Women’s History Month and Biblical Womanhood
Women’s History Month has been celebrated in America since 1988. The intent of this focus was to honor and celebrate the achievements of women in history. Current expressions of this month range from highlighting exceptional women in history to today’s social issues revolving around women. Each year has a theme, decided upon by the organization National Women’s History Project. Here are a few interesting themes from past years:
“Heritage of Strength and Vision” (1989)
“A Patchwork of Many Lives” (1992)
“Celebrating Women of Courage and Vision” (2001)
“Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics” (2013)
“Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment” (2014)
It is a wonderful thing to be a woman, and it always has been since God created women. It’s inspiring to consider some of the women highlighted through Women’s History Month or other organizations. The 2025 theme reflects this: “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations”
In contrast, I was recently reading an article titled “192 Nonfiction Books to Read This Women’s History Month”, published March 1, 2025. While I’ve read none of these books, I found that their titles and description seemed to conflict with this year’s theme of educating and inspiring generations. In this article, over 50% of the nonfiction recommendations (not including biographies) were related to feminism in some way.
It is interesting that only two books seemed specifically about motherhood; TIME Magazine reported in 2019 that 86% of US women were mothers in an article titled “No, All Those Strollers Aren’t Your Imagination: More Women Are Having Children”. The two books were titled “Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change” (Angela Garbes) and “The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom” (Nancy Reddy). Since over 3/4ths of American women are mothers, you’d think there would be more books about such a practical and relevant topic—unless women embracing motherhood isn’t part of the feminist agenda.
Consider the rather, interesting, titles of some other nonfiction recommendations:
Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us (Jennifer Finney Boylan)
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (Caroline Criado Perez)
Women & Power: A Manifesto (Mary Beard)
Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger (Soraya Chemaly)
The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman (Anne Helen Petersen) (with the words “Too Fat”, “Too Slutty”, “Too loud” on the cover)
The Witches Are Coming (Lindy West)
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language (Amanda Montell)
Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead (Lisa Selin Davis)
The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting In the Way (Sara Ahmed)
From these titles alone, one would get the perception that Women’s History Month is actually about being antagonistic and angry about feminine roles, sprinkled with a healthy appreciation of profanity. And I’m not trying to single out the writer of this article; visit your local bookstore and you will see Women’s History Month book displays with very similar features.
Is Women’s History Month really about power, feminism, and encouraging mothers to only produce little liberals—when abortion is not desired, of course? Where are the books encouraging gentleness, involved and committed parenting, developing caring friendships, finding satisfaction and contentment, and performing one’s job in the workforce with joy? I don’t expect unsaved authors to write a Biblical handbook of womanhood, but I am also not going to be silent about these harmful worldviews being spread as if they are normal. Clearly, the worldly view of womanhood that is celebrated and promoted does not even come close to how God designed womanhood.
I have not read any of the books listed in the article, so I won’t comment on them further than what their titles are. Perhaps I will read some of them one day. I think it is important to learn different perspectives. Right now, I encourage you to take advantage of Women’s History Month by reading and sharing about outstanding women of Godly character throughout history. Here are just a few to get started:
Amy Carmichael
Fanny Crosby
Elizabeth Elliot
Harriet Tubman
Corrie Ten Boom
Joni Eareckson Tada
And while there are many famous Christian women who made important contributions to history—and they most certainly should be celebrated—let’s not forget about the everyday Christian woman who lives faithfully and quietly. She may not be full of rage, make contributions to medicine or science, or have many people remember her name after she is gone. These are the women who truly create history as they nurture their families, represent Christ in their communities and in the workforce, and serve those around them. Proverbs 31:25-26 says, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31 sometimes gets hate for supposedly idealizing a description of a biblical woman, but I think it is inspiring. These are the types women we need to admire, celebrate, and model our own character after.
Who is an admirable woman who comes to mind when you think of Women’s History Month?
If you’re interested in looking further at the problematic views of womanhood today, read a series of posts I wrote last year on Women & Social Issues :
Why Should Scripture Be Our Starting Point?
Biblical Womanhood: A Foundation
Does A Woman’s Sexuality Matter?
Is it Really “My Body, My Choice?”
How Can I Find Identity and Purpose?
Photo by Kayle Kaupanger on Unsplash
