Even a math-challenged person like me can figure out half of all our ancestors were women. But despite the numbers, many genealogists find it easier to focus their research on men-after all, men signed the documents and men were the major players in our history books.

National Women's History Month, celebrated every March since Congress made it official in 1987, is the perfect time to change research gears. Of course, we hope you celebrate women's history all year, but March provides extra opportunities to memorialize the feminine branches of your pedigree chart through special events, online exhibits and TV programs. We've prepared this planner for learning about your mother's, grandmothers' and great-grandmothers' worlds: