Women's History Month Celebrated at NWS Earle

honored Freeholder Lillian Burry during a celebration last week held on the base, celebrating women's history.

“Before 1970 the field of women’s history did not exist,” Burry said. “It was probably assumed that women didn’t have a history worth knowing. There was no formal doctoral training in the subject available anywhere in the country. Since then, almost every college offers women’s history courses, and major graduate programs offer doctoral degrees in the field.”

The theme for the March 30 event was “Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment,” focusing on women’s struggle for equal access to education.

According to a county news release:

In 1848 a women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, N.Y. At that event, 68 women along with 32 men set the agenda for the women’s rights movement with the adoption of 12 regulations calling for equal treatment under the law.

This era produced strong, vibrant women, such as Margaret Sanger, who in 1916 opened the first birth control clinic in the Unites States, and Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, who used civil disobedience to gain passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

In the mid 20th century, history meant political history. But by the 1970s a new social history began shifting emphasis to a broader spectrum of American life, including the history of urban life, public health, ethnicity, the media and poverty.

Women’s History Month honors the contributions of women throughout history. It had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed a law authorizing Women’s History Week. In 1987 it was expanded to include the entire month.

“We need to recognize the American Woman who courageously stood on the front lines, risking ridicule and imprisonment to confront the acceptance of gender inequality,” Burry said. “These women revised society.”