The Postal Service is observing Women’s History Month, which began March 1.
The commemoration was first observed nationally as Women’s History Week in 1980. The week was chosen to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8, a global observance that began in 1911.
In 1987, Congress designated the month of March as Women’s History Month.
Women often advanced in the postal system long before they won rights in the world outside.
For example, women were serving in important postal roles more than a century before they could vote. In 1775, Mary Katherine Goddard became the first known female postmaster, and the first female mail messenger was Sarah Black, in 1845.
One of the pioneering pilots flying U.S. Mail was Katherine Stinson, the “Flying Schoolgirl” who dropped mailbags over the Montana State Fair in 1913.
Approximately 44 percent of the USPS workforce is female.
The organization has celebrated many women and female achievements on stamps in recent years. These include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, civil rights pioneer Constance Baker Motley and actress Betty White, who will be honored with a stamp this month.
Other recent stamps have paid tribute to women’s soccer, women’s rowing and the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in any educational program receiving federal funds.
The usps.com postal history section has additional information, including articles about notable female postal employees.