Academic reviews have shown that most United States
history books in our country have less than 11% of their content that pertains
to women. As a result of this, students - boys and girls alike - can
understandably draw the conclusion that women have been passive and
non-participatory throughout history.
With that in mind, a group of educators in Sonoma
County began Women’s History Week in 1978. By 1987, Congress declared a
resolution making March National Women’s History Month. President Reagan
signed the proclamation.
Since then, the history of women in our society has
been moved to a place where it has not been before: as in integral part of the
school curriculum and in the forefront of the minds of many more people.
We have quite a way to go if we are looking for
parity on the national level. Women are 52% of our population; that should be
reflected in our Congress. In the 107th Congress, thirteen of the 100 Senators
are women. (In California and Maine, both Senators are women.) Of the
435 members of the House of Representatives, 61 (14%) are women. Five of the
fifty states have women governors.
Who are the women who most influenced you? It would
be valuable to both sons and daughters to talk about these women - whether
they were famous or not - and their character traits that affected your life.
In conclusion, I propose a corollary to the Sadkers’
opening quotation: Every time a boy reads a womanless history, he learns that
women are worth less. Don’t we want both our girls and our boys to value women
and their place in our society?
