11 Women's History Month Facts
Updated: Apr 19, 2022
Photo Courtesy of Wix
Who runs the world? Beyoncé said it herself and she’s right. But for a long time, women didn’t have the opportunity to do it. March is a significant month for women and girls all over because it celebrates us, even though it’s sad to say inequality and sexism are still prevalent in the United States and all over the world today.
To this day women are still paid far less than their male counterparts. Even though the gap is narrowing, women today are making 79% of what their male counterparts make in the United States according to The National Partnership for Women and Families. We still have a long way to go but women are making history every day.
Here are a few facts you probably didn’t know about Women’s history month.
1- The first Women's history day took place on February 28, 1909, in New York City, where it celebrated the one-year anniversary of the 15,000 women who marched in the garment workers’ strike.
2- Women's history day turned into Women’s history week in 1987.
3- Wyoming Territory was the first place to grant women the right to vote.
4- The 19th Amendment didn’t give all women the right to vote.
Photo Courtesy of Element5 Digital on Unsplash
5- Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb was the first woman to pass astronaut testing in 1961. But she couldn’t go to space because of her gender and, 20 years later, Sally Ride became the first woman in space (and the first gay astronaut).
6- Title IX, which prohibits discrimination due to sex in federally funded programs, was passed on March 1st, 1972.
7- Women weren’t able to get credit cards until 1974.
Photo Courtesy of Wix
8- Eleanor Roosevelt held all-woman press conferences in 1933.
9- At the first Olympic game in 1924, women could only compete in figure skating. In 2022, women can now participate in 44 events.
10- Women make up 27 percent of congress.
11- Women make up 57.8 percent of the labor force.
Sadia Wells is a recent graduate student with a BS in Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in Mass Media Production from North Carolina A&T State University. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC.