Why 'Nevertheless, She Persisted' Is the Theme for This Year's Women's History Month

The theme of this year’s Women’s History Month, which begins Thursday, revives a phrase that became a feminist rallying cry last year: “Nevertheless, She Persisted.”

During the month of March, the National Women’s History Project will honor 15 women who have persevered in spite of discrimination in their fight for criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, education equality, racial justice and other issues.

“‘Nevertheless, She Persisted’ is really about every woman who really had to use her tenacity and courage to accomplish whatever she set out to accomplish. It’s universal,” said Molly Murphy MacGregor, executive director and co-founder of the National Women’s History Project. “You think about our mothers and grandmothers — they’ve been persisting for a very long time.”

But the origins of the phrase are decidedly modern, dating back only to February 2017 when Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was silenced and rebuked by Republicans during a debate over President Trump’s nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General.