Recognition Months

Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice
January 1, 2023

As a part of NASPA's ongoing work to center equity, foster community, share resources and practices, and deepen learning, we have created a rotating Recognition Months feature of our website. With input from staff and members, NASPA hopes to balance education, dialogue, visibility, and action in the sometimes complicated effort to acknowledge and plan around affinity and issue recognition months, weeks, and days. These recognitions offer space for community, celebration, and expansion, and simultaneously, they may sometimes feel performative and reductive. Focused attention does not mean the work concludes at the close of a month or week, but rather that we have an opportunity to highlight, integrate, and connect. 

Womxn's History Month History and Background

Logo for 2024 Women's History Month: Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Depending on one’s framework, there are different ways used to describe Women’s/Womxn’s History/Herstory Month. In this space, we invite you to read about the origins of this commemoration and to learn more about ways to become involved in gender-related communities and action through NASPA. 

The roots of this commemoration date back to activism for women’s voting and labor rights in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week. In 1987, a petition by the National Women’s History Alliance led to Congress designating March as Women’s History Month.  

The National Women's History Alliance designates an annual theme for the month. For 2024, the theme is "Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion." Read more here

International Women’s Day, first recognized by the United Nations in 1975, is recognized on March 8 or at a time in accordance with the history and national traditions of member states. 

 

 

Recognition Months - NASPA Educational Resources

Women's History Month

Women's History Month - NASPA Publications

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