U.S. women have fought significant battles in the last 100 years: In 1920, they won the right to vote; In 1968, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm became the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress and in 1972, the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination; In 1980, President Carter proclaimed the week of March 8th the first National Women’s History Week, which Congress later expanded to a whole month in 1987; In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court; A decade later, Madeleine Albright became the first female Secretary of State in our nation’s history; and in 2007, Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House.

Incredibly, 10 years ago, Kansas became the first state in the country to simultaneously have women hold the offices of Governor, U.S. Senator, and Representative.

Despite these wins, women in the U.S. have a ways to go. A 2004 report issued by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research suggested that women were still decades away from seeing full gender equality, in part due to the gender wage gap. In 2004, American women were paid 76 cents for every dollar earned by men. The Institute released a fact sheet this month showing that while women’s wages have risen, the ratio of women’s to men’s median weekly earnings is 80.2.

Parity this is not. And it doesn’t stop at the wage gap.

Experts believe that maternal mortality, while preventable, is on the rise in the United States. Deaths from pregnancy and childbirth have doubled in the United States over the last 20 years, they say, while the World Health Organization estimates that 11 deaths occur per 100,000 pregnancies in the United States. These figures put us behind more than 40 other nations.

The year 2011 will mark the centennial of International Women’s Day. So the next 12 months offer us an opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of our nation’s women, but also to contemplate how we can still improve their status. Let’s get started.