Can you imagine not being able to vote, buy your own home, or control your money? Those concepts are unthinkable in today’s America (but certainly are still true for some of our sisters around the globe). As Ellen Chessler, Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, says in her March 2011 article, “How Women Became Citizens”:
“It’s hard to fathom today, but for most of human history, and even into our own time, it was simply assumed that women had no need to acquire identities or rights of our own — except, of course, those enjoyed by virtue of our relationships with men.”
Chessler’s article is worth reading for its brief history of women’s rights and to remind ourselves of how slowly the wheels of change turn. She helps us to understand that some of our earlier (and most important) victories were cloaked in the concept of protectionism—focusing on taking care of women rather than promoting their rights—to ensure acceptance of the changes.
Most important, Chessler’s article reminds us that we stand on the shoulders of women like Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Margaret Sanger, who dared to speak about women’s rights in a time when it was unimaginable to do so. I second Chessler’s impassioned plea that we must not let them down by allowing current political forces to turn back the clock.
We stand in the middle of so many generations of women—our powerful predecessors who took enormous personal risks to help redefine the roles of women, and our daughters who never knew a time when women were not allowed to go to school or work outside the home. We need to seize this moment to keep the dream of gender equality alive.
Imagine that it is 1848 and you believe that women should have the right to vote. Stanton did and she launched the suffrage movement. Then imagine what might happen if you decided today (almost 200 years later) to speak up about sexist remarks—either in the moment that they happen or by working with other women to create change in the educational, religious, and political institutions and systems that influence our lives.
Just imagine.
Cynthia
End note: As I was writing this post, I heard that Geraldine Ferraro had passed away (March 26th). I remember the night in 1984 that she was nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate of the Democrat party (almost unimaginable at the time). I sat on my sofa, with tears streaming down my face (as I later learned so many women across America did), thrilled at the very sight of this smart, articulate woman and excited about what her candidacy meant for all women. I got choked up again today at the loss of her. But Ferraro’s life reminds me of the power one woman has to change the world—living as if we can is the best way to honor her legacy.
