So often we ask children, “Who is your hero?”. For many young girls, their answer is a
star in the music world or in the movies. But as a woman who worked in manufacturing for over thirty years in an industry that is predominantly male oriented and as a woman who is now educating young people, I try to point out to young girls, that the world is open to them.
Women have been making their mark in the sciences, social issues, and politics for
centuries. I have looked up to Rachel Carson, who in a time when it was not popular, sounded the alarm against the widespread use of pesticides in her book “Silent Spring.” I encourage young girls to look closely at the many women who helped to change the world we live in today.
Women like Marie Curie, Grace Hopper, Margaret Thatcher, and Indira Gandhi, who are well
known for being the first women to make accomplishments in their fields of science and politics. There are lesser-known females, who were overlooked for various reasons. Rosalind Franklin, who provided the crucial piece of evidence in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, while Watson and Crick received the credit for the discovery.
A local female hero for me was one of the first female newscasters, Dorothy Fuldheim. Dorothy joined the Cleveland television station WEWS and had her own news show. She did
wonderful interviews and analysis of the news. She was a powerhouse in the Cleveland news
scene for years. Dorothy fulfilled this role until a debilitating stroke at the age of ninety-two.
Why do we celebrate the month of March as Women’s History Month? Perhaps it is to
remind us that women have much to offer to our world. That as women, we have much to offer our communities, our states, our country, and our world. There are so many women who have made their mark in history, and this is the month to highlight those women that history often overlooks.
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