of the history books.”
(more…)