Compiled by: Executive Theme Editor Raven Ramsey and Copy Editor Zoe Howard
La Vista takes a look at the history of Women’s History Month and the events taking place on campus to celebrate.
Mira Costa S-Club, English teachers recognize Women’s History Month
In 1980, President James (Jimmy) Carter issued a presidential proclamation that declared the week of March 8 National Women’s History Week, thus creating the beginning of what would later turn into Women’s History Month in 1987. Each year, Women’s History Month follows a theme, this year being “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” to honor the healthcare workers and caregivers throughout the pandemic. At Costa, the Soroptimist Club (S-Club) encourages its members and women everywhere to get involved in women’s marches, rallies, and speeches during Women’s History Month to show their dedication to gender equality.
“I wish high school students better understood how important Women’s History Month really is,” senior and S-Club president Leona Pickard said. “It’s not just about celebrating women; it’s about raising awareness and giving our appreciation to the women who have put in the time and dedication to better this world yet never got the praise they rightfully deserved since they were overlooked by their gender.”
S-Club was founded at Costa over 20 years ago as a way to get teenage girls involved with Soroptimist International Society, a foundation that focuses on improving the lives of women and girls around the world, as well as charity and fundraising events. Senior Leona Pickard has been in the club since her freshman year in 2018.
“My favorite part about Women’s History Month is learning about all of the women who have been behind the scenes making my rights possible and changing societal norms forever,” Pickard said.
This semester, S-Club has been working on a fundraising event to raise money to make blankets for children in hospitals. Currently, they are planning their annual “Dream It Be It”’ conference where high school girls from all over the South Bay come together to learn how to set long-term goals for their future.
“Being in S-Club has been such a wonderful experience for me, my favorite [experience] being meeting wonderful girls from different places and seeing how struggles for women can look,” Pickard said. “Many struggles are shared, but women from different environments experience different hardships. By being around different people, the better your perspective is.”
In addition to S-Club, there is also a women’s literature course offered to seniors that was created by former Costa teacher Jessica Nassau and was later passed on to Nicole Wachell in 2010. Wachell also teaches ninth grade English, as well as Honors English 11.
“When my department chair at the time asked me if I was interested in taking over the course, I jumped at the chance,” Wachell said. “I love exploring women authors and protagonists and fostering deeper discourse on women’s status in society. I also find that I get a lot of impassioned students who connect to the curriculum and provide interesting and meaningful discussions.”
Throughout the semester-long course, students explore literature with strong female protagonists, as well as the historical context around it. According to Wachell, she teaches one core novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and also incorporates short stories, poetry and political speeches.
“I actually don’t do anything noteworthy to celebrate Women’s History Month,” Wachell said. “I just love that I get an entire semester to unpack women’s literature, history, and status with my seniors. It’s a beautiful thing.”
According to Wachell, too often “Women’s History Month” and “International Women’s Day” often gets reduced to social media posts and photo opportunities. Wachell believes that there’s nothing wrong with celebrating women via social media but wishes that more people educated themselves about both women’s history and contemporary international struggles for women.
“I think some of the hard-fought gains that women achieved over the past 50 years too often get taken for granted,” Wachell said. “In many parts of this country, women could not even open up credit cards in their own names without male co-signers until federal legislation prohibited credit discrimination in 1974. This history is not that old. Understanding the course of women’s advancement is crucial in evaluating how problematic gender stereotypes continue to reverberate in our country.”
Throughout history, there have been many female figures that have helped in the promotion of women’s rights, but sometimes these women go unnoticed. According to Wachell, one of the women she wishes people knew more about is Shirley Chisholm.
“Shirley Chisholm is an incredibly remarkable female from history that I wish more people knew about,” Wachell said. “She was the first Black woman to win a congressional seat and the first to seek the presidential nomination from a major party. Every step of the way, she encountered the double-pronged obstacles of racism and sexism, but she spoke truth to power and advocated for change.”
In addition to Chisholm, Wachell says that she also admires Gloria Steinem. According to Wachell, despite her problematic behavior, Steinem has done a lot for women and the Women’s Liberation movement.
“Although Gloria Steinem has been problematic at times, and I certainly haven’t agreed with all of her views over the years, she did so much to advance the Women’s Liberation movement that I feel like I owe her a debt of gratitude for her work,” Wachell said. “She has always bravely fought for women’s rights, often shouldering criticism, ridicule, and misplaced anger in the process.”
Over the summer, Costa English teachers Maddie Hutchinson and Diana Sieker started a book club for students and teachers. The meetings were held on Zoom, and the club focused on works from BIPOC authors, as well as female authors.
“One of the books we read eventually became one of the books we incorporated in the ninth grade curriculum which is by a black female author,” Sieker said. “So we now have two female voices: ‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller, which is ancient Greek mythology from the female perspective, and now ‘Slay’ by Brittney Morris, which is about a young black teen female.”
According to Sieker, it is important for any historically marginalized group to have a time to be centered and celebrated and to learn about the things that they have been through, so incorporating female voices in the curriculum is important to her, and she is looking forward to teaching the new novels “Slay” and “Circe,” as well as introducing other female voices. Sieker said that although she is not doing anything in particular to celebrate Women’s History Month, she is reading a calendar that includes fun facts about women’s history to her students.
“I’m really excited to have female voices included in the ninth grade curriculum because for the longest time there were none,” Sieker said. “The curriculum is changing, slowly but surely, and I know we still have a lot of work to be done, but it’s very cool that we’re starting to bring more voices in the mix for more representation.”
Leave a Reply