We’re feminists…we swear.

But how progressive is Women’s History Month? At the risk of sounding anti-feminist to some, I’d like to share a few thoughts that Courtney and I have been discussing over the past few days.

Last Thursday (International Women’s Day), a bunch of friends kept telling me “Happy International Women’s Day!” I replied with the same, but to be honest, the exchange made me a little uncomfortable each time. There was something about having attention drawn to my gender on one random Thursday that bothered me. So I had to stop and ask myself why…why, as a feminist, does that make me so uncomfortable when that day (and the entire month of March) are intended to empower women?

My thoughts brought me back to my history classes in college, where as history majors, we discussed not only the events and effects of historical events but also the progression of the study of history. And despite all the progress that women seemingly made in the 20^th century, it wasn’t until late in that century that’s women’s studies (or the study of women’s history) even became an organized field of study. Yet even then, the roles that women played in history weren’t integrated into mainstream studies – we were tacked on as a separate field. You studied World War II, and then you looked at the role women played in the war. You studied social movements (at any point in history), and then you explored how women participated.

And here we are: Women’s History Month. An entire month set aside to extolling the accomplishments of women throughout the history of the world. Yet what about the rest of the year?

I really think that as progressive that we as a culture think we are, the fact that we still have Women’s History Month says a lot about how progressive we aren’t. (And honestly, the same argument could be made for any other awareness month we have.) By needing an entire month to recognize a group of people, we are showing that women are not integrated into mainstream anything (be it the study of history or employment law). It is important that we have our own day, and even month, to celebrate the contributions of women, but we must not let the fact that we are recognized on one day be an act of appeasement.

Don’t get me wrong. I think there’s still a long way to go. Women have most certainly not achieved equal rights as men in a number of areas, and for that reason, I think raising awareness is a great thing. But as we move forward, it’s my dream that one day we won’t need Women’s History Month…that we can appreciate the accomplishments and contributions of all people, male and female, on any day of the year.