Celebrating Women’s History Month - 2023

While many of us know Sonoma County, California, as the source of many great wines, it was also the birthplace of Women’s History Month in 1978. Started as Women’s History Week by the Education Task Force by the Commission on the Status of Women, the movement spread across the country the following year. Then in 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation for National Women’s History Week and the U.S. Congress made Women’s History Month official in 1987.

“Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed,” shared President Carter in his message in 1980. “But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

National Women’s History Month is celebrated in March in honor of International Women’s Day (IWD). This day of recognition began over a century ago as women (and men) around the world advocated for women's rights for workplace protections, to vote, to be educated and trained, and to hold public office. Today, IWD celebrates the achievements of women, raises awareness for women’s equality, calls for positive change, lobbies for gender parity, and fundraises for women-focused charities.

FedEx has been honoring the women in our communities for decades. We believe we are stronger as a company and as a global economy when everyone has equal access to opportunity. We support organizations both in the U.S. and globally that provide women with the mentorship, leadership development, and entrepreneurial skills to grow their own business. We support organizations like:

• Dress for Success Worldwide, supporting mentorship opportunities, leadership development, and entrepreneurial development. FedEx also helped co-create and launch the FedEx Career Hub, an online tool to help women access job services such as creating a resume, searching for positions, and preparing for an interview remotely, on their own schedule.
• Vital Voices GROW Fellowship, supporting annual cohorts of hundreds of pioneering women entrepreneurs across184 countries and territories.
• Accion Opportunity Fund, helping women and minority small and medium businesses to expand their e-commerce operations through the FedEx E-Commerce Learning Lab.

This month, you will be hearing more about our company’s support of organizations that continue the tradition started in Sonoma County 45 years ago to honor and advocate for women’s place in history and the future of our world.

To learn more about how FedEx supports women, check out the updated Fact Sheet. 

Source: National Women’s History Museum -  www.womenshistory.org