HomeHomeMarch 2001
Greetings from the still-frozen tundra! Winter still has a grip on us, but we’re hanging in there. March weather in the upper Midwest is as unpredictable as the current U.S. stock market! Lately, we’ve been having a mini-heat wave (which means that temps are in the 40’s!) Yet, in an instant, Mother Nature could send us plunging back into the deep freeze. However, we’re at a seasonal turning point, when these beautiful blue sky days make it easier to enjoy our environment until the thermometer finally begins inching upward and our corner of the Earth wakes up again.
We’re looking forward to Spring, which officially begins on March 21st. We’re also looking forward to celebrating International Women’s Day on the 8th. In fact, March is Women’s History Month. In some circles, there are those who ask whether women should have a whole day or even a whole month dedicated to honoring their history. Why are we women worthy of this so-called honor? And why should we celebrate OUR history, as opposed to the history of humanity in general?
We need to celebrate our history, and our heroines (along with our heroes) because cultures across the globe and throughout time have taught us that we’re second-class citizens. Consider a few of these sobering 1997 statistics from the United Nations:
Status of Women
Women have not achieved equality with men in any country. Of the world's 1.3 billion poor people, it is estimated that nearly 70 per cent are women. Between 75 and 80 per cent of the world's 27 million refugees are women and children.Political Participation
Only 28 women have been elected heads of state or government in this century. Women hold 11.7 per cent of the seats in the world's parliaments. . Of the 185 highest-ranking diplomats to the United Nations, seven are women.Women and Education
Of the world's nearly one billion illiterate adults, two-thirds are women. Two-thirds of the 130 million children worldwide who are not in school are girls. During the past two decades the combined primary and secondary enrollment ratio for girls in developing countries increased from 38 per cent to 78 per cent.Women and Labor
The majority of women earn on average about three-fourths of the pay of males for the same work, outside of the agricultural sector, in both developed and developing countries. In most countries, women work approximately twice the unpaid time men do. Women make up 31 per cent of the official labor force in developing countries and 46.7 per cent worldwide. Rural women produce more than 55 per cent of all food grown in developing countries. The value of women's unpaid housework and community work is estimated at between 10-35 per cent of GDP worldwide, amounting to $11 trillion in 1993.Women and Health
Women are becoming increasingly affected by HIV. Today about 42 per cent of estimated cases are women, and the number of infected women is expected to reach 15 million by the year 2000.Women and Violence
Each year an estimated two million girls suffer the practice of female genital mutilation. Worldwide, 20 to 50 per cent of women experience some degree of domestic violence during marriage. The primary victims of today's wars are civilian women and their children, not soldiers. The use of rape as a weapon of war has become more evident. In Rwanda from April 1994 to April 1995, estimates of the number of women and girls raped range from 15,700 to over 250,000.Clearly, this world is a tough place for women. However, we must celebrate our individual and collective strength, beauty, intelligence, and power. Our American ancestors knew this when they began celebrating the first National Woman's Day in 1909.
Today, many Americans believe that contemporary feminists such as Gloria Steinem or Betty Friedan started the "Women’s Lib" movement back in the 1960’s or 1970’s. This is not so! In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Sixty-eight women and 32 men signed a "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions" which set the agenda for the women's rights movement that followed. Coincidentally, that same year, American astronomer Maria Mitchell became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honor unheard of at that time. Nearly a century passed before a second woman was elected.
These are but a few of the many, many stories of courageous women whose lives spanned various historical eras and cultures. Where can we learn about other heroines? Author Barbara Holland has recounted some inspirational tales in her wonderful new book, They Went Whistling: Women Wayfarers, Warriors, Runaways, and Renegades (Pantheon Books, Random House, New York, 2001). Consider the words of Calamity Jane, a fearless woman of the Old American West:
"During the month of June I acted as a pony express rider carrying the U.S. mail between Deadwood and Custer (South Dakota), a distance of fifty miles over one of the roughest trails in the Black Hills country. As many of the riders before me had been held up and robbed of their packages, mail and money that they carried, for that was the only means of getting mail and money between these points. It was considered the most dangerous route in the Hills, but as my reputation as rider and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they knew that I never missed my mark."According to Holland, even Buffalo Bill Cody wrote admiringly of his friend Calamity Jane:
"In 1876, Jane, by a daring feat, saved the lives of six passengers on a stage coach traveling from Deadwood to Wild Birch, in the Black Hills country. The stage was surrounded by Indians, and the driver, Jack McCall, was wounded by an arrow. Although the other six passengers were men, not one of them had nerve enough to take the ribbons. Seeing the situation, Jane mounted the driver’s seat without a moment’s hesitation and brought the stage safely and in good time to Wild Birch."Not bad for a "second-class citizen"! Have you ever heard of Irish pirate Grace O’Malley, who stood up to her contemporary, Queen Elizabeth the First, and won? Do you know the story of English explorer Gertrude Bell, whose knowledge of the pre-World War I Middle East was critical to Winston Churchill? How many of us know about Irishwoman Daisy Bates, who spent most of her lifetime tracking the lives of Australian Aborigines? These stories and more are included in Holland’s fun book.
Another excellent resource is Cool Women: The Thinking Girl’s Guide to the Hippest Women in History (Girl Press Books, Chicago, IL, 1998) by Dawn Chipman, Mari Florence, and Naomi Wax. They cover the lives of a number of strong heroines across time from Lakshmi Bai, one of India’s greatest warriors, to Angolan Queen Njinga, who ruled in 1582, when Africa was beginning to be carved up by Western Europeans, to modern day "Queen of the Raceways" Shirley Muldowny. The fun graphics and easy reading style make this an appealing book for historians of any age.
If you want to get a good look at some of our latter-day heroines, you can find an inspirational "pick-me-up" in Pomegranate Press’ Women Who Dared book of postcards. (We’ve mentioned Pomegranate in a previous WITNE column, but some resources are so good, they deserve additional mention.) This book includes photos of Sarah Winnemuca, Native American rights activist, Russian Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, to name a few.
Honoring our history, our heroines, and even our own life stories is crucial if we’re going to continue to make this world a better place. While there is no question that the majority of womens’ lives are difficult at best, we can find strength from those who have lived before us. Recognizing the courage of women over time can give us the inspiration to live our own lives in a more meaningful way, and perhaps we can each inspire those who will carry on after us. Sometimes, just having the courage to be yourself in a world which would have you believe you are second class is enough.
So, let’s celebrate! See you back here next month.
Teresa
Women’s History Resources:
The National Women’s Hall of Fame is located in Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first American Women’s Conference in 1848.
The Encyclopedia Britannica offers information on women in American history. It has an excellent biography section.
The National Women’s History Project is a "non—profit organization dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational material and programs." They offer program ideas for celebrating women’s history throughout the year. Their fantastic Learning Place page offers links to a wealth of other resources dealing with women’s history.
Middle Tennessee State University librarian and scholar Ken Middleton offers a wonderful reference source with his American Women’s History: A Research Guide.
Danuta Bois offers her Distinguished Women of Past and Present site. She created her inspirational site when she learned about Hildegard von Bingen and wondered how many other distinguished women were left out of our history books.
Duke University offers a special section on African-American women’s history.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press web site offers Women’s History Month Portraits, and they offer a statistical tour of women at work.
Organizations Making A Difference
Would you like to help, but you’re not sure where to begin? An Oprah show from February 2001 featured a number of organizations and web sites devoted to improving the lives of women and children worldwide, and we’ve listed a few of those below. Oprah has taken a lot of criticism over the last few years for her "change your life" style of television programming, but she and her staff members continue to inspire women and men with her program, and her inspirational O magazine.
The Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan is "a political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights."
Equality Now is "an international human rights organization dedicated to action for the civil, political, economic and social rights of girls and women."
The Heifer Project International offers constructive ways to help the lives of impoverished people around the globe.
Women for Women International "provides women with tools and resources needed to move out of crisis and poverty and into stability and self-sufficiency."
Healing The Children is dedicated to "providing donated medical care to children in need." Their vision includes "a world where every child has access to medical care."
Teresa
tcallies@hotmail.com
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