Women's History Month 2021 - Time to Educake

Happy Women’s History Month! Today may be the last official day but we all know this is an ongoing, year-long celebration.

It’s been a pretty hectic month for me on a personal level but I couldn’t let it end without acknowledging the occasion and some of the many women who have helped us get where we are today as well as those that continue to push us towards where we want to be tomorrow.

I knew I wanted to make a cake to acknowledge this month and some of the many women who are worth celebrating every day, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about doing it. That’s when some research came in handy.

Through womenshistory.org I was able to learn a lot about different women and their contributions to society as well as become aware of other websites to explore. They have a ton of great resources for both students and educators, virtual exhibits, and different programs and events. They also hope to one day build a physical women’s history museum that accurately represents the full contribution of all women throughout this country’s history. I would highly recommend checking them out for more detailed information if anything you read here sparks your interest.

Similar to Black History Month, Women’s History Month started as a weeklong celebration. The first Women’s History Week was celebrated in California in 1978 during the week of March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day and began to spread to other organizations in the years that followed. In 1980, what is now known as the National Women’s History Alliance, led the charge in getting the event recognized on a national level. So in 1980, President Carter established the first National Women’s History Week. This yearly celebration continued to be recognized by future presidents until Congress passed a law in 1987 formally establishing March as Women’s History Month.

I do want to pause for a moment and really acknowledge the National Women’s History Alliance. It originally started as the National Women’s History Project and one of the things that stood out for me when I was on their page was their very strong written commitment to antiracism, I highly recommend taking a moment to read it and exploring their website as well. As a non-profit, educational platform, they have so many great resources to explore. They’re also the ones who determine the theme for Women’s History Month each year.

This year’s theme, “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced,” is a continuation from last year’s due to the interruptions caused by Covid. Considering the political landscape we navigated in 2020 and continue to navigate in 2021, I personally felt as though this was pretty perfect. It is also meant to acknowledge and celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the 19th amendment which, in 1920, gave (some) women the right to vote. Although the anniversary was last year, some events were rescheduled and postponed into 2021 so check out this update put together by the NWHA. You should also check out 2020centennial.org if you’d like to learn more in general; they’ve got a lot of options for learning about the history of the suffrage movement as well as quizzes and book recommendations for all ages.

I could honestly go on forever about all the amazing things I’ve learned but I really do want to push people to go check out the amazing work that’s already been done by these great organizations and consider donating to keep their work moving forward.

With that said, let’s talk about some phenomenal women who should be recognized for their work in helping to secure the right to vote for ALL women and pushing past barriers to pave the way for others:

NOTE: These women are listed in no particular order. If you’d like to learn more after reading the descriptions, please check out the links provided.

Maria Teresa Kumar was born in Colombia in 1974. She is a 2020-2021 NWHA Honoree, the CEO of Voto Latino, and a political and voting rights activist who has helped register over a quarter million voters through her organization. She also helped found the National Voter Registration Day. Learn more.
Stacey Abrams was born in Wisconsin in 1973. She is a political leader and voting rights activist who after losing her attempt at becoming the governor of Georgia is credited with playing a major role, alongside other activists and organizations, in flipping Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. Learn more here and here.
Eleanor Holmes Norton was born in Washington, D.C. in 1937. She is a 2020-2021 NWHA Honoree, congresswoman for the District of Columbia, a civil rights and feminist leader, and a political organizer. She has spent her entire life fighting against injustices and is considered one of the most influential women in this country. She continues to fight for full congressional voting representation and democracy for the people of the District of Columbia. Learn more here and here.

And a special shoutout to Kamala Harris who may not be a voting rights activist but is a product of the movement. Thanks to so many women before her, we are finally able to celebrate the first, but definitely not the last, Black American, South Asian American, and woman, vice-president.

Now, these are just some of the women that I chose to highlight today. However, there are so many women who were essential in helping to move forward voting rights for all women, and people, in general. I would once again, highly recommend checking out any of the resources I shared throughout this post and learning more about the entire suffragist movement. And although this year’s theme may have focused on women who helped secure the vote, women’s history clearly encompasses contributions across all sectors of society, from the arts to the sciences and more. So if you have a subject you’re passionate about, consider learning about the woman who contributed to it. You may be surprised at what you’ll learn.

At this point, if you’re wondering what you can do to be like these trail blazers, here are a couple of quick suggestions:

Check out this great manual created by the Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative.
Share this post or any of the resources you’ve found in it today so others can learn and do more as well.

I’d love to hear what you thought and if you learned anything new today so please share in the comments below!

Now, as for this cake, I wanted to make something simple yet elegant that was representative of women. Repeatedly I came across information stating that International Women’s Day was represented by the colors, purple, green, and white which represent justice and dignity, hope, and purity. I also found out that in Italy, the mimosa flower was used for International Women’s Day. They even have a special cake they make that looks like the flower! So I obviously had to bookmark it as a project for next year. In the meantime though, I decided to make my favorite chocolate cake, because since it’s a month that celebrates women, I felt I deserved a treat. And I loved the idea of incorporating some of the colors so I made a beautiful purple Italian Meringue buttercream and pipped on my best interpretation of a mimosa flower. I’ll admit that I was winging it…so hopefully you guys appreciate it because I was absolutely in love with the cake. It’s the smoothest one yet. I had to stop and admire the work for a second, haha.

It was a pretty simple process this time around. I made my chocolate cakes, a delicious oreo cream filling, and a batch of Italian Meringue buttercream which I separated and colored purple, green, and yellow. I could have incorporated white but I honestly didn’t really think about it or feel inclined to do so. I liked the look of the simple flowers against the (super smooth lol) purple cake.