Women’s History Month is a yearly observance to honor and acknowledge the contributions of women in history and modern society. This observance lasts throughout the month of March, and the theme for this year is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion”. Sophomore Melika Zabet said it is wonderful that here in the U.S. Women’s History Month is celebrated and taken seriously.
“I’m from Iran, and back in my country, women are not celebrated as much so the fact that I can do it here is a huge deal for me,” Zabet said. “It’s wonderful that in America it is taken to such a serious extent to celebrate it and to make a big deal out of it.”
Zabet said it is necessary to have a whole month to honor women for everything they’ve done to form our societies in present times.
“There are so many women out there who have done so many different things from being famous actresses and singers to being the first woman to work at NASA or go to the moon,” Zabet said. “To honor these people, I think it genuinely does take a whole month of just taking it all in.”
During this month, Zabet said the woman she looks up to is her middle school counselor, Trish Madsen, who helped her become the person she is today. Zabet said she appreciates Madsen’s generosity and bravery in helping her become a better person and standing up for her.
“I really look up to her because she helped me with my mental health and who I am as a person and woman,” Zabet said. “You know the saying ‘Women supporting women’? I think that she [is] genuinely the epitome of that.”
Similarly, sophomore Milena Domazet said she recognizes her mom during this month because of her strength in taking care of her family and keeping the family as a priority. She said having her mom as a role model helps push her to improve.
“Having someone to look up to helps me know how I can act to be more like that person and to improve myself and grow up to be that person I looked up to,” Domazet said. “I don’t know how she gets everything done, but I definitely look up to her a lot.”
As a member of Femineers, a female-only engineering club sponsored at Northwest, Domazet said being a member has taught her many lessons about women participating in male-dominated fields.
“It will be hard for us to meet the same recognition as the males and it’s hard to be a female. You will get backlash or some comments from other people, but you just ignore it and keep working hard and do what you love to do,” Domazet said.
With one of the most prominent male-dominated fields being engineering, Domazet said many powerful women are capable of participating in a challenging workforce that is traditionally male.
“It’s difficult to be in that field, but everyone is capable of doing it, especially women. It requires hard work and patience, but it’s all doable,” Domazet said. “Once you do that career, it’s difficult to be a female and one of the only ones but it’s definitely doable.”
Math and engineering teacher Karen Stohlmann is a sponsor of Femineers. She said as more women start to go into STEM careers, they may get crushed in the process and don’t come out the other end. Stohlmann said women are programmed to underestimate their ability, however, she said she hopes she can teach the Femineers it’s OK to be a risk taker in challenging fields.
“I think that the concern of failure is so great. That’s the piece I really hope that I can push, be a little bit more of a risk taker,” Stohlmann said. “We need to as a female gender learn that we can bounce back.”
Stohlmann expressed that she believes one thing women can work on is getting better at supporting one another in order to overcome adversity and assumptions from others.
“I think a lot of underrepresented groups feel that you have to do twice as much to get half as much credit and I think that still happens. I feel as a middle-class woman, we should all be better at supporting each other and then we wouldn’t have to work as hard,” Stohlmann said.
However, Stohlmann said women have overcome many obstacles that have contributed to present times. She acknowledged powerful women such as the Hidden Figures, Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie as examples of women who brought significant change.
“Acknowledging how powerful women can be will help women be powerful,” Stohlmann said.
Likewise, Zabet said she believes that when a woman is recognized, it can change a life or perspective for one person in the world.
“When you put a woman up there, it completely changes the trajectory of who we’re looking at,” Zabet said. “If you want to be an astronaut, and you see a female taking steps on the moon, that’s going to help a little girl grow.”
