Women's History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California, with a "Women's History Week" being celebrated in 1978. The organizers chose the week of March 8th to correspond with International Women's Day. This movement spread across the country with other communities celebrating their own Women's History Weeks in the following years. 

In 1980, a consortium of women's groups and historians successfully lobbies for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a Presidential Proclamation, declaring the week of March 8th, 1980 as National Women's History week. In 1987, Congress passed a law designating March as "Women's History Month." 

"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 was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well." - President Jimmy Carter, designating March 2-8, 1980 as National Women's History Week

“Women’s History Month.” National Women’s History Museum, https://www.womenshistory.org/womens-history/womens-history-month. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.