Women’s history is not just a collection of anecdotes regarding women throughout the past — it is a lens that dictates the manner in which we examine power, resistance, and the ongoing struggle for justice. Women’s history is significant because it recovers women and marginalized genders who have been erased from prevailing narratives of history, it alters the method of how we think about social movements, and puts our responses to the issues that we still grapple with into context today.
For centuries, history books, academics, and ruling elites have primarily centered men’s success and perspectives, and made women’s contributions secondary or invisible. We can bring back the hidden voices and histories by studying women’s history from early activists like Ida B. Wells and Sylvia Rivera to everyday women who contributed to economies, families, and cultures. Recognizing these contributions is not merely about justice or equity — it is about being honest. Women have always existed in the context of history, and if we do not listen to their stories, then we are losing a great part of the complete story.
As much as it sets the record straight, it also educates us about patterns of oppression and resistance within systems. The fight for women’s rights has never been alone; it is always in conjunction with others. It is intersectional, along the lines of race, class, sexuality, disability, and more. Remembering the histories of Sojourner Truth, Angela Davis, and Audre Lorde encourages us that feminism is, and should be, an intersectional, expanding movement.
Studying the history of women also gives us the tools with which to confront inequalities of the present. From wage gaps to reproductive rights, the challenges for women today owe their origins deeply to the past. When we know how past generations have organized for change, we learn how to continue the work.
Women’s history is not an add-on — it is history. To study it is to understand the full human experience, fight for justice, and create a more equitable future.