Women’s History Month is observed during the month of March, and it’s a month dedicated to celebrating, recognizing, and honoring accomplishments and contributions made by women throughout American history. What started as a local celebration in the city of Santa Rosa, California, has now turned into a whole month honoring women. 

Women’s History Month first started off as a Women’s History Week and was a presidential proclamation issued under President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Women’s History Week was from Mar. 2 to Mar. 8. Later, further proclamations were issued, which resulted in Women’s History Week being extended and becoming Women’s History Month. 

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, the amazing women around us, and their accomplishments, it is also important to look back at the accomplishments of women who throughout history proved to be of great importance and inspiration, and made notable contributions to society. Here are some women whose contributions are noteworthy. 

Julia Morgan

Born on Jan. 20, 1872, in San Francisco, Morgan was a University of California, Berkeley graduate and had a degree in engineering. Morgan happened to be one of the 100 female students enrolled in the university at the time and the only female with an engineering degree. In 1894, Morgan privately studied architecture under Bernard Mayback. 

In 1898, Morgan enrolled in what was one of the best architecture schools in the world, École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and graduated in 1902. 

After Morgan’s return to California, she became the first woman to have a license to practice architecture in California. 

In her lifetime, Morgan created about 700 to 800 buildings, most notably after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

Her most popular creation, however, is the Hearst Castle or La Cuesta Encantada, which Morgan built for the billionaire William Randolph Hearst. The 127-acre creation took about 30 years to build and is now a museum. 

Margaret Sanger

In 1921, during a time when birth control and contraceptives were illegal, Sanger, a nurse, founded the American Birth Control League, which is now known as Planned Parenthood. 

Sanger originally had a brief teaching career, after which she moved on to practice obstetrical nursing, or a branch of nursing that involves working with patients trying to conceive, patients already pregnant, or patients who recently delivered. 

While working as a nurse, Sanger noticed unwanted pregnancies, illegal abortions, and the deaths caused by it, as well as a high mortality rate in infants and mothers. This caused Sanger to believe that women had the right to prevent unwanted pregnancies and should have access to contraceptives. 

Sanger then devoted herself to discussing topics about sex education and the importance of contraceptives and birth control. 

In 1916, Sanger opened a birth control clinic in Brooklyn. However, under the Comstock Act, birth control and contraceptives were deemed obscene and essentially illegal, so Sanger’s clinic was operating illegally. 

Sanger had to soon close her clinic, but the harassment she had to endure prompted the public to speak in her favor, and soon the Comstock Act was reinterpreted. 

Amelia Earhart

Although Amelia Earhart is most notably known for her mysterious disappearance, it is important to recognize her accomplishments, especially as the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. 

Earhart, who also worked as a nurses’ aide during World War I in Canada, was a famous female aviator and author. Not only was Earhart the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic, but she was also the second person to fly solo across the Atlantic. 

Earhart was also the first woman to take a non-stop flight coast to coast across continental U.S. states, as well as the first female who piloted an autogyro, which is a single-passenger aircraft that moves with the help of a conventional propeller. 

On top of that, Earhart happened to be the first president of Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, which is an organization dedicated to female aviators. 

Maya Angelou

Born in 1928, the world knows Angelou as someone who wrote touching poetry, and as a civil activist. But, apart from that Angelou was also Hollywood’s first black female director, and a dancer, earlier in her career.

Angelou’s first jobs included working as a prostitute and madam, as well as a dancer and cocktail waitress. Later on, she also worked on some acting projects, before independently writing scripts for TV and movies. After, writing Georgia, Georgia in 1972, Angelou also became one of the first African-American females to have had her screenplay produced into a feature film. 

In 1981, Angelou became the professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, even though she didn’t have a college degree. In 2011, she also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Katie Sowers

Born in 1986, Sowers is the first female Super Bowl coach, as well as the first openly LGBTQ+ coach Super Bowl coach.

Sowers started playing football when she was eight years old. In 2012, she graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a master’s degree in Kinesiology (study of human body movement).

Although Sowers did have the opportunity to work as an intern in National Football League, and as a Super Bowl coach, she also had to deal with discrimination due to her sexual orientation. 

After playing basketball at Goshen College and being a team captain, Sowers wanted to volunteer as a basketball coach for the women’s team. Unfortunately, due to some parents’ concerns about their daughters having a lesbian coach, Sowers didn’t end up coaching the team. She did, however, go on to have a bright career later on, and in 2020, she was issued an apology by the president of Goshen College for being not allowed to coach the team due to her sexuality. 

These women, amongst many others, have proved to be great inspirations to other women. They exemplify that no matter what, we should always keep trying our best and working for what we believe is right. 

Happy Women’s History Month!

Photo Courtesy of FLICKR