Appreciating and Highlighting American Heritage: Women's Month

During the month of March, the U.S. nationally recognizes Women’s History/Herstory Month as a designated time of year to acknowledge the contributions and accomplishments of American women.

When Did Women’s Month Begin in the U.S.?

Before Women’s Month was a national celebration, it was Women’s History Week, initiated by the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission in 1978. The goal was to address the lack of knowledge about women in educational curriculum and the public in general. The organizers selected the week of March 8th to complement International Women’s Day and held local activities for the communities’ participation. In 1979, the Women’s Action Alliance, the Smithsonian Institution, and Sarah Lawrence College convened leaders of women’s organizations at Summer Institute in Women’s History to discuss women’s history and approaches to making information about the history of women publicly available.

The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA), formerly National Women’s History Project, led a collective of women’s organizations and historians to lobby for national recognition of Women’s History Week. In 1980, President Carter issued the first Presidential proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week which was followed by members of Congress sponsoring a congressional resolution to proclaim Women’s History Week. NWHA spearheaded a petition to expand the weeklong celebration to a month and in 1987 Congress declared March Women’s History Month.

Why Do Women’s Representation in Educational Materials Matter?

Studies have indicated that when characters reflect students’ social identities and daily experiences (serving as “mirrors”), they are more active in their learning process and attentive to their work. Students value learning accurate information about people whose identities and circumstances differ from their own, offering them “windows'' to perspectives and contexts. They also benefit from being exposed to characters, who vary in backgrounds, engaged in a variety of roles, careers, and activities.

What Does the Research Say About How Women Are Represented in Educational Materials?

Our meta-analysis of educational materials indicate gender frequency has become more balanced between male and female characters. Weitzmann and colleagues’ seminal study of 1967-1971 children’s books revealed females were presented in less than a quarter of the characters. Scholars replicated a similar type of study in proceeding years and indicated an increase in female characters, though not equal to males. A 2020 study of award-winning children’s book found that of the main characters 41.7 percent were female and no instances of gender nonbinary characters. An analysis of health textbooks found females in 54 percent of the images. Females were presented in 25 percent of the characters in educational software with the percentages decreasing as grade levels advanced (i.e., 39.9 percent in PreK and 12.9 percent in 12th), and other software studies found a similar disparity. When analyzing the race/ethnic and gender intersectional identity of characters, female characters were more likely to be White, and BIPOC characters likely to be male. A study of children’s books featuring transgender characters found nearly all the characters were White.

When examining the portrayal of women, women and girls are more likely to be presented as dependent, passive, submissive, and inactive than explorative, independent, and active, even though there are efforts to shift these traits. They frequently engage in activities “traditionally” associated with being female that are often home-based, such as cleaning, shopping, preparing food, and playing with dolls. For transgender girl characters, the storylines include contrasting cultural markers and behaviors associated with gender (i.e., clothing, behavior, etc.).

For characters that represent a BIPOC identity group and marginalized gender group, they may be portrayed in “traditional” traits associated with gendered behavior, such as being submissive. In other cases, characters were portrayed in traits unique to gender affiliation and heritage, which can be limited, negative and inaccurate (such as Arab women presented as overtly sexualized and overweight, Latinx and Hispanic girls behaving in a traditional female manner, Afro-Latinas being problematic, African American women as authoritative disciplinarians, Asian women being submissive and overbearing, and Native women treated as property within their culture). At the same time, there are positive and promising portrayals of intersectional characters, like those of African descent embracing and taking pride in their African aesthetics and Latinx and Hispanic girls shown as leaders and heros and taking on active roles.

Scholars have also noted that characters may be presented positively, yet culturally inaccurately. While Native women may be shown as complex and full characters, their positive traits are based on Eurocentric values (independent, intelligent, resourceful) rather than their culture. They may also be shown assisting Europeans and White settlers as guides, translators, and other roles that led to the conquering of Native people. In some cases, Hispanic and Latinx girl characters are critiqued due to their racial and ethnic ambiguity and presentation of the “generic Latino” who has no particular heritage.

Why Women’s Month Is Still Important?

Though research indicates that the presence of women has increased in materials, 1) there is disparity and erasure of nonbinary groups within educational materials, and 2) the portrayal of women in limited and traditional traits and roles is common. These findings indicate a need to be intentional about selecting and creating materials that present different gender groups portraying a variety of traits and engaging in a range of roles and careers throughout the year, not only in March. Some actions you may take are:

• Curate list of resources whose purpose is to present the multiple contributions women have made to American society and feature women engaged in different disciplines and occupations. Institutions like the Library of Congress and National Women’s History Museum have curated digital and online resources about American women that you can explore.
• Learn more about the stories of the women in your family and community. Learn about the narratives of women in your family and local area by asking questions and documenting their responses through notes and/or recordings. Create a family or community archive, or digital storybook that can be shared.
• Create a system of reviewing educational materials and online resources to discover reliable sources that go beyond the limited and problematic portrayals of women. Apply insight about limiting and problematic portrayals as well as positive and promising depictions presented in the brief and research review to guide the review of women in materials.
• Use current events to enhance awareness of the different roles, careers, educational disciplines, interests, and hobbies of American women. Learn about women like Honorable Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Dr. Rachel Levine, and Secretary Deb Haaland from multiple reliable sources and compare information with peers.

Refer to The Representation of Social Groups in U.S. Education Materials and Why it Matters, published recently as a brief and research overview for citations.

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