The Indiana Commission for Women (ICW) created the Writing Her Story initiative in 2012 to highlight the resilience and strength of Hoosier women and celebrate their accomplishments and contributions. This annual project captured stories of extraordinary women and showcased how they have moved Indiana forward. In many ways, these remarkable women quietly do extraordinary with very little recognition.
When it began, the initiative focused on contemporary women. However, in 2014, ICW shifted its efforts to spotlight historical women and showcase how they became part of Indiana’s history. In addition, the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM) commissioned a study in 2015 to determine Americans’ knowledge of our nation’s heroines, both historical and contemporary. The study revealed fewer than one in four Americans consider themselves knowledgeable about notable women and their accomplishments. Subsequently, ICW expanded its efforts to highlight thirty-one stories about historical women during Women’s History Month in March 2015 with its first annual, Writing Her Story: 31 Stories in 31 Days. Then, in 2016, ICW revamped Writing Her Story to create more visual profiles of historical women and continued the effort to highlight thirty-one women during March. These profiles generate an average of 38,000 social media impressions during the month.
Writing Her Story has been nationally recognized with a 2015 Achievement Award by the National Association of Commissions for Women and was recognized as a 2016 Legacy Project by the Indiana Bicentennial Commission. In 2017, ICW made an effort to expand the diversity of the women profiled and increased diversity by 30%. In the past three years, ICW has highlighted approximately 95 women from 29 counties in Indiana. These profiles have been listed on ICW’s website and can be accessed 24/7 by anyone interested in learning about women who have overcome societal barriers and discovering their importance to Indiana’s history. Future Writing Her Story profiles will be listed on ICW's website and social media platforms to be viewed.
If you know of someone who would be a good candidate for an article, please send her name to the Indiana Commission for Women at info@icw.in.gov.
Click here to read the full listing of Writing Her Story articles of our featured women