Women’s History Month: Reasons to Celebrate

March 06, 2023By Cindy O’Brien

During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the contributions of strong women from all walks of life. While it’s important to recognize women and their achievements all year long, the US Congress sets aside one month each year to honor women, which is March. To make things easier on you, LIV + GRACE SKINCARE has put together a guide to Women’s History Month that’s complete with ways you can celebrate women today:

The History of Women’s History Month

Women's History Month / Women's History Week Women’s History Month began as “Women’s History Week” in Santa Rosa, California during the 1970s. The date was selected to correspond with International Women’s Day on March 8th. Soon after the first celebration, a movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week the following year.

In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th as National Women’s History Week. It wasn’t until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, that Women’s History Month was born. Since then, there have been worldwide celebrations during the month of March to honor all women.

For 2023, the theme of Women’s History Month is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.” Its aim is to "encourage the recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling. This theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art and news, pursuing truth, and reflecting society decade after decade."

Groundbreaking Women To Celebrate During Women's History Month

During Women’s History Month, women are celebrated all around the world with celebrities and well-known public figures being brought into the spotlight to be honored. Here are a few groundbreaking women to celebrate this March:

Viola Davis

Viola Davis for Women's History Month As a child, Viola Davis was one of the 15 million kids in the U.S. facing hunger daily. Today, she’s an ambassador for Hunger Is, a charity that fights childhood hunger. Viola has been working to spread awareness about the impact of pandemic-fueled food insecurity on children.

Viola said, “The uncertainty of where your next meal will come from is scary and it consumes every waking moment you have. I still remember what it was like—the stigma attached to it and the shame. That’s what so many families are going through right now.”

Viola has been with Hunger Is for nearly ten years, and since then, she, along with celebrities like Meryl Steep, has donated their time and money to make sure every child has food on their plate each day.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift for Women's History Month Taylor Swift is truly a force to be reckoned with. She’s sold more than 200 million records, won 11 Grammy Awards, and is the most streamed woman on Spotify. However, behind the scenes, Taylor is also an altruist that donates money to charities worldwide.

In 2015, Taylor donated the money that she made from her music video “Wildest Dreams” to the African Parks Foundation of America (APFA). The main goals of APFA include the maintenance of protected areas, the abolition of poaching, and the preservation of wildlife in Africa.

Taylor also works in collaboration with UNICEF by taking part in their Tap Project Initiative, which distributes bottled water from famous people’s houses through an auction. The program has raised more than $2.5 million for people worldwide who do not have access to clean water.

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton for Women's History Month Having grown up poor in Tennessee, Dolly Parton is now one of the world’s most famous philanthropists. In 1988, she established the Dollywood Foundation with the aim of helping impoverished Appalachian children find academic success.

The year the foundation launched, the high school drop-out rate in Dolly’s home county went down by 29%. Dolly later started the Imagination Library, which is an organization responsible for distributing free books to kids across the country.

Dolly has spent the whole of her career championing causes that range from childhood literacy to environmental conservation. She also donated $1 million to help develop the COVID-19 vaccine and received $100 million from Jeff Bezos to continue her charitable work.

Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett for Women's History Month Angela Bassett has received various accolades, including sixteen NAACP Image Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. In addition, she also received nominations for two Academy Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Angela annually attends events for children with diabetes and is an active Ambassador of UNICEF (just like Taylor Swift). Regularly, Angela endorses the Royal Theater Boys and Girls Club in her home state of Florida.

Supporting and honoring women, especially Black women, has always been prominent to Angela. She said, “I love to support my sisters, and I cheer for them. I cheer for their successes. I cheer for the mark they make and every effort they make.”

How You Can Celebrate Women’s History Month

Not sure how to show your support for Women’s History Month? No worries; LIV + GRACE SKINCARE has your back! Here are some ideas for how to honor Women’s History Month and the progression that the women’s rights movement has made over the decades:

Listen To Female-Hosted Podcasts

Over one in three U.S. Women 18+ (35%) have listened to a podcast in the past month, which is up 67% over the past five years, and now represents an estimated 47 million women. Today, though, women are also hosting popular podcasts, not just listening to them.

Here are three popular female-hosted podcasts to listen to during Women’s History Month and beyond:

And Nothing Less: Hosted by Rosario Dawson and comedian Retta, And Nothing Less is a podcast honoring the centennial anniversary of women’s right to vote. In the seven-part series, listeners will be guided through the untold history of women’s suffrage, with a focus on the women whose voices are often overlooked.
Anonymous Was A Woman: Hosted by Jamila Rizvi (author and CCO of Future Women) and Astrid Edwards (writer, director, and co-founder of Bad Producer Productions), Anonymous Was A Woman is a podcast where the duo analyzes books by and about women.
Call Your Girlfriend: This weekly phone-call-turned-podcast between Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman offers “highbrow and lowbrow, fiercely opinionated” hot takes on women’s humanity.

Read Books By Women Authors

While over 80% of the most popular novels were written by men, this statistic is drastically changing. In the last 40 years, female authors have gone from accounting for 25% of books on the Best Seller List to about 48%.

Here are three women writers with exceptional pieces of literacy:

Adrienne Rich is recognized for her poem “Diving Into The Wreck;” which uses an extended metaphor comparing diving into the water to the struggle for women’s equal rights.
Amia Srinivasan’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Harper’s, among other outlets. In The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century, Amia is not only insightful but also distills complex ideas of feminist theory and the sociological context in which they develop and exist.
Margaret Atwood is best known for her feminist perspective, like in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale (the show is also exceptional, so go have a watch!).

Support Women Entrepreneurs

A study from 2016 concluded that women are about half as likely as their male counterparts to start a new business. However, in 2023, the number of women-owned brands has increased by 114%.

Here are a few female-owned businesses to support:

AnaOno: Dana Donofree, AnaOno’s founder and CEO, was diagnosed with breast cancer in her twenties. After her mastectomy, Dana felt like she lost her identity. This experience led her to create a line of what she called “boob-inclusive lingerie” designed for women who’d undergone breast surgery. In addition, for every bra purchased, one bra is donated to a breast cancer patient diagnosed within the last 12 months.
Ettitude: After seeing the fashion industry use more environmentally friendly textiles in clothing, Phoebe Yu, Ettitude’s founder and CEO, wanted to do the same for the bedding industry. Using her experience working in textile supply chain management and merchandising, Phoebe said she spent years creating the brand’s proprietary Clean Bamboo fabric before launching Ettitude, which she runs alongside co-founder and president Kat Dey.
Saalt: After hearing that her family in Venezuela did not have access to period care products, Cherie Hoeger created a unique collection of menstrual cups and period underwear. Saalt is a certified B Corp and commits 2% of revenue to donate its products to communities in need.

LIV + GRACE SKINCARE Is Female-Owned

Cindy O'Brien Founder of LIV + GRACE SKINCARE Cindy O’Brien’s passion for good skincare started many years ago with lots of twists and turns that ultimately led her to create LIV + GRACE SKINCARE to share with the world, especially women who cared about their health and loved beauty as much as she did.

Her journey began when she was a teen dealing with persistent acne and Rosacea, which caused her to have low self-esteem and anxiety. She looked for advice everywhere, but the majority of it was conflicting and/or didn’t work.

As she headed to college and began modeling, Cindy believed she resolved her skin issues by hiding behind her make-up (not ideal). Later on, Cindy stumbled upon unexpected infertility issues and a DCIS diagnosis, which was only a scare, thankfully.

These real-life experiences taught Cindy about the impact of a proper lifestyle and diet, along with the effects of environmental toxins. Her passion led her to a new emerging field, holistic esthetics, which gave her the chance to bridge the gap between wellness and beauty.

LIV + GRACE SKINCARE is the culmination of Cindy’s lifelong devotion to healthy living, and it’s a love letter to her two daughters, Liv and Grace.

Want to learn more about LIV + GRACE SKINCARE? Click here!

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Cindy O’Brien

“My vision is to produce only the most nutrient rich, multi correctional skincare using clean actives and sustainably sourced ingredients from Mother Nature. I am passionate about educating people regarding "Clean Beauty" and demystifying the largely unregulated beauty industry. My ultimate goal is to leave my mark by helping people feel more beautiful with clear, healthy and radiant looking skin."
Cindy Merrill O'Brien, Founder + Holistic Aesthetician
LIV + GRACE SKINCARE