In 1980, President Jimmy Carter designated the week of March 8th “Women’s History Week.” Eventually, it became Women’s History Month, and is now celebrated across the world to commemorate and promote the study of women in history. At the same time, it is no secret that those who pushed for it want to infuse a particular view of womanhood into our national understanding. As National Geographic notes, “women have always been part of history…but for centuries, their participation in it was overlooked [by]…historians [who] often saw the past through the lens of the “great man” theory, which holds that history is largely shaped by “male heroes and their struggles.” The canonization of women who have made significant intellectual, scientific, and artistic contributions is important for passing on a clearer view of history. However, technological advancements and personal achievements are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to woman’s historical contributions, and her biggest contribution in fact is one a man could never make – children.
Women Make History Possible
The push to include more women in history books is sensible when you consider the numerous ways in which women’s research, writings, and participation in civic society shaped it into what it is today, especially in the fight to protect the dignity of all women. But women as a group have played an outsize role in the creation of history, though it often goes undiscussed in historical narratives of great men and women – in their role as mothers. In their capacity to create and sustain life, women have also given birth to recorded history, to great men and women who go on to perform wonderful or terrible acts. Feminists are right to point out that the “great man” theory of history is not the whole story, but are often just as guilty of downplaying the experience of a majority of women throughout time as the male historians who neglected them. Viewing history as a series of personal achievements can have its advantages, namely providing a realistic view of how remarkable some people are in virtue, heroism, creativity, and resourcefulness. It does no one any good to flatten the differences in achievement among people, particularly when those achievements are difficult to come by. But in so doing we can risk reducing the person to what makes them great in a narrow field and in terms of power, rather than the whole person in their full human aspect. Furthermore, this whole person and history itself would not exist without the hiddenness of family life, created and sustained by women in particular, which underlies all human achievement.
History is Not the Whole Story
While today’s feminists argue that the “great man” theory of history has discounted women’s achievements, it is rather the view of history “as progress” and the focus on worldly achievement itself which distracts us from appreciating the hidden contributions of men and women in the crucible of family life, and particularly the mother who generates it. Man and woman together form the human community from which great personalities spring. The danger of the “great man” theory lies not so much in its disregard of women, but its neglect of the hidden forces that shape the personal and spiritual components of a person. Rewriting history to include “great women” certainly can inspire women to see themselves as capable of momentous things, but the feminist goal of obtaining absolute equality of outcome with men will not speak to the embodied experiences of ordinary labor most women experience. A true movement for women will recognize their contributions to society through the home as valuable, especially as the line between the two blurs at different points throughout history. Even more so, such a movement will recognize that women alone can do the hard, indispensable work of mothering, which is a singular form of human creativity. To document instances not just of the intellectual achievements of women, but their creativity and heroism within the domain of family life, would be a boon for women and revitalize the study of history as the interplay between individual genius and social interconnectedness.
Women’s Dignity Above Politics
In too many places in our world, the dignity of women is being violated by states and special interest groups. Some are enslaved by the sex trade or restrained from full participation in society, while others are relegated to the margins for political reasons. A true movement for women will recognize women’s inherent dignity which is part of their humanity. Too often, women are objectified by men and commercialized by the broader society for financial gain or please. But women are also pushed to be like men in the name of equality, judged against standards of male embodiment and even male caricatures. If their domestic work doesn’t take a back seat in the story of their life, then it is downplayed to the point of oblivion. That which was performed over centuries and millennia in every home and hut in every culture is somehow less deserving of acknowledgment than those who have possessed worldly power and influence. As we contemplate the contributions of women this Women’s History Month, we remember not only the “great women” who affected entire generations, but those who created and formed them, and the millions of hidden lives which served their families and communities against all odds.
