March is Women’s History Month, a tradition started in 1987 according to womenshistorymonth.gov.
During this month we take a special moment to celebrate the accomplishments of women in our history.
We can find amazing women all the way back to the early days of what is now the United States. For example, there was Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan woman who preached that heaven was open to everyone, an idea so new that she was treated as a heretic, but she inspired many people and changed perceptions.
In more recent times, we recognize the role models of women like Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and first ladies like Michelle Obama who was used her position to encourage kids to have healthy meals in school.
This is a time to celebrate our grandmas, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, and friends both past and present. Women haven’t always been able to use their voices. They weren’t able to vote or go to work. But because of pioneering women, things are different now. They are not perfect, but at least now women can go to school, have careers, vote, and use our voices to be heard on important issues in the government.
When I was a child I always wanted to become a writer of some kind and never thought I would get to go to college and become a student reporter. These opportunities weren’t always open to women, especially ones like me who were born with Down Syndrome. My mother believed in me and told me I could accomplish what I wanted.
We must continue to celebrate women in our society and encourage girls to find jobs and find their voices. By speaking up we honor the efforts of all the women who did so much to make a better life for all of us.
