12 March 2021
The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 is one of the landmark events in the women’s rights movement, granting women in the United States the right to vote. The women’s rights movement is still going strong as women across the country, around the world and in other marginalized communities continue to face unequal socioeconomic and political treatment. International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, seeks to empower women across the globe and commemorate past and current achievements. Women’s History Month, commemorated in the United States every March, honors the contributions of women across a variety of fields, as well as their continuous fight for equal treatment.
“We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced,” Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani women’s and human rights activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, says in her autobiographical book, “I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education.”
The National Women’s History Alliance seeks to capture that sentiment with their theme for Women’s History Month this year: “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced.” The theme is a continuation of 2020’s theme for the “Suffrage Centennial.” The organization, expanded from the original National Women’s History Project started in 1980, promotes women’s history and is “committed to the goals of education, empowerment, equality and inclusion,” as shared in their mission statement. Not only does the theme highlight the importance of learning about women’s history and their current accomplishments, but specifically strives to feature the intersection of women.
“Multicultural American women are overlooked in most mainstream approaches to U.S. history,” NWHA says about the 2021 theme. “The National Women’s History Alliance is determined that the important roles of multicultural suffragists and voting rights activists continue to be recognized and honored. We refuse to allow their voices to be silenced, even by a pandemic.”
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