A Brief History

The celebration of women’s history was initiated as a weeklong event in Sonoma County in California, in an effort to raise the awareness of women’s history in the public realm. This effort began with a group of women in Santa Rosa, California, who recognized the historical achievements and societal contributions of women were missing and or grossly underrepresented in books, school curricula, and other materials.

Started March 8, 1978, Women’s History Week received enthusiastic responses and soon began to draw attention from all over the nation. Within a few years, thousands of schools and communities began celebrating National Women’s History Week. These California women formed a coalition in 1980 called the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) to lobby Congress for greater recognition of women’s accomplishment and, in 1987, Congress expanded the event to the entire month of March. Every year since, Congress has adopted a resolution for Women's History Month, and the president has issued a proclamation.

As the celebration of women’s history increasingly gained popularity, the National Women’s History Project has sponsored a variety of activities and institutions to promote the consciousness of women’s history. The organization has worked with state historical societies, women’s organizations, and groups such as the Girl Scouts to develop joint programs. The organization has created a national clearinghouse to provide multicultural women's history information, materials, referrals, and strategies. This service also provides easy access to women's history performers, organizations, museums, and historic sites.

2011 Theme: Our History is Our Strength

This year’s theme for National Women’s History Project is Our History is Our Strength. Our shared history unites families, communities, and nations. Although women’s history is intertwined with the history shared with men, several factors—social, religious, economic, and political—have worked to create a unique sphere of women's history.

The stories of women’s achievements are integral to the nation's history. Learning about women’s tenacity, courage, and creativity throughout the centuries offers a tremendous source of strength and inspiration.

For many years the contributions of women were often left out of history books, and even in the early ’80s, less than three percent of the content of teaching training textbooks included women’s contributions or mentioned them in mere footnotes. Today with the benefits of technology, the Internet contains more than 40 million citations about women’s history month.