March is Women’s History Month and is an annual, declared month which highlights the contribution of women through out history and contemporary society. It is celebrated in the United States Of America, United Kingdom, and Austria culminating in a day to mark all the achievements made by women through out time on March 8th. It is celebrated in October in Canada with the celebration being Person’s Day on October 18th.
The commemoration began in 1978 as “Women’s History Week” in Sonoma County, California, and was championed by Gerda Lerner and the National Women’s History Alliance to be recognized as a national week and then month in the United States, spreading internationally after that.
This year, the theme of Women’s History Month is a Better Future For Women. 51 years on from the Equal Pay Act, women are still not achieving parity with male colleagues, and the impact of Coronavirus has highlighted the inequality that exists, and has actually widened in many cases. The organisers of the event want a better future for women where they can reach pay parity and be free from any form of sexual harassment or discrimination. This includes any incidents of domestic abuse which may affect women and cause them any kind of mental anguish or distress.
On March 8th, people are being requested to think of all the women that they work with. While many of us are still working from home due to the Covid 19 pandemic, people are being requested to arrange online events or conferences that will show support and solidarity with women. There are simple ways in which women can get involved to show solidarity with each other.
Every day, a series of social media graphics which illustrate ten key moments in history will be published on the PCS Twitter and Instagram feeds. People are being asked to share these moments with friends and colleagues using the hash tag #PCSABetterFutureForWomen.
All women members can register for this year’s TUC Women’s Conference on 3-5 March. The conference is online for the first time and open to all women members; you do not have to attend for the full three days. It is an opportunity to hear speakers on a variety of topics, sign up for various sessions and, hopefully, feel able to take that step to becoming more involved in union activity and supporting and uplifting other women.
The PCS national women’s forum has also arranged a fringe event on 3 March from 6.30 – 7.30 pm on Black Women and the Impacts of Coronavirus. Register via Eventbrite
To round off Women’s History Month, there will be a PCS event on Zoom on 30 March, from 6.30 – 7.45 pm, entitled Celebrating Women, Past, Present and Future. More details to follow. Both events will be chaired by Zita Holbourne, PCS national vice president.
Whatever date you choose to celebrate the achievements of women, please show solidarity with women, not just for March, but for A Better Future for Women. #PCSABetterFutureForWomen.
So this March we are not just marking Women’s History Month, we are also using it to remind as many people as possible of the importance of ensuring that history is the story of all peoples and that all stories have a value, regardless of whether all people have access to the decision-making.
In the 18th century Mary Wollstonecraft wrote about the Rights of Women – she probably hoped that 230 years after her seminal work we wouldn’t still be campaigning to have equal rights and representation. It has been a slow journey to get to where we are now. Let us use the opportunity of Women’s History Month to shout about how far we still have to go and why the past is not full of stories to be overlooked, but rather stories to give us inspiration and reminders of how much still needs to change.
