Women's History Month: A History Worth Knowing?

"When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field
did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing."
- - Gerda Lerner, Women and History

In 1963, Gerda Lerner developed one of the first women's history courses in the nation. Throughout her career, she continued to break ground, developing and directing the first graduate program in women's history at Sarah Lawrence College and one of the first doctoral programs in women's history at the University of Wisconsin. Without knowledge of their history, Lerner believed, women could not imagine their capacity for full participation in the world.

  

Should we still celebrate Women's history month?
Is it necessary?

We've seen vast strides in what females accomplish: Women graduate from college in greater numbers (among Americans ages 25 to 34, 34% of women now have a bachelor's degree compared with just 27% of men ), and they have higher GPAs. As most professors tell it, they also have more confidence and drive. These strengths carry women through their 20s, when they are more likely than men to be in graduate school and making strides in the workplace. In a number of cities, they are even out-earning their brothers and boyfriends.

  

The White House just released a new report-Women in America which is a statistical portrait showing how women are faring in the United States today and how their lives have changed over time.

  

"The report serves as a reminder that the issues facing women today are not just women's issues.  When women make less than men for the same work, it impacts families who then find themselves with less income and often increased challenges in making ends meet.  When a job does not offer family leave, it impacts both parents and often the entire family. When there's no affordable child care, it hurts children who wind up in second-rate care or spending afternoons alone in front of the television set. And when women-owned small businesses struggle to gain federal contracts and equitable access to capital, it hinders our ability to promote a fair distribution of work.

Understanding these facts is deeply important in helping to paint a picture of the changing lives and circumstances of American women over time. But reading facts alone can never substitute for taking actions that directly address the challenges faced by women and girls of all ages and backgrounds." Source: The White House Blog: A Celebration of Women Business Owners

Interesting Women in Business Tidbits

Ernst &Young rounded up studies that show that women can make the difference between economic success and failure in the developing world, between good and bad decision-making in the industrialized world, and between profit and loss in the corporate world. Their conclusion: American companies would do well with more senior women.

Catalyst, a research firm focused on women and business, found that Fortune 500 companies with three or more women in senior management positions score higher on top measures of organizational excellence. In addition, companies with three or more women on their boards outperformed the competition on all measures by at least 40 percent.

Organizations such as Columbia University, McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs, and Pepperdine University, have done research that document a clear relationship between women in senior management and corporate financial success.

Women's Issues Awareness and Workplace Implementation Resources

The Power Dead-Even Rule & Other Gender Differences In The Workplace, Revised Edition,  The Fairer Sex, Navigating Gender Differences, and A Tale of O - On Being Different.