As March approaches, so does women’s history month.

This is an important time to celebrate the many achievements of women throughout history.

Although women should be appreciated for their accomplishments no matter what month it is, March brings extra awareness to everything that women have done for society. In addition to the month of March, female recognition amplifies on International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8.

This is a day used to bring awareness to important issues such as reproductive rights, violence against women, the pay gap, and gender disparities in education and health care.

Women have consistently faced inequalities in comparison to men throughout history. For example, access to health care for women, specifically pregnant women, is not as easily accessible as it should be now. Men are given quick access to health care, but due to gender bias, it’s harder for women to access the same resources as easily.

In addition, the gender pay gap is a huge issue we are still seeing today. Although improvements have been made in recent years, men are still being paid more for the same work that women are doing. In jobs such as finance, sales, and medical fields, women have been shown to be paid significantly less than men for the same amount of work. 

International Women’s Day began in 1909, originally named National Women’s Day in the United States. It switched to an international women’s day the next year when women’s rights activist Clara Zetkin decided that an international day would cause more of an impact on the women’s rights movement.

The following year, in March 1911, International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time. This year, there are a number of things to do throughout the month of March to help the women’s rights movement continue. Volunteering, attending women’s marches, and shopping at female-owned businesses are all great ways to be involved this month. Additionally, there are many women-run organizations to research and even donate to if possible.

She Should Run is a group that has prepared over 20,000 women to run for office through many different programs, The Association for Women’s Rights in Development is an organization working to strengthen women’s rights, and UN Women is a global campaign looking to ensure that women have equal participation rights in areas like the economy and government. These are only a few organizations working hard to find gender equality in today’s society.