1. Women's History Month was initially just International Women's Day, a day that commemorated the Feb. 28 meeting of socialists and suffragists in Manhattan in 1909. One year later, on March 8, 1910, according to the BBC, a German activist named Clara Zetkin suggested they recognize International Women’s Day at na International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. With 17 countries in attendance at the conference, they all agreed.

2. On March 8, 1911, the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, though the holiday wasn’t widely celebrated in the United States until the United Nations began sponsoring it in 1975.

3. In 1977, in order to persuade school principals to comply with the recently passed Title IX, a task force in California created Women’s History Week. In March 1980, after celebrations had spread across the country, President Jimmy Carter declared that March 8 was officially the start of National Women’s History Week. That same year, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Maryland Representative Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution declaring the week of March 8, 1981, National Women’s History Week.

4. By 1987, Congress declared the entire month of March Women's History Month. Since then, every president has proclaimed the month of March Women's History Month. We celebrate Women's History Month to remind everyone of the achievements of women throughout the years in our culture and society, and why it's important to study them and their important moments in history. From science to politics to entertainment, it is a chance to reflect on the trailblazing women who lead the way for change. People Staff. (2023, march). Women's History Month: Facts Explainer.