Addie Gleason

The women of West pursue success in their fields and endeavors.

Proclaimed initially “Women’s History Week” in 1981, Women’s History Month celebrates women’s achievements throughout history. Women faced, and still face, various forms of oppression in day-to-day life. Whether it be wage gaps, the pink tax or education, women face numerous obstacles that threaten their potential. Nevertheless, women persevered and advocated for their rights.

Many consider the 1848 Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention the beginning of America’s Women’s Rights Movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Mary Ann M’Clintock and Jane Hunt organized the convention to advocate for gender equality. Additionally, 100 attendees signed the “Declaration of Sentiments,” stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.”

As the Women’s Rights Movement gained momentum, feminists turned their attention to suffrage. After women held protests, hunger strikes and worked during World War I, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified Aug. 18, 1920. However, contrary to popular belief, the Nineteenth Amendment did not give all women equal access to voting. Well-known activists such as Stanton fought against suffrage for Black men and tried to separate the Women’s Rights Movement from movements for suffrage of all races. Discrimination and intimidation tactics made it difficult for Black people to vote following the Nineteenth Amendment’s ratification. Native American and Asian women struggled to gain citizenship, hindering their voting rights until later in the 1900s. Additionally, each state had the right to decide whether or not to ratify the citizenship bills and suffrage amendments.

Mary Church Terrell, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin were crucial activists in gaining suffrage for all women. When the suffrage movement became divided in its views, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) supported the Fifteenth Amendment, granting African American men the right to vote before women would gain voting rights. Harper helped form AWSA in support of the Fifteenth Amendment, and she later went on to advocate for equal education and job opportunities.

Although many are familiar with the famous pioneers of the Women’s Rights Movement, there are still various women leading their fields at a local level. Three out of four grade-level principals at West are women. Principal Beth Plunkett led the West community from 1995-2010, taking on a role that women were not typically offered at the time.

Even students have held fundraisers for charities, advocated for sports teams and spoken with a former state representative. From robotics to the theater to music, the women of Parkway West are pursuing their goals.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Courtesy of Katie Hanses

Working with her team, junior Katie Hanses meets people from all around the school that share a common interest: robotics. Hanses taught Lego robotics lessons at a camp last summer, and her boss inspired her to join robotics this school year. “I’m lucky that my whole team is very progressive. I haven’t been experiencing any misogyny. West did a really good job creating a community that makes a woman in STEM feel safe and makes women in those science and technology fields feel open and heard. They’re all genuinely excited to hear my opinions and ideas,” Hanses said. “A lot of times STEM is marketed in a very stereotypically feminine way to girls, which obviously not all girls enjoy that. It’s super important for [my teammate Anushka Dharmasanam and I] to be doing this because we’re showing little girls that we can do the same science as boys can do. We can do the same engineering boys can do. We can make things just as well as them.”