This month, we celebrate the victories, challenges and contributions of women — and we take stock of the work still to be done. Just as studying the histories of other groups should not be relegated to trivial highlights of a few people and learning of facts and historically significant days, acknowledging the women’s rights movement should be an ongoing endeavor.
The contributions of women have improved conditions, broadened understandings of the natural and physical worlds, and advanced knowledge across disciplines that have benefitted women and others here and across the world. Beyond celebration and acknowledgment, this is a time for us to reflect on advocacy to help ensure progress rather than regression.
Women’s History Month is a time to amplify women’s voices, support women-led organizations, and patronize women-led small businesses. It is also an opportunity for us to increase our knowledge of the barriers that still exist for girls who aspire to be women with equal chances of living long lives, have access to the resources that will allow them to compete and achieve at the same levels as their male counterparts. We must take this time to teach our boys, who will grow into men with seats at the table and become partners to women, of their responsibilities to help create a more just and equitable world.
Leveling the playing field so that all can start at the same initial point should not just be a value. It should be an imperative. Access to similar opportunities increases the likelihood of achieving similar outcomes.
Seeing women like Mae Jemison make it to the moon shows other girls and women that their identity is not a limitation. Seeing Justice Sotomayor rise to the Supreme Court lets young girls with health challenges know that their medical condition is not an impediment to ascending to great heights. Learning about Henrietta Lacks teaches future scientists and doctors to be ethical and humane so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Identifying the areas where women have yet to achieve parity with men are opportunities for younger generations to partner with seasoned women and allies to make progress.
Girls who are disproportionately adversely impacted by fewer opportunities and systemic racism today are less likely to succeed as women. A 2024 report released by the United States Government Accountability Office revealed the concerning findings that that Black girls reported feeling less safe and connected to their schools than their non-Black peers. The same report revealed that nationally Black girls are six times more likely to be suspended; four times more likely to be expelled; three times more likely to be referred to law enforcement for school-based incidents; and account for 42% of girls arrested at school while representing just 15% of female students.
Growing up in Dorchester and attending Boston Latin School, I saw the impact of poverty on Black girls in my neighborhood who had few opportunities while also learning with others for whom achieving the American Dream was a legacy or an expectation. Many of the girls I went to middle school with, in my neighborhood, ended up living in socioeconomic conditions that mirrored those of their parents. As a society, we need to ensure progress and improvement of the human condition, especially for the most vulnerable.
To make certain that women, especially women of color, are positioned to break cycles of generational trauma, poverty and other limitations to achieving, we need to help them see their potential at an early age. We need to help them dream boldly and provide them with robust opportunities for formal learning and enrichment. There is nothing more powerful than seeing living examples of women who have achieved exactly what we aim to do or something adjacent to it.
It’s important that we support the trailblazers by shifting our mental models and expectations and creating the conditions for them to succeed so that the first aren’t the last. Ultimately, it’s not just the personal success of women that should concern us; it’s also the success of our communities. When each of us succeeds in our respective domains, society overall moves forward.
As a college president, each day, I ask myself am I doing enough to position our young and mature women, our future workforce, and our talent of color for success? Am I doing enough to keep the cost of a college education affordable and within reach? Am I doing enough to meet learners where they are, to accommodate the complex lives of working-class people? Most days the answer I arrive at is yes. So many of us are doing our best — and we must do better. There is still great room for improvement when I look at the gender gap statistics across so many metrics.
At Urban College, we distinguish ourselves by understanding that first-generation learners and leaders need more than a college degree. They also need social and experience capital to navigate and thrive in the workplace because our learners and graduates need more than a foot in the door. They need to build a career and level-up their income, so that poverty stress doesn’t adversely affect their health and ability to participate civically or lead. This is why we platform women of color, like our new practitioner faculty members Dr. Aisha Miller and Dr. Priscilla H. Douglas, who are leading Urban College’s new Executive in Residence Fellowship Course. Seeing successful leaders is one thing. Learning the right skills to succeed is power.
The tapestry of women who have succeeded is not monochromatic. It is vibrant, colorful, multi-dimensional and constantly evolving. It includes women born here and abroad, women for whom English is and isn’t the first or only language. It includes women breaking through barriers of poverty, class, race, ethnicity, creed. It is inclusive.
The actions we take today for and against girls directly impact the opportunities available for them to achieve as women. There is much for us to learn from more equity-minded countries like Iceland, Norway, Finland and New Zealand that continue to show their commitment to achieving parity in education, economic empowerment, leadership and equal pay, affordable childcare and family support, and health care access to name a few. We need not reinvent the wheel. We can look to those leading the way as we seek to repair inequities and set ourselves on a path to do better.
The tapestry of American women’s histories is one we should honor because, while there are aspects that are not pretty, they teach us about the patterns we want to repeat or eliminate. Together, let us weave a more beautiful future, one that reflects our learnings, progress, and depicts a hopeful vision for what is yet to come.
Dr. Yves Salomon-Fernández is the president of Urban College of Boston and serves on the board of directors at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
