In celebration of Women’s History Month, we wanted to recognize the accomplishments of some inspiring females from around our state! As students, it’s incredibly important to know about local role models to help us feel more connected to our passions.
Donna Fern Edwards is an American politician who represented Maryland's 4th congressional district in the United States Congress from 2008 to 2017. The district encompasses the majority of Prince George's County as well as a small portion of Anne Arundel County.
Edward was sworn in as the first African-American woman to represent Maryland in the United States Congress. One of her most notable actions was when she introduced a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's Voters United v. Federal Election Commission decision from 2010.
Donna Fern Edwards has inspired countless female leaders and activists during her time in the house, especially women of color, through her outstanding work to end domestic violence against women and as a member of the House of Representatives overall. Throughout history, POC women have had to combat not just gender discrimination, but racial discrimination as well in order to have an influence in policy and obtain and political positions. In the case of the 19th Amendment, even as it’s ratified in August of 1920, all Americans were aware that many African-American women would remain disenfranchised. It was only through risk, resilient Black female suffragists, and the creation of interest groups that African-American women could have their voice heard in government matters. Due to the low number of women of color who have ever achieved office, it is necessary to break down both racial and gender barriers in electoral politics in order to enhance the legitimacy of American democracy.
Next, let’s remember a Maryland Women's Hall of Fame inductee who was honored for her feminist approaches to policy and championed addressing the effects of bias and sexism focused on race/ethnicity, income, age, disability, and sexual identity, collectively described with the term, intersectionality.
Dr. Leslie R. Wolfe was born in Washington, DC on November 24, 1943. She attended Montgomery County Public Schools. In 1987, Wolfe became President of the Center for Women Policy Research, where she played a significant role in attracting attention to a number of topics concerning women and girls such as organizational diversity, human rights and human injustices, women and girl trafficking, and the effect of the HIV/AIDS outbreak on women in the United States and overseas—which up until then had only been thought of and referred to as a man’s disease. Through her progressive work at the center in examining sex and race bias at the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Dr. Wolfe proved the exam was biased against female students and students of color. Advancing in her career, Wolfe created several bold initiatives aimed at providing state legislators and women parliamentarians with learning opportunities that allowed them to develop effective policies using a women's human rights substructure.
While I have discussed just a couple, we can clearly see how many influential women from Maryland have accomplished amazing things and paved the way for many others in their respective professions. We want to commend the young women and the numerous female-led organizations who have devoted their causes to spreading awareness about issues of intersectionality between women and most prominently women of color. In order to make change, it is vital we continue to create commotion within our communities, spread awareness, and advocate for the policies we want remade and the practices we want updated.
Women’s History Month Kahoot Link: https://create.kahoot.it/share/women-s-history-month-trivia/6ccd39e6-6904-4a68-8f2b-d36367f1affc