Why do we have to do this?

March is National Women's History Month. "This year's theme, Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams honors the spirit of possibility and hope set in motion by generations of women in their creation of communities and their encouragement of dreams.

Community comes in many forms, and dreams change, expand, and are sometimes fulfilled. Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams honors women for bringing communities together and restoring hope in the face of impossible odds....

Learning about the extraordinary achievements of women helps diminish the tendency to dismiss and trivialize who women are and what they accomplish....The knowledge of women's history provides a more expansive vision of what a woman can do. This perspective can encourage girls and women to think larger and bolder and can give boys and men a fuller understanding of the female experience.

We know from researach and from anecdotal studies that learning the stories of women's success, talent and accomplishments expands a sense of what is possible for girls and women. Information about women and their successes gives males and females alike a perspective that challenges some of our cultures' most unconscious and archaic assumptions about women.

Thus, women's history becomes a story of inspiration and hope. A story of courage and tenacity. A story of promise, possibility and purpose."*

* National Women's History Project