March is Women's History Month where we honor women’s contributions in American history. Women’s History Month began in 1978 when the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned a “Women’s History Week” celebration. The week of March 8 was selected since it coincided with International Women’s Day. The next year, other communities created their own Women’s History Week celebrations.
February 1980, President Carter declared the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week. Then the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress and in 1987 Congress passed Public Law 100-9 which designated March as “Women’s History Month.” Since 1995, each president has issued an annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”
The National Women’s History Alliance selects and publishes the yearly theme. The National Women's History Alliance extended the annual theme for 2021 to "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced."
In 2021, the Women’s Resource and Action Center honored a small group of notable women who have been associated with The University of Iowa. Read more here.
For more information about Women's History Month:
University of Iowa Women's Resource and Action Center event
Susan Scanlan and the History of Women's History Month
Women's History Month 2021 Resources
Women in Medicine and Science
Throughout American history, the field of medicine has progressed with significant contributions from women such as the following inspiring female physicians such as: Rebecca Lee Crumpler, MD, Virginia Apgar, MD, Susan La Flesche Picotte, MD, Antonia Novello, MD, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, Patricia Bath, MD, and Mary Edwards Walker, MD.
Did you know:
- On Friday, February 25, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. If appointed, she will be the nation's first Black female to sit on the highest court in the nation.
- Dr. Eva Tsalikian, MD, Professor Emerita, was the first, and remains the only, female to serve as Chair of the department. She served in this interim role twice in her career with UIHC.
- Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, became the first woman in the United States to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree.
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler, MD, was the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree.
- Susan LaFlesche Picote, MD, is the first Native American woman to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree in the United States.
Learn more about women who made contributions to medicine:
Women Physicians Who Changed the Course of American Medicine
Celebrating 10 women medical pioneers
61 Black Women in Medicine You Should Know
In 2021, throughout the month of March the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at CCOM, the Diversity co-Chairs of Flocks Learning Community at CCOM, and the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) chapter at CCOM would like to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of Women Faculty, Staff, Trainees, and Alumni.
Meet UI Health Care's women in medicine
Women's Health Resources:
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists - Women's Health
UI Health Care Services:
Women's Wellness and Counseling Service
Image above provide by Women's Resource & Action Center's Women's History Month Zoom Background to commemorate the month