In the United States, March is Women's History Month. It's sad that in 2016 we still need this special designation to remember the achievements of half the world's population. But as anyone who has been to school will tell you, our history books are still sadly male-centric, despite hundreds (more like thousands) of years of groundbreaking achievements by women. We do have the Betsy Rosses and Florence Nightingales of the world represented within their pages, but they are a small percentage of the women whose stories need to be heard.
That's why this March, I'm dedicating each day to a woman history has forgotten or is in danger of forgetting. And I hope you will join me. Each day I will post a picture of my chosen woman on Instagram along with a brief mention of her achievements, using the hashtags #femstagram and #womenshistorymonth. I'm also going to post a paragraph about the woman on my blog, which is shared on Twitter and Facebook.
But you don't have to go that far - just post a picture of a woman you feel falls into the day's category, maybe with a little bit about why in the caption. It can be someone famous, someone no one has heard of, or even someone from your family. The point is to tell female stories.
The whole reason I chose to write historical fiction is to do just that. There are so many voices crying out for equality, for their contributions to be known. They are all of our foremothers, some of our ancestors, and part of the collective wisdom we carry in our X chromosomes, otherwise known as female intuition. They deserve to be remembered for at least one more generation.
So please join me throughout March on Instagram (Nicole Evelina) and/or on my blog (nicoleevelina.com/blog) to share your female heroes and learn more about the women who have helped make our world great.