This month is Women’s History Month, which was designated by the US Congress in 1987, and creates a special opportunity in our schools, our workplaces, and our communities to recognize and celebrate the often-overlooked achievements of American women.
Each year the National Women’s History Project chooses a theme. This year they chose a theme that “presents the opportunity to honor women who have shaped America’s history and its future through their tireless commitment to ending discrimination against women and girls. The theme embodies women working together with strength, tenacity and courage to overcome obstacles and achieve joyful accomplishments.”
The 2018 theme is –
Nevertheless She Persisted:
Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
womens march 2017
Throughout this year, 15 outstanding women will be honored for their unrelenting and inspirational persistence, and for understanding that, by fighting all forms of discrimination against women and girls, they have shaped America’s history and our future.
You can read more about these amazing honorees and what they have accomplished…www.nwhp.org/2018-theme-honorees/
And so today I’m not writing about how to save money, whip up a tasty dish, or create a DIY project. If you’re familiar with my site you know that it’s pretty innocuous, staying away from topics like politics or religion, and rarely sharing my personal opinions on anything other than if baking soda cleans better than vinegar.
But today, today I want to bring up a conversation about what I think has been an incredibly empowering year for women. Not about being a Republican or Democrat, a Christian or atheist, black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight. Simply about being a woman; a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother…a woman.
I think women are strong, intelligent, caring, passionate, and beautiful. We know how to multi-task, negotiate, communicate, delegate, and inspire. Over this past year I have watched and seen women unite and fight for one another. To stand up for one another, to encourage, lift, empathize and love on one another. It has been incredible to see what women can accomplish when we stand together, when we lift our voices, when we offer support for others hurting.
Unfortunately, I have also witnessed women who have become more divided. Friends who are no longer friends. Sisters who no longer speak to one another. Mothers who stopped communicating with daughters. Groups that no longer meet. (This is happening with men too, but for today, I’m talking about and from a woman’s perspective.)
And I think we’re better than that. I think we have the power to disagree while still working together to accomplish great things for ourselves, our daughters, nieces, granddaughters, for all girls and women. For now and the future.
There are several instances that come immediately to my mind where we have shown our strength over the past year and a half. I originally planned to write about all of them in one article but I decided to break them down over the month as we celebrate women who have come before us and what we as women are doing now.
WOMEN’S MARCH 2017
For me, it was during the Woman’s March on January 21, 2017, when I really began to see uniting but also huge differences in how women were interacting with each other regarding issues our country was facing. No matter which opinion you held, there were vast differences. But we’ve always held different views or had different perceptions, which is a good thing I think. I mean, who wants everyone to be the same and how boring would that be? But it seems like in the past, we were able to discuss our differences without hating on one another. Or at least that’s how it feels to me.
Some who marched couldn’t understand why others weren’t supporting or joining in and those who didn’t couldn’t understand why the others were marching. And then before you knew it, we were widely divided and you were either on “that side” or “that side.” I have family and friends who marched, wearing their pink hats and carrying signs, but I also have friends and family who didn’t and thought it was a total waste of time.
I use the Women’s March of 2017 as an example because it was one of the largest, if not largest, single-day protest in US history. (Numbers vary according to sources but it was in the top 3 regardless.) The March began as a Facebook post and grew. And grew. And grew. It grew into a worldwide protest, on all seven continents, to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women’s rights, immigration reform, the natural environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, and worker’s rights.
You don’t have to personally believe in something like abortion or gay couples adopting. You don’t have to believe women belong in the military or in our government. You don’t have to believe in only one god, if any. Each and every one of us have the right to our own beliefs. But we can support one another while having differences. We can have compassion for what someone might be going through, even though we don’t personally understand. We can treat each other with civility and respect, even when we differ.
I personally thought the Women’s March was all about equality. Equality for all. And what I found especially inspiring about the Women’s March was the coming together of so many people. Different in color, age, size, religious beliefs, sexual preferences, economic levels, and more. Equality and the rights that go along with equality.
A word I saw tossed around quite a bit during that time was feminist. And not always in a good way, especially on social media. I have a friend who wrote she would never consider herself a feminist because she wasn’t a “ball-buster.”
The actual definition of feminism is (from Merriam-Webster)…1) the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, 2) organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.
Equality…it’s a good thing. It’s not about being superior or not liking men. It’s not about being against feminine things. It’s about equality. If a woman and man have equal talents, education, or experience, they should be treated equally and paid equally. The same with the color of our skin, our religious beliefs, our sexual beliefs…we all are equal and should have the same opportunities.
I have a friend, a friend of twenty years, who has worked hard to get where she is in her field but has always made less than her male counterparts. She has been passed over time and time again for higher positions, not because she wasn’t qualified, but because those positions went to men. And in a few cases, men who were not as qualified as she was. But last year I actually saw her post on social media that she thought “feminists” were nasty and the march was disruptive and didn’t help anything. She also said she wasn’t a feminist because, “she liked having doors opened for her.” I enjoy having doors opened for me too. And I hold doors open for others. I kind of think it’s just about being polite.
But when it came to the march, it made me think about all the brave women before me, women who marched in the past for rights I now enjoy.
With marches, protests, and raising our voices over the years we have the right to… vote, attend college, run for political positions, and have access to birth control.
At one point women couldn’t…get a mortgage in their own name, adopt as a single woman, become a presidential nominee, or live with a boyfriend. Women at one point weren’t paid for maternity leave and could even be fired just for being pregnant. There was a time women couldn’t serve in combat or practice law. A woman couldn’t serve on a jury, get a credit card, an Ivy League education or seek legal action if sexually harassed on the job. Heck, women couldn’t even wear what they wanted to at one point, instead wearing what the laws, that men created, told them to wear.
AND THIS…this is just so hard to believe but at one time it was against the law to refuse to have sex with your husband. And forget about trying to get a divorce. At one point you couldn’t divorce your husband even if he beat you. But hey, in 1966 New York passed a law saying beatings were grounds for divorce (but the wife did need to prove that a “sufficient” number of beatings had occurred.) And until the 1970’s, marital rape wasn’t illegal.
But with women banding together, we have gained equal rights. There is still lots of work to be done but this is what women uniting together accomplishes.
AND NOW FOR A BIT IF HISTORY AND AN EARLIER “MARCH”
It was March 3, 1913 when thousands of women gathered in Washington, D.C. to call for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. They had been fighting for suffrage for over 60 years but this marked the first major national event for the movement. Spearheaded by Alice Paul and the National American Woman Suffrage Association and called The 1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade.
Inez Milholland, a lawyer and activist, let over 5,000 suffragettes, while atop a white horse, up Pennsylvania Avenue. This parade included 20 floats, 9 bands and 4 mounted brigades. Women were attacked, pushed, and mocked while police did little to help and by the end of the day, over 100 women had to be hospitalized for injuries.
And though it took another 7 years for the Nineteenth Amendment to be ratified on August 18, 1920, historians credit this parade for giving the suffrage movement a new wave of inspiration and purpose.
And just as they paved the way for equality at the ballot box, I believe we can further pave the way for even more equality…for all.
And for all those women who have marched before me and for all those who will march after me, I am grateful.
“I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.” – Alice Paul from a 1972 interview when she was in her late 80’s