A few days before Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston won her historic race in 2021, one of her young sons had a serious question for her: “Can boys be elected Mayor of Boston, too?”
One of my young sons had a similar perspective after learning that our female pediatrician friend’s husband was also a physician, declaring, “No mom, only girls are doctors, silly!”
What an incredible flip in perspective from the questions I might have asked as a child. March is Women’s History Month, and we’re reminded that representation matters. Female participation is important. Female seats need to be saved at every table.
My childhood was fortunately filled with exposure to women in leadership positions — in the workforce, the home, and the community. I witnessed a working mother, decorated with bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees, who served twelve years in publicly elected office, campaigned in highly competitive local races, and even spoke at my high school graduation as the president of our public school board. Also, to my recollection, she never missed a field day or extracurricular event. Beyond that, both of my grandmothers attended college in the 1930s, and one of them was among less than a handful of women to graduate from her college’s business school.
Unfortunately, this level of exposure to women’s leadership successes is not ingrained into the lives, culture, and education of many young people in our country. The National Women’s History Museum states that only 15% of what is taught in America’s schools highlights the achievements and the history of women. CBS News’ Nora O’Donnell recently authored a book addressing this discrepancy, We the Women, where she questions why women are “a mere footnote to our country’s story rather than a centerpiece of our lessons.”
Regarding representation, the ability for young girls to see themselves in the history books and in achievements at all levels, O’Donnell poses another, more personal question: “I wonder how my own sense of self, power, and courage might have been shaped if I had learned more about these women as a young girl?”
As a mother of four children of my own now, three boys and one young daughter, I realize the importance of the exposure I had. This does not make the message that women must do it all, or that achievement is only through executive-level positions, but that women can do it if they so choose. I love that my young children expect to see female physicians and politicians, but also community volunteers, public servants, and present parents.
Jimmy Carter said, “Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America were as vital as those of the men whose names we know so well.”
So, let’s sing. Let’s sing the stories of all the courageous women today and decades past to lift young girls for generations to come.
Written by: Lindsey Steinberg
