"This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. And we celebrate the women who fought for that right. Yet so many of the black women who helped secure that victory were still prohibited from voting, long after its ratification...We're not often taught their stories. But as Americans, we all stand … Continue reading THE 19TH AMENDMENT AND WOMEN OF COLOR
Carl Van Vechten / Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons “None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.” ~ Marian Anderson I would like to mark Black History Month by honoring the late and beyond great … Continue reading MARIAN ANDERSON – THE VOICE OF AMERICA
"I do not demand equal pay for any women save those who do equal work in value. Scorn to be coddled by your employers; make them understand that you are in their service as workers, not as women." ~ Susan B. Anthony, ca 1868 We sought justice because equal pay for equal work is an … Continue reading Women’s History Month – The Long, Long Road to Equal Pay – in 2152
"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Attributed to Gloria Steinem In 1972, when I was a twenty-something single woman working in the book publishing industry, I became a charter subscriber to Ms., the groundbreaking magazine founded by Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin. Not being a well-to-do suburban … Continue reading Women’s History Month – Gloria Steinem – Trailblazer Extraordinaire
There never will be complete equality until women themselves
help to make laws and elect lawmakers. ~ Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
Although it took nearly three-quarters of a century, American women made good on Abigail Adams's threat in 1776 to her husband, John Adams, as he participated in the creation of the United States Constitution: "...we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” Once underway, that rebellion -- begun at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 -- lasted another nearly three-quarters of a century, but it resulted in the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, which guaranteed all women nationwide the right to vote. Prior to that, each state decided whether to grant women the right to vote, and, shockingly, some states actually revoked their right. But many states did grant women the right to vote, and it was in 1917 that a leader in the suffrage movement of one of those states, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, became the first woman elected to Congress.
There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers. ~ Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) The Three E's is taking a brief hiatus this week and will return next Tuesday to address this last topic in honor of Women's History Month. Until next time, Jeanne
President John F. Kennedy and personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln
In her book, Be the Ultimate Assistant, Bonnie Low-Kramen writes, "Here's a fast-paced profession which is highly demanding -- requiring intelligence, resourcefulness, discretion, initiative, computer skills, and last, but not least, consummate people skills. Oh yes, it's also helpful to be clairvoyant!" (p. 32)
White House Official Photo
Former First Lady of the United States Nancy Reagan
1921 - 2016
With the passing of former First Lady Nancy Davis Reagan last week, the nation's attention turned briefly to reflect on the role that America's First Ladies have played in building our country -- a position, I might add, that pays no salary. First Lady Pat Nixon once commented that, "Being first lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world." And President Obama brought up the subject a few years ago, mentioning that First Lady Michelle Obama does not get paid for all her work on behalf of the Executive Branch and the country, especially her work to eliminate childhood obesity and encourage Americans to live healthier lives, which in turn can reduce workplace absenteeism and healthcare costs.
The 2016 theme of the U.S. National Women's History Month is
Working to Form a More Perfect Union:
Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.
"...it's...a very unique American experience...It's such a great adventure...If the experiment in human living doesn't work in this country, in this age, it's not going to work anywhere."
~ Hillary Rodham, Student Commencement Speech,
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, May 31,1969
“I would argue that right now we have rationed care throughout this country. There are literally millions of Americans who don’t have access to the same quality or quantity of healthcare as millions of others. I heard Dr. Koop say the other day that an uninsured person who enters a hospital with the same problem as an insured person is three times more likely to die than the insured person. And that’s a shocking statistic.”
~ First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Testimony to Congress
on the President’s Healthcare Reform Proposal,
September 28, 1993
"If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be
that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all."
~ First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Remarks to the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China
September 5, 1995
The echoes of women's voices throughout history -- or herstory, as some feminists would say with a smile -- include one that resonates today. That is the voice of Hillary Clinton, who has managed to wear more hats in service to her government and various communities than just about anyone in the nation's history -- woman or man. And now she is poised to become the first female Presidential nominee of a major political party. If she succeeds, it will only have taken 240 years for an American woman to accomplish this feat.
