At this point, I've talked to many women and men about why there is a women's history month. Almost everyone I've spoken to about this 31-day occasion has known in the back of their minds why every year since 1978 Congress has issued a resolution for Women's History Month: because the other 11 months are focused on men's history. But many of the people I've spoken to view this fact with distain. Why should we dedicate an entire month to listening to women talk about their vaginas or how they've been discriminated against? We already know it, they claim.

But this is not the case. If you ask a random person about Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi, they will most likely answer immediately. But if you ask that same person about Susan B. Anthony or the Grimke Sisters, you'll probably be faced with a blank look. This is the reason we have Women's History Month--to educate ourselves on the other part of history that we tend to overlook.

This is why many feminists call the woman's standpoint of history "herstory." It includes learning about women's lives through their journals and letters. (One example of this is found at www.dohistory.org, where Martha Ballard's journal of being a midwife in the 16th Century is displayed for viewers to see.) Herstorians look back at women and their lives to see the other side of history--the way women, and not just men, have lived over time.

What is so amazing about this month in 2004 versus in 1978 is the amount of knowledge we now have about women that we just didn't know 26 years ago. The importance of looking at women's experiences in the past is stressed because we need to look at the other part of history. For example, if we look at the Civil War just from the Confederate point of view and ignore what battles the Yankees had won, or their ideology, we wouldn't have accurate knowledge of the Civil War. This is the same thing here. Once we know more of what women have done in the past, the better-rounded her/history becomes. Here are just some of the women:

Abigail Adams:
Abigail was John Adams' wife, but spent most of her time away from him as he was a diplomat abroad and she had five children to raise. But distance did not stop her from speaking her mind to her husband about his political affairs. In one of her many letters, she wrote the famous "Remember the Ladies" statement, telling John to keep in mind the rights of women of the new country he was helping to create. John later responded by saying that if the government gave women power, they'd have the "despotism of the petticoat." (www.thelizlibrary.org/suffrage/abigail)

Betty Freidan:
Yes, you've probably heard of The Feminine Mystique from Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, but the woman who wrote this 1963 book shattered the image of the "happy suburban housewife." In it she speaks of the "problem that has no name," being the fact that raising children and homemaking isn't the only way a woman could live a fulfilling life. After writing it, Betty Freidan moved on to form the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, which still exists today as a large feminist force.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
This amazing woman organized the 1848 Senecca Falls Convention with Lucretia Mott. Hundreds of women and about thirty men joined together to talk about women's rights, and eventually formed the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (a feminist declaration of independence). Later, working with Susan B. Anthony towards the right to vote, she founded the National Women Suffrage Association. Also profoundly religious, she combined her feminism and faith to write The Woman's Bible, a feminist view of traditionally patriarchal passages.

Lucy Stone:
This woman was one of the first women to graduate from Oberlin College (a college in Ohio, which was the first to begin accepting women). She moved on to form the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, which focused on individual states' movements toward women getting the right to vote. She also lectured against slavery, touring the nation for the Anti-Slavery Society. In 1855, Lucy married Henry Blackwell, a crusader for women's rights, and kept her maiden name.

Sojourner Truth:
Isabella was born a slave in New York and became free when the 1827 Emancipation Law was passed. She then joined the Northampton Association, changed her name to Sojourner Truth, and became the leader of African American women joining the Women's Rights movement in the 17th Century. Her famous speech, "Aren't I a Woman?" inspired women to view the traditionally Caucasian movement with new eyes. This is the basis of Third-Wave feminism; looking at women from all racial, cultural, and situational backgrounds.