From March 1st through March 31st, we begin the celebration of Women’s Month. This month has a big impact on our women as they get the recognition they deserve. Women offer a lot of help to our society, making it overall a better place. This month, we don’t recognize only the celebrities or those women who are known. This month is for every single woman out there. Being your sister, cousin, wife, girlfriend, friend, or relative this month is about each of them. Women have had a lot of impact in society with politics, movies, teachers, the army, and the navy. Our world is full of women of power, and you will hear about someone today who has impacted their lives for the better and our lives as well.
March is celebrated as “Women’s Month”. Since the year of 1995, each president has put in place a proclamation to make the month known as Women’s Month. This year’s month of March theme for Women’s Month is Moving forward together, and women educating and inspiring generations. Each year’s theme has changed, but it always has a great meaning we should understand. Moving forward together is something everyone should see and do. It is important to know you have people by your side to keep going. That’s why the saying “we’re strongest when we cheer each other on” exists. Women always have each other’s backs and are there to support each other. The theme of educating and inspiring comes in many ways from women teachers educating kids for grades K-12. They rely on what they learn from them, and they have a lot to learn from the women in the teaching fields, as they care for their students so much, and that shows the great people they are. Women inspire every day. Being your favorite athletes, celebrities, and music artists, they inspire younger girls and boys to one day become successful like they are.
Many people did not include women in things such as jobs and sports, and even the military. In the years before 1930, women were seen as less. The many men would not allow them to be what they wanted to be. In the workforce, it was a highly difficult time for women to be placed in a job, which made women feel as if they were inferior to men. Then, things got better for women in the 1950s as more married women were able to be in the workforce. Things got placed the way they should be after 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed, and more women were able to get jobs and do much more than before.
For the topic of women before the 1950s, they were not seen as capable of competing or even being a part of the many sports we see in today’s age. Women started to be more included in sports when the Olympics came around, and they wanted to be a part of the grand event that went threw. Women’s sports like softball and flag football were created as alternatives to baseball and football, as they can get the same experience as the male athletes. Now, at the high school level, where women want to try new things, they enjoy sports and have fun as they deserve to. For example, this school year, Buena Park High introduced flag football as a competitive sport in multiple schools, having their leagues go head-to-head with each other. That was a cool experience as it was something new that led to great memories for the women and girls of the many schools who are participating.
INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN HISTORY
Hairriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County in March of the year 1822. She was a part of 9 family her being the middle child. Her family were slaves, which at that time meant they went through so much. Then, she was going through a disability struggle, but that did not hold her back from then going on to become one of the most courageous women leaders we have seen in American women’s history. When Tubman was just 13 years old, she went threw a close encounter with death as 2 weighted plates were thrown, hitting her in the head, causing pain to her and making her struggle with epilepsy for the rest of her life
What did Harriet Tubman do? She managed to escape slavery in Philadelphia in the year of 1849. She didn’t settle with escaping slavery; she then started to work in the highly dangerous railroads, putting her life and health at risk for a better life for her and many others. She helped make the rails that would create shelter and safety for the slaves who were going to escape as well. Then, she managed the impossible to return to Maryland 13 times total, all in those times helping her parents and each of her siblings, family members, and even some friends to escape with her. This earned her the respect that she deserves for being courageous enough to put her very own life at risk to help many more come to a better life. Sadly, Harriet Tubman passed away on March 10, 1913. Although she passed away, everything she did for slaves and women has made and built who we are in today’s age.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born in the year 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. She was a German-born Jewish girl. She was born in the period when Adolf Hitler was gaining a lot of powerand more people began to support him and his ideas. Adolf Hitler had a big hatred towards Jewish people, and Anne Frank was a Jewish girl. Anne Frank’s family was in a poor economic state, so fleeing was a challenge as they were limited to what they were able to do. They managed to move to Amsterdam, which was better than where they had come from. She was a smart girl and managed to learn the language and felt as if she were a born Dutch. Anne Frank was living a normal girl’s life, going to school, and things changed as soon as Nazi Germany decided to invade Poland. This went into many more invasions and anne frank was now endanger due to nazi germanys actions.
The hatred towards jews was a disgusting situation. The dutch army surrended so Nazi Germany had control over everything. The Jewish people were not allowed to do anything. Not being allowed at parks, cinemas, and non-Jewish shops were some rules placed against the Jewish people. Anne Frank’s father lost his company due to the rules, and she was forced into a Jewish school.
What did Anne Frank do? Anne Frank’s family had to take immediate action and go into hiding as Nazi Germany were going after the jews, taking them and torturing them in many cruel ways. Before her 13th birthday, she was gifted a diary, where the story begins. She wrote many pages about the situation she was living in and how she felt during this cruel time of events. Anne Frank and others were in hiding when a raid from the police discovered them, and they were deported to Auschwitz. During these times, Anne Frank’s book was discovered as well. Many people were executed, and Anne Frank and her mother were taken to labor camps where they were forced to work nonstop as if they weren’t human. Anne Frank’s story inspires many people, and young girls, as she went through all this at a very young age. Her story tells us so much and teaches us of the strong young woman she was. Sadly, at the young age of 16, she passed away in 1944 from contracting typhus. These events then made her diary world famous, and she is a highly respected young woman in today’s age.
Here are some interviews with a couple of our amazing women staff members here on our campus;
Interview with BP Men’s Soccer Coach Christina Ursua
Katie Flores: And how do you feel as a female coach in a more male dominated sport?
Cristiana Ursua: You have to work harder to earn your spot as head coach. I feel like since it’s a male-dominant organization with male head coaches and referees, I feel like I’m constantly trying to prove myself, not only to other teams, but also to the parents here because of our culture. I look up to the challenge, though you know, I feel like also being a woman brings benefit too, because I care about the boys and I treat them like my own son. So when I said they’re gonna get treated like my son, they’re gonna get treated like a son. But, yeah, I do feel like there are more eyes, and there’s more judgment on me definitely, but I’m always up for the challenge.
Katie Flores: And do you feel that you inspire other women coaches, or maybe even students at BP, to try harder and that they can be in a more male-dominated sport?
Christina Ursua: I hope I do, I talk to a lot of other female coaches and I support them and I’m always there for them. I hope I motivate the girls to do that. I try to show them support and I hope my actions speak louder than my words but also I think it’s all God first and I hope I am setting a good example while I’m here.
Interview with Math Teacher Isaura De Leon
Katie Flores: Have you ever in your career as a coach or teacher you felt discriminated just because of you being a woman?
Isuara De Leon: I feel that yes to the answer, and not only as a coach, but I feel female athletes do tend to be secondary on the list when it comes to asking for equipment, asking gym time, asking time in the weight room. We were always put on hold, you know; we always had to see if the football team had availability since it was them first and then us. Even though sometimes we were in season, we should have been prioritized, but we were always put secondary on the list.
Katie Flores: And how do you feel that you teach either your athletes or other women that they need to stand up for themselves?
Isaura De Leon: They just need to realize that they have equality, like we are all human. So they should be able to have the ability to same access to the weight room, the same access to equipment, and just the same access to the sport itself. I know there’s baseball and there’s softball, but we should all have an even playing field so if they get this much money, then we should get that much money too. So, I think that there is discrimination between female athletes and male athletes.
