National Women's History Month

In March we celebrate National Women's History Month. I do not identify as a feminist, but there are many women I admire. These are just a few on my list:

Eleanor Roosevelt

When President Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, took a more active interest in public issues in order to restore his links with the world of politics. Throughout her adult life she played a leading part in women's organizations and was active in encouraging youth movements, in promoting consumer welfare, in working for the civil rights of minorities, and in combating poor housing and unemployment. In 1933 she conducted the first press conference ever held by a U.S. president's wife, and in 1935 she began writing a daily column, "My Day," which was syndicated in many newspapers. She also conducted a radio program, and traveled around the country, lecturing, observing conditions, and furthering causes.

Mother Teresa - 1979 Nobel Peace Prize

Mother Teresa taught in India for 17 years before she experienced her 1946 "call within a call" to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged, and disabled; and a leper colony. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work.

Justice Sonia Sotomayer

Sonia Sotomayor – the fearless federal trial court judge who saved Major League Baseball from a ruinous 1995 strike – entered the record book as the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the High Court. Sotomayor was born in the Bronx on June 25, 1954 to Juan Sotomayor and Celina Baez, both native Puerto Ricans. Her father worked in manual labor and her mother was a nurse. The family took residence in the Bronxdale Houses, one of the most coveted complexes in the city-owned housing projects. Sotomayor’s father passed away when she was nine. Following his death, Celina began working six-day weeks as a nurse to support the family. Sotomayor decided to become an attorney at the age of 10 upon watching an episode from the legal drama "Perry Mason."

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is the first Latina to sit on the United States Supreme Court. She was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit when President Barack Obama picked her to replace retired justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

Malala Yousafzai - 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

Much of the world's population, especially in poor countries, is made up of children and young people. To achieve a peaceful world, it is crucial that the rights of children and young people be respected. Injustices perpetrated against children contribute to the spread of conflicts to future generations. Already at eleven years of age Malala Yousafzai fought for girls' right to education. After having suffered an attack on her life by Taliban gunmen in 2012, she has continued her struggle and become a leading advocate of girls' rights.

In her speech, "I am many" Ms Yousafzai said the award was not just for her: "It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.

"I am here to stand up for their rights, raise their voice. It is not time to pity them. It is time to take action so it becomes the last time that we see a child deprived of education."

Besides the famous women in history, each of has women in our personal histories whom we admire and celebrate. This month, please take note of the women in your history and present who have made your world a better place ... mothers, sisters, colleagues, teachers, and daughters.

In the United States, National Women’s History Month began in 1981. Congress petitioned President Reagan to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” He did so, saying:

American women of every race, creed and ethnic background helped found and build our Nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways … As leaders in public affairs, American women not only worked to secure their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity but also were principal advocates in the abolitionist, temperance, mental health reform, industrial labor and social reform movements, as well as the modern civil rights movement.

Women’s History Week was recognized for the next five years until the National Women’s History Project lobbied Congress to designate the entire month of March as “National Women’s History Month.” Since President Reagan issued such a proclamation in 1987, March has been officially labeled as such.