Happy National Women’s History Month!

If you're reading this article, you should probably take a moment to give thanks to the women who made that feat possible. Your mother who first read you a book. Your teacher who first taught you grammar. Or, perhaps it was Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer (and Lord Byron's daughter).

Maybe you are wearing eyeglasses designed by Donna Karan or Vera Wang. Or maybe you've had LASIK surgery, which was first performed on humans by Dr. Marguerite B. MacDonald in 1989. In fact, why not stop and give thanks to the many women behind the many little things that get you through every single day.

If you are doing the universal womanly balancing act trick, you can thank Patsy Sherman, who in 1952 invented Scotchgard to keep things chic and stain-free, even when life goes topsy-turvy.

If that doesn't work, don't forget multi-task maven Margaret Colvin who invented the washing machine in 1871, and Josephine Cochran, inventor of the dishwasher in 1872.

Of course, some of them might have been lost to history were it not for Mary Kies, the first woman to receive a U.S. patent in 1909.

While International Women's Day has been celebrated in Europe on March 8 since 1911, it wasn't until 1980 that President Jimmy Carter, encouraged by the National Women's History Project (NWHP), devoted the entire second week of March in the U.S. to spotlighting women's achievements.

Seven years of exhaustive lobbying later, in 1987 women got their own month — renewed by Presidential proclamation every March since.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of National Women's History Month, this year the focus is "Writing Women Back into History."  Celebrating themes which have highlighted women's achievements in the arts, sciences, and politics from the past three decades, this year's honorees include Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jane Goodall, Maya Lin, and many, many other woman who have inscribed their place in history in indelible ink.

From the first Woman’s Rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848; to the wowza publicity stunt bra burnings of the ‘70s (bras which, incidentally, were invented by a woman: Mary Phelps Jacobs in 1910); to our present status of having both a female Secretary of State — for the second administration in a row — and a female Speaker of the House; women have been using their intelligence, intrepidness, and — when all else fails — those famous wiles of theirs to gain recognition, equality, and justice.

Little wonder their 31 days are bookended by lions and lambs.

A few other important moments in women's history in the U.S. worth noting today:

1869: Wyoming Territory became the first electorate to grant women the right to vote. Wyoming also was the first state to elect a woman governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross in 1924.

1921: Edith Wharton becomes the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.

1928: Amelia Earhart is the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane.

1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor. She is the first woman to be named to a Presidential cabinet.

1981: Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first woman Supreme Court Justice.

2009: The U.S. House of Representative votes to establish a National Woman's History Museum. It is currently pending approval in the Senate.

Until the day comes when women's achievements are recognized every day, 12 months a year, National Women's History Month is a great way to remember these watershed moments.

To mark the occasion this year, the Library of Congress will highlight their collections that reflect the theme “Women Taking the Lead to Save the Planet” for the entire month of March. At The Smithsonian, “Women’s History Month Family Day,” on March 6th, is a festival of music and dance, as well as performances and activities for all ages, while the National Air and Space Museum will host “Women in Aviation and Space Day” on March 13th. Outside our nation's capital, the websites for schools and universities across the country are listing how they plan to salute womankind.

NHWP has published Writing Women Back into History Gazette, a 24-page newspaper that includes a map of the U.S. pinpointing 101 historical monuments about women, as well as articles about landmark moments in women’s history including the establishment of Ms. Magazine, and the National Woman’s Hall of Fame.

You can make your mark by supporting your favorite organization that supports woman, or by writing to your Senator and asking him or her to help pass the National Women's History Museum Act now.

After all, as Susan B. Anthony said, women are “half of the people in whose hands lie the destiny of this nation.”Photo by Madmoiselle Lavender via Flickr, photo by Muskingum University Library via Flickr.