In the United States, Women’s History Month traces its conception back to the very first International Women’s Day in 1911. In the 1970s, women’s history was practically a foreign topic in the K-12 curriculum or in society generally as far back as the woman suffrage movement in the 1840s. Bringing the empowerment of women to the forefront, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a “Women’s History Week” celebration for 1978.
By 1986, 14 states had already declared March as Women’s History Month. This momentum and state-to-state action were joined to lobby Congress to proclaim the whole month of March 1987 as National Women’s History Month.
A special Presidential Proclamation was issued by Ronald Reagan on March 1, 1988, stating “Women’s History Month is a time for us to recognize and salute women’s contributions to the American family and to society,” the proclamation honors the extraordinary achievements of American women all over the United States.
Students at Chabot expressed how excited they were for all the National Women’s Month and events that the school is hosting. One student, in particular, Nora Tillmen, third-year Chabot student has made it clear that it’s about time woman get the respect they deserve considering we all are just as capable. “I feel Chabot as a whole is putting an insane amount of time and effort into making this month mean something. I love it, and I feel special,” says Tillmen.
Chabot is a very diverse campus according to Institutional Research staff data provided by Chabot College. The gender breakdown as of Fall 2017 over 50 percent of the staff were women of all nationalities. Chabot has some of the most fantastic faculty I have ever met, and the fact that more than half are women is inspiring.
Sara Parker, Dean of Social Science at Chabot College has been with the school for the past 10 years, during eight of these years, she was a political-science professor. She chose to shift to administration. When you are seeing someone elevate themselves, you can’t help but want to be better and do better so you can feel that level of satisfaction. “Always do your best, work hard and work with integrity, and those things will serve you well and keep you moving forward,” Parker said when asked what the best advice she received in her career was.
Jennifer Lange, Life Science professor at Chabot College, has been a full-time instructor since 2006, but she has had the spirit of a teacher since birth. Being a woman in the science field is tough, being that it’s a male-dominated field.
Lange states that National Women’s Month is the time we as women “Get to come out the shadows in a lot of places, that women might not receive recognition for. March is the Month to give women the credit they have always deserved and not received.”
Respect for the achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America is as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.