March is Women’s History Month, and at Labor Solutions, we celebrate the incredible contributions that women have made to science, the arts, literature, business, and society as a whole throughout history. Too often, the women who made major advances in various fields over the years were not given the credit they deserved. We can’t change the errors of omission made throughout history, but we can highlight some of the forgotten heroes that helped create the world as we know it now.

Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Strong women have been a powerful force for change. Labor Solutions would like to take a moment to pay homage to some of the phenomenal ladies who exceeded all expectations in the business world. Just to name a few: 

  • Madam CJ Walker. Born in 1867 as Sarah Breedlove, Madam CJ Walker may or may not have been the first female self-made millionaire in U.S. history. There is some debate over whether she crested the seven-figure mark. Her success, however, is undeniable. The daughter of slaves, Walker was the first in her family to be born free. Her fortune was made by establishing a highly successful line of hair-care products for African-Americans.
  • Olive Ann Beech. Often called the “First Lady of Aviation,” Olive Ann Beech and her husband, Walter, founded Beech Aircraft Corp. in 1932. Olive Ann handled the company’s finances until her husband’s death in 1950, when she became president and CEO. Under her leadership, Beech Aircraft became a multimillion-dollar aerospace company and set the standard for 20th-century aircraft.
  • Katherine Johnson. From an early age, Katherine Johnson had a natural gift for numbers. She graduated with highest honors from West Virginia State College at age 19 in 1937. Johnson went on to teach math and in 1953 took a position with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, later NASA) in Langley, Virginia, which led to her providing trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s historic spaceflight and confirmation of the accuracy of orbital equations for John Glenn’s orbital mission in 1962. She worked on many other space projects, earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 2019, and just this month she was named as an inductee to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

We Salute Working Women Everywhere
A woman doesn’t need to establish a successful product line or multi-million-dollar business empire in order to be successful. All over the world, women are managing households and companies, taking care of families and customers, making strides for themselves and all of us every day. Labor Solutions applauds the women who are working hard to provide a better future for everyone in a million little ways.