It’s that time of year again celebrating the outstanding efforts the female gender has put in, not just this past year, but the centuries of history we have produced. For this annual article, I have interviewed students from Gallatin High School on their perspective of Women’s History Month. Isabella Determan, a junior at Gallatin, and Brooklynn Haugen, also a junior at Gallatin, were asked for their stance on how Women’s History Month has impacted them and others.

Women’s History Month was originally celebrated as Women's History Week but was later changed in 1987 by Congress when they passed Public Law 100-9 and declared the month of March to be a nation-wide known commemoration. Since then, the recognition females obtain has been impacted immensely. However there is still quite a bit of fight left in us to gain the freedom and rights women still lack.

The representation of female power is an ongoing fight in modern day America and is expressed through pop culture, politics, and everyday societal normalities. Determan’s view on what Women’s History Month means is “a representation of the power that women have worked towards for centuries” as well as the fight for schooling and equal rights to men. It wasn’t until 1972 that women finally had equal access to education. Federal law has granted the right to education, unaffected by sex discrimination in Title IX but was a long and challenging fight for women that started back in the early 1900s.

The impact of celebrating such an important month has brought a lot of good to female empowerment. The overall impression of talking about and discussing the history of women, “...brings more awareness to the strengths and weaknesses of what people have had to strive through in order to get to where we are now in today’s society,” according to Determan. From bringing it up in an English class to studying the efforts of females, every little bit of attention to modern issues or struggles brings a much needed change to a fight that has been proceeding for generations. 

Many cases of misogyny, sexism, and discrimination are present in today’s society whether addressed or not. The only difference between each case is the severity, circumstance, and acknowledgement they get. By being aware of your own and others' mindset and actions against this cause will change the support each case gets and possibly change the outcome of them. This solution or others will not fix everything overnight, but there is an everlasting room for improvement and opportunity needed to be taken. Start with recognition, showing off the accomplishments and achievements females have been working so hard on empowers those to do even more and create a future that is less about degrading or ignoring these wins and more about seeing women as a powerhouse for change and respect.

As Haugen said in an interview, “Women’s History Month is a really good time to learn about history you didn’t previously know, such as the first woman astronaut to go to space or the women scientists who have made it big in the industry.” To really celebrate and use Women’s History Month to its full potential, there are steps everyone can take these next few weeks. Take the time to educate yourself on women’s history, inequalities, and experiences such as reproductive rights around the world or the recent breakthrough research on menopause. Speak out against sexism, misogyny, and discrimination when you encounter it. Just being a support system will decrease the tolerance we have for these instances. And lastly, let the women in your life know you appreciate and respect them; not everyone hears it but we all know they deserve it. Find time in your life to create understanding of Women’s History Month and spread the positivity that comes with it. No matter how big or small, you are capable of changing the world.