National Women’s History Month: A Time Of Contemplation And Celebration
O. Henry is credited with saying “love makes the world go round.” While Paul Van Der Merwe stated it was money that did the same.
We respectfully disagree with both, in sentiment and after much productive research, instead finding that perhaps, it’s truly women that keep our homes, families, workplaces, schools, and nation moving forward, going round, ever changing and growing for the good.
How do women impact our lives and world in such powerful ways?
Well, let’s consider a few of the characteristics and attributes of women:
She nurtures. She cares. She educates. She guides.
She’s strong. She’s intelligent. She’s kind. She’s creative.
If we’re honest, and you can surely conclude the same, we can’t exhaust the ways women contribute to and improve our lives.
But, despite their contributions, it wasn’t until a little more than 35 years ago that women were finally, and publicly, recognized for their impact and influence in our nation.
So, in honor of National Women’s History Month, we’d like to take some time today to explore how this day came to be and exactly where we’d be in our nation and world (and at Lifeboost Coffee) without the vital contributions and accomplishments of women.
National Women’s History Month
Until the late 1970’s the accomplishments and influence of women as a part of our nation’s history was rarely a topic of discussion. The subject of women’s history was even absent from school curriculums.
So, an educational task force in California set out to address this matter by putting together a county-wide public celebration in 1978: Women’s History Week.
As International Women’s Day had been assigned to March 8th, the group used the corresponding week for their celebration, highlighting the contributions of women through classroom presentations, written essays, as well as parades and programs.
Eventually, the efforts of this community spread across the nation, and in February 1980, President Carter declared by special Presidential Proclamation the week of March 8th to be National Women’s History Week.
But, while the sentiment was needed and celebrations were appropriately held on a national level, such a proclamation was weakened by the fact that new lobbying efforts were required annually as the dates for such a week changed each year.
Slowly, over the course of the next six years, state by state, the US began to recognize the need for a full month dedicated to the recognition of our country’s women and their contributions to our nation and world.
By 1987, with 14 individual states having already declared March as Women’s History Month, this momentum presented congress with the motivation and reasoning to officially declare the entire month (March) as National Women’s History Month in perpetuity.
In President Carter’s proclamation speech in 1980, he explained that “too often women were unsung and their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America were as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”
If you’ve been privileged to know many women, you can likely echo Carter’s sentiments there as women are often characterized as the quiet, behind the scenes, cogs in the wheels of life. While they keep the wheel turning, their efforts are often unnoticed.
In a household, how often can it be said that a woman is the glue that holds the family together, the oil that keeps things running smoothly, the encouragement that fuels the passions of all the other members of the group.
And, that’s just before, after, and in between the time she spends saving lives as a medical professional, training and shaping the minds of our future in the classroom, bettering society through her role in politics, or ensuring safety, peace, and security as a first responder or leader in our country’s military.
Of course, you surely also realize we’ve only scratched the surface in the above list.
When you get right down to it, there’s no area of life women have not touched, a touch that has been and continues to be undeniably intricate, influential, intelligent, internationally impacting, impressive, and infinitely inspiring.
In fact, if you really want to understand the contributions of women in our society (past, present, and future), contemplate with me for a moment what this world would look like without women…
A World Without Women
Would we be a developed nation today without women?
The ability of a nation to develop is contingent upon education, specifically literacy. And, women are attributed with providing the most significant contributions to our society’s transition from preliterate to literate.
It is said that education is the key to growth in all areas of life, from environmental protection and agricultural productivity to economic stability, even technological and scientific discovery.
And, nearly 75% of all teachers/educators are women.
In the home, women are those who most often encourage a commitment to education amongst children, young and old.
And, as women are the primary caregivers to the youngest (and oldest) in every society throughout the world, they take on the role of aiding in mankind’s ability to adjust to any new and developing challenges, ensuring not only our survival as a people, but our ability to thrive amidst and despite such change and challenge.
Then, as of last year, women held 50.04% of all US jobs. Omit their presence alone, minus any accounting of their vital contributions, and we sink as a society.
Though, obviously we couldn’t truly omit the vital contributions of women in the workforce, because women are proven to:
- make teams more profitable within a company
- bring emotional intelligence to organizations
- provide greater amounts of innovation (through creativity) leading to growth and development
- bring significantly higher financial improvement and performance to any company
And, what about the impacts women have made in regards to science?
Consider, would man have walked upon the moon without the intelligent contribution of women?
You likely recognize the magnificent feat and scientific accomplishment of mankind’s first steps on the moon by what most credit Armstrong for saying, “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
And, while it was indeed a man’s presence on earth’s moon, few know it was a woman’s intelligence, skill, and precision that allowed this step, small or giant.
Kathrine Johson was a mathematician, one of the first African American women to work as a NASA scientist. In her role here, she calculated and analyzed flight paths for spacecraft utilized by the administration.
Specifically, it was her “calculations that allowed the first Americans to enter the earth’s orbit and set foot on the moon.”
At the very root of the advancements made in modern medicine, we find Marie Curie.
While Curie wasn’t an American, we’d be remiss to leave this woman out of the formula for successes all across the fields of science and medicine, having not only discovered two chemical elements, but leading research on the effects of radiation treatment in tumors.
Before America had computers, advancing nearly every field of work and study, we had Edith Clarke. This profoundly intelligent woman was said to actually have worked as a computer, performing difficult mathematical calculations before the invention of modern-day calculators and computers.
In 1922, Clarke became the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in America, paving the way for women in the STEM field(s).
Regarding economic growth and stability, our nation’s GDP (gross domestic product) is often used as a point of reference, indicating the health of our economy.
And, guess what’s true of women in regards to our economy?
The greater the presence and participation of women in our nation’s workforce, the greater our GDP!
In fact, the presence of women in the workforce has shown such positive impacts that companies began researching their exact impact. And, here’s what they’ve found:
A greater number of women in the workforce generally predicts:
- Greater job satisfaction
- Less burnout
- Greater organization and dedication
- More meaningful work produced
Organizations with a high percentage of women staff describe their work culture as being more positive, enjoyable, organized, and productive.
And, should you be tempted to think these stats only pertain to companies primarily composed of women…think again!
Within the above findings, it was primarily men who reported “being satisfied with their job, enjoying their work more, and not feeling as burned out” when the companies they worked for employed higher percentages of women.
These findings were true regardless of age, ethnicity, industry, leadership levels, or organization size.
In other words, even aside from specific skill or knowledge base, the very presence of women in the workplace, and in our society, is positive, enriching, and encourages growth.
Lifeboost’s Leading Ladies
Lifeboost staff is composed of 23 men and 27 women. And, while each team member brings immense value, as we celebrate National Women’s History month, we’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the ladies of Lifeboost.
Without these women, we absolutely wouldn’t be able to do what we do!
From our commitment to bring you clean, healthy coffee, to our efforts in preserving and positively impacting our planet, to supporting charities, providing educational, positive, and encouraging content, as well as actually connecting with our customers and community, these Lifeboost ladies make it all happen…smoothly, effectively, and with kindness!
Meet Michelle, Lifeboost’s Director of Operations. Michelle keeps our company moving forward, ensuring our goals are met and everything, in each corner of our business, runs smoothly.
Whitney is our Director of Marketing. Our leading sales lady, she analyzes, strategies, and effectively finds ways to bring our products (you know, great, delicious, healthy coffee) to our customers.
To maximize business sales, an expert in collaborating and developing relationships to best represent our Lifeboost brand, Sarah is our Director of Wholesale.
Shannon, our Content Manager, works tirelessly as the bridge between Lifeboost and you! She plans, creates, edits, and publishes Lifeboost content, including some work from one of our copywriters, Becky, allowing each of you to know all you need to know about our company, coffee, and other products, as well as how you can best benefit from each.
Didi is a designer for Lifeboost, working with our team to create visuals and concepts aligned with our products and purpose.
And, then we have Maggie, our Director of Ambassadors of Health program. As you likely know, one of our primary goals here at Lifeboost is health. We’re focused on bringing you the healthiest coffee possible, while also protecting the health of our planet. Maggie works to ensure our customers and community know about these efforts and benefits.
Keisha helps us connect with our customers on social media. She and her team, including Karla, Hailey, and Shelby seek to keep you informed and connected on these platforms.
Taylor B is our Customer Service Manager. One compliment we often receive at Lifeboost is that our customer outreach efforts and service are excellent, positive, and encouraging. And, this is all thanks to Taylor and her team.
Alongside Taylor R, our Customer Service Trainer, these ladies lead our entire customer service team in interactions that our awesome customers describe as a step above the rest. So, let’s give a shoutout to our two Taylors and their team, which includes the following ladies: Kristin, Zendy, Morgyn, Angel, Brandi, Haley, and Toni.
Dyne and Lovelyn are vital members of our Quality Assurance team, making sure our products meet the standards we’ve established as a company, correcting and improving along the way wherever needed.
But, should you happen to encounter any issues with anything you receive from Lifeboost, Allison is part of our refund department, happily resolving any problems and issuing refunds whenever needed.
Carla is a part of our Human Resources team, managing all the needs of our Lifeboost family of employees.
Then, to keep Lifeboost a financially healthy company as well, we rely on our finance team, including Mitzi and Agustina, expertly and efficiently handling accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting, and more.
And, Anna is our Shipping Manager, ensuring you receive your Lifeboost favorites while keeping shipments cost effective, planet-friendly, timely, and safe.
To the ladies of Lifeboost, we honor you, and we say thank you!
To each woman that makes this world go round, enriching our communities and our lives, we honor you, and we say thank you!
Our society, our nation, our world, wouldn’t be what it is today without women. Be sure to join us this month as we celebrate their many contributions and accomplishments.
Check out Lifeboost coffee Medium Roast.
References:
- https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/womens-history-month/womens-history-month-history/
- https://www.womenshistory.org/womens-history/womens-history-month
- https://www.science.org/content/article/linguists-question-armstrong-s-famous-moon-landing-quote#
- https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/10-women-who-made-scientific-history/
- https://teamstage.io/women-in-the-workforce-statistics/#
- https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/7-reasons-want-women-workplace/#
- https://equitablegrowth.org/womens-history-month-u-s-womens-labor-force-participation/
- https://www.inhersight.com/blog/diversity/incredible-ways-women-impact-your-company
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2011/02/14/causes-and-consequences-of-the-increasing-numbers-of-women-in-the-workforce/?sh=279626e7728c
- https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/women-in-stem