Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month by presidential proclamation. The acknowledgment of women used to be just one week when the education task force of Sonoma County Commission in California initiated and executed “Women’s History Week” in 1978. Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week.” Prior to this movement in the early 1970s, women’s history was virtually an unknown topic in the K-12 curriculum and the general public. Between 1988-1994, congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. This went into effect in 1995.
The state departments of education encouraged the celebration of National Women’s History Week as an effective way to achieve equality goals in a classroom setting. Over one hundred community women participated in special presentations in classrooms throughout the country. The annual “Real Woman” essay contest drew hundreds of entries. Women’s advocacy has continued to grow over the last couple of decades with more resources and clubs for young women to feel included and heard. When Pennridge student Londyn Frazier was asked to describe the importance of young people understanding and supporting feminist movements, she responded, “It’s imperative for young women to understand certain aspects of feminist movements, as, unfortunately, how much gender has influenced society. It’s important to do everything possible to be in the best positions in your career, education, and social setting.”
Our society has been influenced by manufacturers who apply taxes on women’s products. The pink tax is the markup on goods and services marketed to women. Why the color Pink? This is the color that is often used by manufacturers to market and brand products that are designed for women. This tax can also often refer to state sales tax on menstrual products, like tampons and sanitary pads. These feminine hygiene products are necessities for many women, but many states tax feminine products as luxury items while exempting other necessities, like groceries and medicine, from sales tax. Some movements have been ongoing and/or put in place to help fight this issue. CVS Pharmacy has lowered prices on its branded feminine care products. CVS also eliminated sales tax on those products in twelve states where the products were more expensive because of the pink tax. A campaign called “Tampon Tax Back” was launched last fall. It allows purchasers in certain states to get a sales tax refund on some feminine hygiene products.
Women Supporting Women is a club at Pennridge High School to support women’s health. “Founded in 2020 during COVID by Alexis Moyer and Sydney Peoples to help teen girls socialize and feel confident in their bodies.” Abigail Zischang wrote in a pendulum article. The club held a donation for feminine products to be put in the school bathrooms to assist them if they cannot afford it, or if they are in an emergency and need a quick backup. The club has created a “Period Project” where they collect feminine products for the homeless, create baskets for the girl’s bathroom, coat drive, mentor middle school girls, educate the school about significant women in history, and raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault. Clubs for feminism aren’t as universal around schools so it’s important to advocate in order to promote more resources for young women to have. Londyn Frazier says, “Staying informed and advocating for progressive thinking,” is how young people can contribute and engage with feminism activism and advocacy.
https://www.womenshistory.org/womens-history/womens-history-month
https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/womens-history-month-history/
https://www.investopedia.com/pink-tax-5095458
https://phspenndulum.org/6763/news/school/women-supporting-women-at-pennridge-high-school/
https://www.pennridge.org/domain/1248
