Moment in Women’s History: Joan Baez

Today is folk music and social justice pioneer Joan Baez’ 71st birthday. Born on Staten Island to a Mexican Catholic and a Scots Anglican, Baez was heavily influenced by the pacifist messages delivered when the family converted to Quakerism. She demonstrated her musical talent early on, and began performing in the late 50s. Fluent in English and Spanish, she has recorded in both (as well as six other languages).

After moving to New York City in 1960, she began performing more protest-based music along with her other folk repertoire. She soon met a young Bob Dylan and recorded a number of his songs. The two regularly performed together and developed a strong shared commitment to social justice. They both performed at the 1963 March on Washington. Baez also performed at Woodstock, viewing the festival as a statement against government oppression.

Throughout her career, Baez has been an outspoken proponent of social justice. A strong feminist, she is also a staunch defender of LGBT rights. She regularly performs benefits to relieve poverty and homelessness. Happy birthday to a real champion of human rights!

Today is also the date that Carrie Chapman Catt was born in 1859. Happy birthday to this suffragist pioneer.

Performing on the World Stage: Presidential or Pratfall?

Not Again!

As the United States has been absorbed in the absurd circus that is the Republican Presidential hopefuls, the media have taken a very American focus on the candidates: What does it mean for us? There is plenty of talk about taxes, budgets, abortion, and the GOP big three (God, guns, and gays). What gets largely overlooked, other than the occasional reference to Iraq and Afghanistan, is our role as a major nation on the world stage. We know that Mitt Romney is a Mormon flip-flop robot, Newt Gingrich is a serial adulterer with a temper, Ron Paul is a faux Libertarian who can’t be bothered to read a newsletter published under his own name, and Rick Santorum is obsessed with men having sex with men. What we don’t know is how any of these candidates would deal with international politics.

As Americans,  shouldn’t we be also asking how will the President of the United States (leader of the “free” world) interact with other major players and show both diplomacy and leadership?  The US took a colossal hit in our world reputation during the George W. years.  The world took a collective sigh of relief when President Obama took office.

I’m asking people to think about how any of the GOP candidates will work with  Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani, or Prime Minister Wen Jiabao?  We also need to look at the very delicate balance of power and influence of  Erdoğan on the world stage.  The world does not look kindly upon bullies and the GOP have proven through the ad nauseam debates that they are nothing but a bigoted bunch of bullies.  What worries me even more is how many of the GOP candidates even know who the world players are. Can they point them out on a map?

When we look at issues of healthcare and how we treat human beings, we need to be willing to learn from our world neighbors.  Currently, the United States comes in at 12th place on issues such as: Life Expectancy, Adult Literacy, School Enrollment, GDP per capita.  Might we need to look to  Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for ideas around health care?

While I certainly want our President to be a leader for civil rights here in the United States (pro-reproductive rights for women, pro-marriage equality, work to change the distribution of wealth and power) I also want a President that can show true leadership with a calm and clear head, such as President Obama.  We must avoid the shackles of ignorance and isolationism.

Hero of the Week Award: October 7, Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Heroes of the Week

Today the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three activist women, recognizing  their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality.  This year’s prize is shared between: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian President (yes, even African countries elect women leaders before the United States–ummm, which is the third world?); peace activist Leymah Gbowee; and Tawakul Karman, activist for democracy in Yemen.

The tireless work of these strong women leaders earns them this week’s HWA.  Not only do these women deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but this sends a clear message that evolved nations work to create parity between genders:

Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social Progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex. (Karl Marx)

Given the attacks on women and women’s health and reproductive rights in the United States, we have a long way to go for social progress here.  ”We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” said Thorbjorn Jagland of the Nobel Committee.

I congratulate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakul Karman and hope their recognition shall inspire women in the United States to take leadership positions and work towards social change. Click here to read more about these wonderful, powerful women making a difference in the world.

Hero of the Week Award: August 5, Kathleen Sebelius

Hero of the Week

Regular readers of TSM will recall the wonderful report from the Institute of Medicine which recommended that birth control and other women’s health issues be treated as preventive care by insurance providers. This week, Kathleen Sebelius directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to adopt this recommendation. This historic move, following her original request for the investigation which led to the report, earns Sec. Sibelius this week’s HWA.

Brava, Madame Secretary! It is a sad commentary on our times that it takes a strength of conviction to simply do the right thing. In this political climate, however, any stand for women’s rights faces angry shouts from the looniest fringes of Teabaggistan. Everyone who cares about this important issue can support our Hero by making a positive public comment on the new rules during the 60 day comment period. Let us all support this heroic action today!

This week we also have a strong honorable mention for the HWA, shared by two brave U.S. Senators. On Tuesday, Congress passed a tepid, cowardly bill which prevented the country from going into default but took no measures to really address our deficit problem. Recognizing that this bill simply defers real action at a great cost to the needy and the middle class, Senators Jeff Merkley (D – OR) and Bernie Sanders (I – VT) both voted “No” and issued bold statements about their opposition to capitulation to the wealthy in the guise of compromise. Celebrate their stand for America and read Merkley’s and Sanders’ statements today.

The Loss of An American Icon: Betty Ford

Last night America lost a real treasure in First Lady Betty Ford.  Ford was able to turn her struggles with alcoholism and pills into advocacy, thus creating the Betty Ford Clinic–an impressive legacy indeed.  She died last night at 93.

Ford was one of the first First Ladies that had a rather public and intimate relationship with the media, hence The New York Times describing Betty Ford with: “Mrs. Ford’s impact on American culture may be far wider and more lasting than that of her husband.” Ford was candid about her views on premarital sex, marijuana, and therapy.  By all standards of the current Republican Party, neither she nor her late husband, both of whom supported LGBT rights, would have been Republicans.

For those of us that grew up in the 1970′s, it was great seeing the First Lady wearing a “mood” ring, and using a CB, with the handle “First Mama.”  She also made a guest appearance on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Ford was a fierce advocate of equal rights for women, being quite vocal with her support for the passage of the ERA. In 1977, Ford joined former First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Rosalynn Carter at the National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas.  Before her husband died, both Betty and Gerald were vocal about being pro-gay rights. Imagine that — a Republican President and First Lady being vocal about civil rights.

In 1982, Ford started the Betty Ford Center for the treatment of chemical dependencies. In 1987 she published her memoir: Betty: A Glad Awakening. It is a great pleasure to honor Betty Ford, a dedicated voice to social justice, with an honest and passionate voice.

What makes me horribly sad is that there is not a Republican woman today that can fill her shoes. Reagan and the Teabaggers have moved a national discourse so far to the crazy right that Betty Ford would not be welcomed by her own party–what a tragic loss for them. I can only hope that the loss of the treasure that was Betty Ford forces the Republicans to do some serious reflection. You will be very missed, Betty Ford.

The Declaration of Independence: A Living Document

A Picture Everyone Should Recognize

First, let us look at this beautiful document, part of the actual text:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

How I understand this is that it is obvious that all men are created equal that [we] they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  Every time I read this document I cry at its power and wisdom.

Because it is a living document, we have the ability to recognize gross omissions and correct them, thereby further extending civil rights to Women, Blacks, Latinos, Gays, without condition.  Our unalienable rights are not dependent on belief in a god, or who we love (thank goodness we also learned from the miscegenation laws of not long ago), nor are these unalienable rights reserved only for white wealthy gentry–I realize that many of the current Republican candidates will need to look up the word gentry.

While I am not a nationalist, I do wish everyone a Happy 4th of July and encourage everyone to actually read the Declaration of Independence and keep in mind that it is a living document.

Women’s History: May 23

Happy Birthday, Margaret Fuller.  Fuller was best known for her work as a social reformer, educator, women’s rights advocate, and played a significant role in the American Transcendentalism Movement.  Fuller’s book, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, is regarded as the first proto-feminist work.  I say proto-feminist because the word feminist did not exist in the early and mid 19th century.  Fuller addresses head-on the issues of equality between the sexes in Woman in the Nineteenth Century.  Fuller’s book also tackles racism as well as gender parity:

America has been hindered from reaching equality because it inherited depravity from Europe, hence its treatment of [Native] and [African Americans].  All people are equal and bound to each other; those who infringe on others’ rights are condemned, but the biggest sin is hypocrisy. Man needs to practice divine love as well as feel it. Among those who practice it are the abolitionists because they act on their love of humanity; many women are part of this group.

While I am in awe of Ms. Fuller and her social activism, I am saddened that over 150 years later, we are still fighting the same battles of racism, misogyny, and now homophobia.  Our work is not yet done. “We who believe in Freedom cannot rest.“

Women’s History: May 20

Happy Birthday, Adela Rogers St. Johns

Happy Birthday, Adela Rogers St. Johns.  St. Johns was best known for her work as a sharp tongued journalist.  There were so few female journalists at that time, she was largely referred to as that “girl reporter.”  She started her journalistic career writing for the San Francisco Examiner, and eventually listed thirteen screenplays to her credit.  Later she wrote for such popular magazines as Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post.  One of the big stories people may remember is the article she wrote about Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the man that kidnapped and killed the infant son of Charles Lindbergh. St. Johns also published a series of articles about the poor during the Great Depression, as well as covered the abdication of King Edward VIII.  St. Johns paved the way for women to pursue a career in journalism.

As a follow up to the story yesterday on our Anne Boleyn, it was May 20, 1536 that Henry VIII became engaged to Jane Seymour.  I guess 24 hours was all Henry needed to grieve over the execution of Anne.

Quote of the day:

I wish women would stand together and shackle the men who want to move us backwards.–Adela Rogers St. Johns

Women’s History: Mother’s Day

Happy Mother's Day

It was May 8, 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday in the United States.  Of course it was 44 years prior that Julia Ward Howe made her Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870.  Here is an excerpt from Howe’s proclamation:

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause…

Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Women’s History: May 2

Happy Birthday, Inez Haynes Irwin

Happy Birthday, Inez Haynes Irwin. Irwin was probably best known for her work in journalism and for the suffragist movement. She was a member of the National Women’s Party, the party started by Alice Paul.  After the passage of the 19th Amendment, the NWP focused its attention the the Equal Rights Amendment. Irwin published many of her books under her former name, Inez Haynes Gillmore. Angel Island was a novel of Irwin’s that was so successful it was published three times, the first in 1914. In 1988 it was re-published as “early feminist” literature and includes an introduction by Portland’s Ursula K.Le Guin. Irwin published well over 40 books. Click here to learn more about Inez Haynes Irwin.