You can also check out the event page for Women's History Month - 1998 which has another great collection of articles and discussions about Women's History Month.
"Every time a girl reads a womanless history she learns she is worth less." - Myra and David Sadker
For those of you who don't know, March is Women's History Month.
Were those groans I just heard?
Some of you probably saw the topic of this article and rolled your eyes when you let out that groan. Yet another month out of 12 devoted to another minority that is whining that they didn't their fair share of the history books. But is it really whining and should we care about it?
Guess what? Yes, we should care.
If you are a woman, think back to your early education. Do you remember learning about a special person in history that you felt you could look up to or admire? If you did, was that person a woman or man? Most likely, it was either one of the token women in history that are taught in every history curriculum. Or it was a man, who you actually couldn't relate to that well due to the fact that he was a man - which you aren't, and never will be.
I have 3 brothers and I remember that when they were growing up, they had their heros who were all men that they could look up to. For the life of me, I can't remember having a single woman hero when I grew up. And that's not me saying something just to make a point - it's the truth. I grew up playing with Barbies and watching my brothers play with their G.I Joe figures. Those were the images in my mind as a child. Girls are supposed to play with pretty, gentle things and boys are supposed to play with the strong, powerful things.
I never knew of a strong woman who did anything special that I could look up to. The one memory I have of a prominent woman in history was when I did a project in 3rd grade about Dolly Madison. In 13 years of public education, that was my only strong memory of learning about an important woman in history. Mind you, I'm sure that I learned about other women. Names like Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Martha Washington and Anne Frank are a few key names that stick out in my head as being people who I should remember - but that's really it.
