Celebrating Women's History with Female Leaders

Dear Educator,

March is the month to celebrate the achievements of women in our culture. Although women were originally denied the vote in most countries, they have had an enormous impact on the world. Women have contributed as doctors, scientists, astronauts, mathematicians, leaders, politicians, activists, artists, authors, poets, and much more. This month, regardless of your subject area, look to Maps101 to help you recognize the important work of women throughout our history. This week, our focus is specifically on women who have been leaders in some way. In the United States, women have served in Congress as senators and representatives. Current Vice President Kamala Harris holds the highest political position a woman has earned in the U.S. to date. Introduce students to these other leaders throughout the world as you highlight groundbreaking women for the month of March.

Field Trips are an interactive tour through a topic, with images, text, and a map to locate the action. This month, we are highlighting the Field Trip about important women. Students will be introduced to Clara Barton, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Rachel Carson, Shirley Chisholm, Amelia Earhart, Billie Jean King, Toni Morrison, and Rosa Parks, to name some of the women who are featured.

Kamala Harris is the current vice president of the United States, serving with President Joe Biden. Her political career includes positions as a district attorney, state attorney general, senator, and presidential candidate. Not only is she the first woman to serve as vice president, her parents are of Jamaican and Indian descent, making her the first African American and Asian American in that role. 

Wilma Mankiller was living in San Francisco in 1969, when she and friends from the American Indian Cultural Center successfully occupied Alcatraz Island and its penitentiary. As a result, they brought national attention to the needs of Native Americans. She returned to Oklahoma and became deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1983. She was elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1985. Thus, she became the first woman to be elected to this position. Chief Mankiller served for 10 years, and in 1991, she won with 82 percent of the vote. Learn more about this leader and activist in this week’s GNN article.

Let’s look at one of modern history’s most influential female leaders. Although Angela Merkel is no longer chancellor of Germany, she was the elected head of the country from 2005-2021. She had a long tenure and greatly affected German policy for a decade and a half. Learn more about this remarkable leader of one of the most influential members of the European Union (EU).

This is a small sample of the kind of content available to you with your Maps101 subscription. Every week, the editors at Maps101 will provide you with highlights from our extensive collection in this GeoJournal newsletter. We suggest you make a folder to store them for future reference. Expand your students’ world with Maps101!