Subject
title
Proclamation declaring March 2023, as Women’s History Month
end
Department
City Clerk/Director of Council Operations Office
Recommendation
Staff recommends Mayor and Council read and present the proclamation to Rebecca Murphy, on behalf of the Human Rights Commission.
Discussion
Women’s History Month has gone through different iterations, dating back to International Women’s Day in 1911. Laura Shaw Murra, who took the name Laura X as a rejection of men’s legal ownership of women and the anonymity of women’s history, organized a march in Berkeley, California on this day in 1969. Later, in 1978, The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women organized Women’s History Week. These efforts and a successful lobby for national recognition led to President Jimmy Carter issuing a Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week in 1980. It wasn’t until 1987 that Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as National Women’s History Month.
This month is a celebration to honor the women of various backgrounds who have been leaders in movements, contributed to the arts and sciences, served in military, medical, educational, and political roles, and to those in parenthood. Women have and continue to play a critical economic, cultural, and social role in every sphere of life inside and outside the home.
Despite their contributions, the role of women has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the literature, teaching, and study of history. They continue to work to break barriers and stereotypes that keep them from successfully rising to the top of organizations and achieving the highest pay scale. There have been many women throughout history who represented this, including Rosa Parks who became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and led to the legal end of segregation, Ruth Bader Ginsburg who became the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Malala Yousafzai who fought for young women’s rights to education in Pakistan, and Greta Thunberg who challenged world leaders to take action against climate change.
Here in the City of Rockville, we urge everyone to celebrate the accomplishments of all the women in their lives.