March is a long, cold, windy month in New England. Now and then a softer breeze or a sunny day can fool one into thinking spring has arrived, but more often than not these hopeful signs are followed by more rain, wind and cold. Snow storms are common, if somehow still unexpected. So it is with the struggle for gender equality—important steps forward followed by stormy backlash and the cold winds of repression.  Case in point, the reauthorization, finally, of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by the House of Representatives on the last day of February, an encouraging start for March, officially Women’s History Month in the U.S.  Unfortunately headlines such as ”Steubenville Defense Case: Near-unconscious Jane Doe Gave ‘Consent‘ and “Survivors Share Experiences of Sexual Assault in the Military” followed soon after.

The VAWA was a key victory for women when it first passed in 1994. The law signaled an end to the silence surrounding violence against women, the idea that this violence was merely a ‘private matter’, rather than an issue of public concern and criminal law. Two decades ago few anticipated how strong the opposition to any extension of these protections could be.   Gendered violence is only one example where progress toward gender equality has stalled or been subjected to serious back sliding.  Women in leadership positions, equal pay for equal work, and reproductive rights all exhibit similar patterns.

But the very existence of Women’s History Month is itself a cause for celebration and a mark of progress. It is also an example of what one small group of women can do, to paraphrase Margaret Mead.  March 8th was first celebrated as International Women’s History Day in Europe in 1911. Seventy years later the work of Molly McGregor and her colleagues at the National Women’s History Project in Santa Rosa, California persuaded Congress to designate the week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week. The initial week was expanded to a full month in 1987.

Women’s History Month was primarily designed to encourage K-12 schools to develop and use classroom materials focused on women’s accomplishments. The explicit focus on women’s history provided an opportunity for all students to learn more about women’s contributions to the nation and the world—a chance, as a Women’s History Project slogan put it, to ‘write women back into history‘. After all, how could boys and girls view women and men as equally capable and worthy of respect  if they knew little of women and their achievements?  This knowledge is as critical today as it ever was. Today’s world requires that women and men work together, both outside and inside the home, in order for families and society to thrive.

But history is more than a celebration of accomplishments. Setbacks can teach as much as successes.  Once a battle is clearly in the ‘won’ column, the story is no longer controversial, making it reasonably easy to discuss. Women’s suffrage is a good example; few today would suggest that women be denied the right to vote. Less than one hundred years ago this was not the case.  However,  the closer we get to present day issues, to unfinished struggles, the harder telling the story becomes.

And this brings me back to gender violence. Does anyone remember Tailhook?  This was the 1991 ‘incident’ when more than a hundred  male Navy and Marine Corps aviation officers were accused of sexual assaulting  and harassing at least ninety individuals, both women and men? The public outcry that followed resulted in official inquiries and, ultimately the resignation, early retirement or shortened careers of close to three hundred officers for their roles in the ‘incident’ and the subsequent investigations.

But here we are again, seemingly having learned nothing. Rape is still too often portrayed as something women should ‘prevent’. If they aren’t appropriately careful, well, they get what they deserve. Talk similar to that of various military men twenty  years ago is still around—laments about the way punishment damages perpetrators’ lives and ruins their careers.  As a high school teacher of mine used to say when someone made a particularly outrageous remark, “Stop! Do you hear what you’re saying?”

Rape is a crime; it is about power; there is nothing ‘sexy’ about it.  In any nation that respects the rule of law, crimes must be exposed and punished. These simple realities are barely visible in too many conversations. ‘After all,’ some say, “it’s just boys being boys.” How insulting to men, to assume that swagger, violent and aggressive behavior and ugly taunting are part of their ‘true nature’!

Many good men have stood side by side with women in the long struggle for equality. More are working with us today.  These men understand that equality for women is key to better, fuller lives for men as well as women; that women’s human  rights are crucial in the global struggle for justice for all people.  Women’s History Month provides an  opportunity to highlight unsung women and the men who supported their efforts. It is a chance  to bring boys and men into the conversation and the work; a time to broaden the ranks for the battles ahead.