Patrick Cao, Editor-in-Chief
March is Women’s History Month and frankly, the effort put forth is respectable, but women deserve better overall.
The battle for equality between men and women has been an exhaustive effort for centuries in the United States. From this battle, our nation has birthed heroes like Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, Mary Wollstonecraft and many more. Their efforts fighting for the rights of women are undoubtedly commendable, however, I feel that having a month highlighting them is contradictory to their original statement of being equal to men.
Do I believe we should have a Men’s History Month to balance it out? Absolutely not. Every day in history class feels like Men’s History Month. Why is it that African Americans and women each only get a month to acknowledge and recognize the accomplishments and struggles of their people? After February, we shouldn’t forget about the hard work and compassion brought on by figures like Martin Luther King Jr. After March, we shouldn’t just forget the endless amount of women that fought exhaustively for the right to vote. It doesn’t make any sense. Feminists and other civil rights activists should strive for something even better than a month.
We can start with what we teach, as education is key to changing society. If we change what we teach today, we will change tomorrow. Specifically concerning Women’s History Month, and even Black History Month, we should advocate for more inclusion in what’s being taught in our schools every day. Instead of just a month, African Americans and women should be incorporated into the history we teach every day. History is history and should not exclude anyone based on their skin color or gender.
One of the ultimate goals for activists is to achieve equality, and a great step in this direction would be advocating for a curriculum that incorporates the history of women and African Americans into the same history of white men. Shedding light on the accomplishments or even the mistakes of these groups only strengthen the idea of everyone being equal.
Distinguishing each group with their own month of history is not doing anyone favors. True equality should not be a celebration but a way of living, a way of living that entails there only being one history: American history. If we break down the barriers and be inclusive in teaching American history, the children of tomorrow will know as much about Harriet Beecher Stowe as they do Mark Twain.
Once we stop distinguishing people by their gender or the color of their skin and acknowledge them as fellow Americans, then we can achieve equality.
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