8th March 2023

Celebrating Women’s History Month

This month we celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March and Women’s History Month for the whole of March. International Woman’s Day is a global holiday celebrated annually worldwide every year on the 8th March to bring attention to topics such as gender equality, reproductive rights and violence and abuse issues against women. The holiday is a focal point in the women’s rights movement. But Women’s History Month is a whole month celebration and focuses on specific topics throughout the month of March. Women’s History Month is a time of reflection and makes sure that we recognise how the efforts and bravery of women in the past continues to help pave the way for females today.

The first Women’s History Month

The first official Women’s History Month only dates back to 1987 after the National Women’s History Project petitioned for recognition and the President of the USA and Congress passed a new public law which designated the month of March as a women’s history month. In the following years from 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional requests that petitioned to make March the month of celebration every single year. State departments of education started to encourage celebrations of Women’s History Month and continue to do so today so that equality among the genders throughout the classroom.

Women’s History Month Theme 2023

Every year, Women’s History Month has a different theme that is unique to the celebration. This year Women’s History Month is themed around “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” and the aim of the campaign is to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren’t enough. The focus during this month is that any events, celebrations and speeches that take place should commemorate the effect that women have had in the past and continue to do so in the present.

For more information head over to the official website for Women’s History Month

Notable female teachers

Celebrating the success and impact that women have had on society is an important part of Women’s History Month. As a company that employs in education, we want to focus on some of the most influential female teachers throughout history.

Anne Sullivan – 

Anne Sullivan was a partially blind teacher best known for teaching the famous author Helen Keller. Sullivan studied at the Perkins school for the blind in Massachusetts.  After her studies she was recommended to a family by the name of Keller to help teach and support their deaf and blind daughter. Sullivan worked closely with Helen for months before encouraging Helen’s parents to send her to the Perkins School. Sullivan continued to teach Keller who became famous for her remarkable progress. Over the years, there have been films, dramas and broadway shows made about the pair highlighting Sullivan as a miracle worker for being able to educate and help a girl with such disabilities. Sullivan’s selfless actions helped not only Keller but people with disabilities for years to come.

Christa McAuliffe

Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher who was selected to be the first teacher to go to space, although the mission ended after a tragic flight accident, her legacy lives on and she is regarded as one of the most influential teachers ever.

Christa began as a history teacher at a Junior High school in Maryland until she moved to New Hampshire and up took a similar role. When President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project in 1984, Christa was a social studies teacher and she applied for the role at NASA to become the first teacher in space. McAuliffe took a year-long leave of absence from teaching in order to train for the mission. The plans for the Teacher in Space project received popular attention and was an extremely positive moment in education. Sadly during the takeoff, McAuliffe and the rest of the Challenger crew shuttle tragically lost their lives just after takeoff. Many schools, events and honours have been named after Christa to carry on her legacy. A standout is the Nebraska McAuliffe Prize which honours a Nebraska teacher each year for courage and excellence in education.

Savitribai Phule

Savitribai Phule was well known for being an Indian social reformer and teacher throughout her lifetime. She is one of the most important females in Indian education history and India’s feminist history. She is considered to be the pioneer of the Indian feminist movement and played an extremely important role in improving the rights of women in India.

Although she was illiterate until the time of her marriage, she was educated by her husband and friends.  Shortly after she went on to take her teacher training course and upon graduating she became the first Muslim woman teacher in India.  She started her teaching at the Maharwade in Pune, and not long after this, she started up a school along with her friend. Savitribai faced lots of abuse and criticism for her work due to the fact that she opposed the norm and was a female, despite this, she didn’t stop her work and continued to be more influential. Together with her husband, she taught children from different castes and opened a total of 18 schools and established two educational trusts. She will certainly remain one of the most important teachers ever.

We hope some of the stories above motivate women to excel in their careers in education. Here at Engage Education, we’ll continue to support women to achieve their goals. Check out our latest vacancies page to find your next role to make your mark on!