By Clara Pressey
This March, like every March of every year, is Women’s History Month. It is always important to recognize the accomplishments of women, and here are just a few of the incredible ones who are making history so far this century.
Malala Yousafzai
Image via the Malala Fund
Malala Yousafzai is a young woman best known for her work in education. In 2008, the Taliban took control over the town where she lived and prohibited her and other girls from attending school. It was at this point that she began to speak out online and in-person about a woman’s right to education. However, in 2012, she was shot in the head on a bus because of her efforts. Yet, she survived. In 2014, she established the Malala Fund—a foundation dedicated to ensuring that girls around the world have access to education. That same year, she won the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the youngest Nobel laureate ever. Last year, she graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
Kamala Harris
Image via The White House
There are a number of perfectly valid critiques that you can make about any political figure. However, there is no denying that Kamala Harris is making history. A graduate from Howard University and the University of California Hastings College of Law, Harris has served as the District Attorney of San Francisco, the Attorney General of California, and a United States Senator. This January, she was sworn in as the first Black, first South Asian, and first female Vice President of the United States.
Jeanette Epps
Image via NASA
Jeanette Epps received her bachelor’s degree in science from Lemoyne College. She received her master’s degree in science in 1994 and her doctorate in aerospace engineering in 2000 from the University of Maryland College Park. Epps went on to be recruited as an intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, a role she held for seven years. This December, she will go on an expedition to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, making her the first Black woman to be a crew member aboard the International Space Station.
Amanda Gorman
Image via CNN
Amanda Gorman has been getting a lot of media attention recently, and rightfully so. This January, she became the youngest inaugural poet in the United States, with her stirring recitation of her poem “The Hill We Climb.” She published her first collection of poems in 2015, entitled The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough. A special edition of “The Hill We Climb” was released this March, and the collection it’s a part of, The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, as well as her children’s book, Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem, are being released in September. In 2020, Gorman graduated cum laude with a degree in Sociology from Harvard University. She has spoken at the Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress and has received the Genius Grant from OZY Media.
Sarah McBride
Image via Vox
Throughout her career, Sarah McBride has served in the offices of former Delaware Governor Jack Martell and former Attorney General Beau Biden. She has also worked as an intern in the Obama White House. In 2013, she took her place on the Board of Directors of Equality Delaware, and she spoke at the Democratic National Convention three years later. In 2018, she published her autobiographical book, Tomorrow Will Be Different. She attended Cab Calloway School of the Arts and American University. This past year, McBride was elected to the Delaware State Senate, making her the first transgender state senator in U.S. history.
Written by writer Clara Pressey