Don’t sleep: Women’s History Month is not over yet

by Christina Greer, Ph.D.  

It might be late March, but Women’s History Month is not over yet! We still have a few more days to celebrate and think of the women in our lives who are doing amazing work, the women who have come before us and laid a foundation for future generations, and the women who will look to us as guides in the years to come.

I am in awe of the women who have survived and thrived in a nation (and world) often predicated on patriarchy and devaluing women’s ideas and contributions. I think of the countless women in corporate America who were overlooked or had their ideas stolen. I think of the Black women finally recognized in the book and film “Hidden Figures” — the NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who were the brains behind the launch of an astronaut into orbit and contributed to America’s space race. I think of the women who served as secretaries and administrative assistants, but who were actually strategists and helped their bosses succeed and shine.

These are just the women who worked outside of the home. For centuries, women were kept from making their own money, having their own credit cards in their own names, and yet they managed children, husbands, full household budgets, scheduling, beautification of the home, and more. They ran the business of making sure their husbands and children had everything they needed to succeed. And don’t even get me started on the women who chose and choose not to have children and serve as the emotional, intellectual, and financial lifeline for so many of their family members and friends.

I often spend Women’s History Month thinking of amazing trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan, the first and second Black women ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Or Gloria Naylor and Gwendolyn Brooks, my favorite novelist and poet, respectively. However, I think it is also important to remember the amazing women in our own households and friend groups and our daily lives when we think about celebrating the accomplishments of women this month. Some women are making small changes to their communities every day and although they may never make it into a history book, they should still be recognized and appreciated. After all, the world is made up of small bricks, each person contributing to the whole.

We don’t need to end the celebration just because March is ending. In what ways will you continue to celebrate the women in your life? In what ways will you aspire to be a mentor or role model for a young woman coming up? However you decide to spend the last few days of March, remember that we can celebrate women all year round in large and small ways.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.