Women's History Month
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we wanted to leave our Xers with a few facts about the observance and recap the ways we celebrated women.
Starting as a weeklong celebration, Women’s History Month was established in 1987 as a way to recognize women’s contributions to culture and society. For decades women did not have the same rights as men. There are still some barriers to overcome, but for now, we are focusing on women. With International Women’s Day on March 8th, the month ushered in an uplifting energy filled with women celebrating themselves and each other.
As an organization comprised of mostly women, the ladies put together a International Women’s Day playlist to keep us motivated all month . The playlist featured songs from a variety of women artists from Jill Scott to Cardi B…and of course a few throwbacks from Whitney Houston.
We heard and danced to some of those same songs later that evening at our women’s celebration, Spirituous, at Revel Bar, a women owned bar. The evening was co-hosted by Anita Mogaka, Social X Marketing Associate and August Ball, of Cream City Conservatory. Not only was Spirituous was the perfect way to engage and celebrate multicultural women in the city, it was hosted in partnership with Gentleman Jack during Women’s Entrepreneurship Week.
There were quite a few women-led businesses in the building with appetizers prepared by Lisa Kaye Catering, infused cupcakes provided by Bougie Berries, music by DJ Lo Lo, and photos by Lorraine Owen Photography.
We celebrated International Women’s Day by toasting to partnership and good times! Hopefully you all had a chance to celebrate the dopeness of women during the month of March as well. Before you go, we wanted to leave you with some women’s history facts that we found to be interesting. Take a look and share some of your favorite women’s history facts with us on social!
Women’s History Fast Facts
To coincide with Women's History Month 2011, the White House issued a 50-year progress report on the status of women in the United States. It found that younger women are now more likely than their male counterparts to hold a college degree and that the number of men and women in the labor force has nearly equalized.
Women were not allowed to compete in track and field events at the Olympics until 1928.
Before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, women could be fired if they were pregnant.
Over 60 percent of college degrees awarded in the U.S. every year are earned by women.
According to The 2018 State of Women-Owned Business Report, while the number of women-owned businesses grew 58 percent from 2007 to 2018, the number of firms owned by black women grew by a stunning 164 percent, nearly three times that rate. There are 2.4 million African American women-owned businesses in 2018, most owned by women 35 to 54.
Black women are the only racial or ethnic group with more business ownership than their male peers, according to the Federal Reserve.
African American small business owners surveyed, 62% identified as men and 38% as women. Most fell between the ages of 40 to 49 with 28%, while 25% were between 50 and 59 years old, and 22% are 30 to 39.
Written by:
Micala Peete, Programming Director
Social X MKE