Did you know that March is Women’s History Month?

When I was in school, learning history was like watching a play where all the lead characters were men. Occasionally women would come on stage and play a bit part, but they exited quickly after their brief supportive roles. History was mostly the story of important men doing important things.

But a few years ago, a colleague asked me to give a presentation about women in history.

What about women, specifically? I asked her.

I don’t know, she responded. Just talk about how women did stuff.

Women did stuff — that stuck with me. Because throughout history, women did do stuff. It may not have been noticed to the extent that men’s activities were noticed, but they were doing all the things they could with the limited options available to them.

They took full advantage of those limited options. Here is just one example. Although women did not gain full suffrage until 1920, women in Minnesota did have a limited right to vote prior to that time. In 1875, Minnesotans approved a constitutional amendment that granted women the right to vote in school elections and hold education-related office.

The women of Minnesota wasted no time exercising their new (albeit limited) political rights. They turned out in large numbers to vote in school board elections. They served on local school boards themselves. In many southwest Minnesota counties, women were elected as County School Superintendent (an elected office at that time).

Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers took full advantage of this opportunity and helped make Minnesota’s public education system one of the best in the entire nation. They paved the way for full women’s suffrage in subsequent decades, which opened up so many more opportunities for their daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters.

I survey the world now and am pleased by the way young women are taking advantage of the opportunities they have and taking leadership roles of all types. I see how many local FFA chapters are led by young women. I see that the officers of my daughter’s 4-H club are all women. I see women all across the region running for and winning elections to school boards, city councils, county commissions, and the state legislature.

I see young women across the world leading movements and nations: Greta Thunberg (Swedish environmental activist), Malala Yousafzai (Pakistani education activist), and Sanna Marin (prime minister of Finland), just to name a few.

No longer are women restricted to supporting roles in the play of world history. Our foremothers paved the way for us, our daughters, and granddaughters to now take leading roles. I am grateful for what they did, and I am proud of what my daughter and other young women like her are doing now to improve their communities, their nations, and the entire world.

— Anita Talsma Gaul is a history instructor at Minnesota West Community & Technical College