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.
Many women 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.
The organization has celebrated many women and female achievements on stamps. This year’s honorees include writer Phillis Wheatley, the subject of the Black Heritage stamp; Sarah Orne Jewett, the Literary Arts honoree; and folk artist Harriet Powers.
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 postal history section on usps.com has additional information, including articles about notable female postal employees.
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