“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” ~ Nora Ephron

“Our collective experience has shown that when women have the power to make their own choices, good things happen.” — Madeleine Albright

As we turn the calendar to a day that occurs every four years, we ponder the connection between the day and women’s empowerment to make their own choices, whether it’s proposing marriage or choosing one’s career.

The Legend of Leap Year Day and Women

Leap Year Day, February 29, brings with it an old Irish legend that dates back to the 5th century,  in which Saint Brigid of Kildare expressed to St. Patrick her concern over how long women had to wait for marriage proposals. To provide a solution, Saint Patrick granted all women the opportunity every four years on an extra day added in February to be the ones to propose to their suitors. Over the years, Leap Year Day became very popular in the Western World, with many iterations of the original custom. One in particular occurred in a suburb of Chicago in the 1940s, in which women took over the city for Leap Year Day, filling the posts of mayor and other city officials. The women often tossed unmarried men behind bars for the “crime” of being single!

Note:  Leap Year Day is often confused with Sadie Hawkins Day, a day that originated in the 1930s in the then-famous Al Capp cartoon strip, Lil’ Abner. Abner lived in the fictional mountain town of Dogpatch, where Sadie Hawkins also lived. Sadie was very shy and had trouble finding a husband. To help his daughter, Sadie’s father organized a foot race in which all the local bachelors participated; Sadie got to run after them and if she caught one he would be obligated to marry her. Now that’s a determined father! Some annual traditions, including dances and races,  grew out of the concept of Sadie Hawkins Day, which is typically held in November; some sources cite November 13, others cite the first Saturday in November.

Today, we can laugh over such quaint legends and observances of women for one day taking the lead in proposing marriage. But then we have to ask ourselves, what is the proposal custom today? I think we can agree that between a straight couple it is still the man that does the proposing — often as just a formality. Still, that’s not much progress since the 5th century! (There has been much progress in other areas with regard to women’s empowerment — empowerment that is being met with a great threat presently, but we’ll talk about that later as we “leap” into Women’s History Month.)

Finally, a very interesting modern custom growing out of Leap Year Day does not involve marriage proposals, but actual marriages! As an interesting twist, some couples are opting to schedule their weddings on February 29, celebrating anniversaries in a major way every four years. Interesting…

The Math and Science of Leap Year and Beyond

In determining the math and science related to the establishment of Leap Year Day on February 29, forgive me for seemingly to digress by comparing that with the precise mathematics related to John Glenn’s historic orbiting of the earth, on February 20, 1962, and how that relates to women. 

The calculations that led up to adding a day in February every four years to maintain the “sidereal orbital period” — or the time that it takes for our planet Earth and other planetary masses to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars— were necessary, as they keep the seasons from drifting. But those calculations also mean that a Leap Year Day does not always occur every four years. According to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, “By adding a leap day every four years, we actually make the calendar longer by over 44 minutes. Over time, these extra 44+ minutes would also cause the seasons to drift in our calendar. For this reason, not every four years is a leap year.  The rule is that if the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400, leap year is skipped. The year 2000 was a leap year, for example, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.  The next time a leap year will be skipped is the year 2100.”

Similarly, precise mathematical calculations were required to ensure the success of the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission and the safety of astronaut John Glenn in the historic orbiting of the earth in the spacecraft, Friendship 7. The person behind those calculations was Katherine Johnson, a black woman from West Virginia, whose mathematical brilliance helped her to break through the gender and racial barriers of the early to mid-20th century to make history.

Katherine Johnson’s story, along with those of other highly skilled and talented black women who worked for NASA during that era, was dramatized in the Oscar-nominated movie, Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson as Ms. Johnson and Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughn, mathematician, computing expert and NASA’s first African-American manager. Take a look; Hidden Figures might make you smile and give you a bit of hope. 

Women’s History Month and Beyond

As we leap into March, which has been designated as Women’s History Month, the 2024 theme being “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion,” my message for women of all colors and backgrounds is: know your value, demand your seat at the table, never let your guard down, and keep the sisterhood of women strong.

Women who came before you helped to get you where you are today. In turn, you must ensure that their work was not in vain, and that the women of the future — daughters, granddaughters and all descendants — will benefit from the courage, resilience and determination of women today.

Happy Leap Year Day and Happy Women’s History Month!

Until next time,

Jeanne