*Editor’s note: This article was originally published in March 2021.

March is a happy month. Winter turns to spring, flowers bloom, bees buzz. Everything is going well. And to add to this beauty, it’s also Women’s History Month, a great time to remember the hardships women have gone through to get to where they are today. 

So, what is Women’s History Month? According to National Women’s History Month, Women’s History Month is a “[celebration of] the contributions women have made to the United States and [recognition of] the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.”

This year’s theme [in 2021] is “Refused to be Silenced,” which goes in hand-in-hand with last years’ theme. Women refused to be silenced by the vote, despite the fact that we are in a pandemic.

Several countries, including the United States, England, and Australia, celebrate Women’s History Month, but they don’t do much to honor the importance of women in everyday life. The United Nations sponsors International Women’s History day annually and helped to popularize the month, which is at least step in the right direction.

Even though some large global powers have tried to popularize this event, there are 3.82 billion girls in the world right now and too many people have seemed to have forgotten that March is Women’s History Month.

Sophomore Philipp Alting knew about the event but didn’t know about the length. “I thought it was just a day. I didn’t know it was a whole month,” he said.

Sophomore Chloe Dierkes didn’t know it was a celebrated month. “Is it new?” she said. 

No, Chloe, it isn’t new. Women’s History Month was established in 1982, making it almost 40 years old. 

“I feel that people don’t see [Women’s History Month] as a big deal,” junior Valeria Giraldo said. “Many people just don’t know it’s a thing.” 

“I didn’t know about it, no,” junior Andrew Soha said. “I’m an ignorant man. I don’t know about women’s society and things like that.” 

“I didn’t know about it before you informed me by your email,” history teacher Mr. PG Standard said. “I really didn’t know because I thought we always honored women, like every month. I honor them every day in my class so it’s nothing new.”

In order to update this outdated perspective, things need to change. As a society, we need to transform the idea that women don’t deserve an entire month, and start remembering the hardships and significance women have in our world today, starting with spreading awareness of this.

“We need to start spreading awareness about Women’s History Month. Things need to change.” Giraldo says, and junior Nicole Rivera agrees. “Ideas really need to shift and things need to be different in the future,” she said.

“I think more exposure through social media and women are mainly the advocates for Women’s History Month,” Mr. Standard said. 

“It would be nice for it to be talked about on a national holiday level,” English teacher Ms. Coumes said. “More support from our country and more education on [Women’s History Month] starting at a young age would definitely help to spread news about this.”

“I think that social media would be the main source. People have been posting on Twitter a lot too, which is spreading the news as well,” history teacher Ms. Kristin Kramer said. “But, to an extent, the media decides what to cover, so sometimes we don’t get the choice. There have been protests in Mexico because of Women’s History Day, which is influential.” 

“I think that if schools mark [Women’s History Month] in public ways like a bulletin board and things on social media assembly,” Ms. Kramer also said, “the news would spread around faster to a range of an audience.”

Following these tactics, the lack of care for Women’s History Month can change. We can start to celebrate the important women in our lives.

Giraldo thinks that girls need to start supporting each other.

“The world would be a better place if girls would start to spread kindness, not hatred,” she said.

And as Anne Frank said, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.