Providing Healing, Promoting Hope - Women's History Month (Beatrix Vessey, City and Islington Sixth Form College)

On March 8th, the world celebrated International Women’s Day in a variety of different ways from culture to culture. In China, women are entitled to a half day at work; Russia holds an official public holiday; Italians celebrate by giving flowers to the women in their lives; Poland holds an official holiday alongside giving gifts. However, the entire month of March has been dedicated to Women’s History since 1978.

The tradition began in the United States and grew out of a weeklong celebration towards female contributions to society in the school district of Sonoma, California. It wasn’t until 1980 that then President Jimmy Carter dedicated a week to celebrating women’s impact upon culture and history, and then six years later the National Women’s History Project in America successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the month. Each year there is a theme, and this year the dedication was specifically towards ‘Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope’. This has been particularly prominent throughout the pandemic over the last two years, and more recently, the women involved in helping the crisis in Ukraine.

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, women make up 85% of the nursing and healthcare support occupations on the front line within the US. In the UK, and more specifically within the NHS, the figure is even slightly higher at 88%. Looking at the crisis in Ukraine, women now make up 10% of the Ukrainian army, alongside the countless numbers of female volunteers both in Ukraine and in surrounding countries helping the wounded, homeless, and – outside of the country itself – refugees. Not only are these women ‘Providing Healing’, they are also ‘Promoting Hope’ through the unwavering positivity and warmth they are showing those in need.

According to the National Women’s History Alliance, the theme is "both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history."