While many think of it as a European tradition, Women’s Day started in the United States in 1909. In 1980, President Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week: “… men and women have worked together to build this nation. 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 were as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”
