Starting in 1987, the entirety of March is declared Women’s History Month and dedicated to honoring and highlighting the contributions of women to American society. 

     According to the National Women’s History Museum, the month had originally started in 1978 in California as “Women’s History Week” and corresponded with International Women’s Day on March 8, which was established a year earlier in 1977. It was not until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9 and designated March to be Women’s History Month. 

   The United States was established in 1776, but it was not until 1920 when women were granted the right to vote. For over 100 years, women were forced to submit to laws they had no voice in. In 1871, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association and sent a petition to congress asking for suffrage rights to be extended to women, and that women should be heard on the floor of congress. Roughly 50 years of protesting later, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, saying “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”. 

    Following the Industrial Revolution, women had started to enter the workforce. In 1840, roughly 10 percent of women had jobs, and by 1850 that percentage increased to 15. However, for over 100 years women were only making anywhere from two-thirds to half of what men in similar occupations were making. 40 years after women were given the right to vote, in 1963 the Equal Pay act was anointed and prohibited the pay discrimination on the basis of sex. However, to this day, the Gender Wage Gap is still an ongoing issue in the American workforce.

    Women were not able to attend college until the 19th century when the first co-ed and women-only colleges such as Oberlin and Wesleyan opened. In 1840, Catherine Brewer was the first woman to obtain a bachelors degree, a few years later in 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female physician. In the early 1900’s, only 19 percent of women earned bachelors degrees, but by 1930 the percentage doubled to 40. Now, a little over 50 percent of women 25 and older have at least one degree. 

    For Dr. Mary Ruehr, one of the science teachers at the high school, when she hears the words “Womens History Month,” the first thing that comes to mind is the ongoing issue of the Gender Wage Gap and the history of women’s employment, “For long periods in our history, women were not really in certain jobs, or women were employed in certain jobs as opposed to men and vice versa.” 

     For example, according to the Pew Research Center in 2022 the median pay for a working woman is 78 cents for every dollar earned by a male counterpart. From the American Association of University Women, overtime this causes women to earn 16 percent less than men, and at the current rate of change, pay equality will not become equal until 2088.  

     Throughout her years of school, Ruehr recalled that Meredith Bond at Cleveland State, who was one of her female advisors following finishing her PhD and completing her post-doctoral, was one of the most academically influential female figures in her life. 

     “She did help mentor me quite a bit,” Ruehr recalled, “I feel that she helped encourage me to attend different meetings, to try and speak more loudly for myself and pushed me to apply for different positions.” 

      Throughout school and obtaining her degree in Biology, Ruehr said that the academic environment was female-dominant, which provided a more comfortable environment. According to the National Science Foundation, about two-thirds of the STEM workforce are men while the remaining third were women. Ruehr added onto this, saying that she tended to see later on that the higher-level positions were occupied by more men than women, comparing some groups to the “old boy network” and while positions or opportunities may seem available, in reality they were not.

     She explained that she especially saw this while she was working at a clinic while she had decided to have children, “I do feel I had some discrimination when I would interview for different jobs, or people would make comments regarding my schedule with my kids. It was kind of frowned upon if I had to take off because my kid was sick.” 

     Ruehr explained how while she did the same amount of work as everyone else, she had to work her schedule around parenthood.

     “I feel for the teachers here who have little kids or are pregnant while they are teaching, even though it was hard for me at the clinic, my schedule was more flexible and I was able to move hours around and still get my work done. I could not do that here, you would have to take off time. That was probably the biggest form of discrimination I have experienced.” 

    For girls who are pursuing higher education or looking towards graduate or medical school, Ruehr wanted to tell them, “Realize that other people are in that same situation and do not feel like you are isolated, even though it looks like you might be. Do not worry about what other people are saying, focus on your own work and do not let others get you down.”