How often on any given day do you stop, take a minute, and think to yourself, everyday I play a significant role in history? If you don’t do it often, you should. We have great examples of why what we do is so important and how we affect the direction of change. From leadership programs to lobbying on the Hill, AAUW, as individuals and as a nationwide organization, produce change every day.
Monday morning one of my colleagues showed me a great find that she had purchased at a used bookstore over the weekend. The book, written by Christine Lunardini. is entitled What Every American Should Know About Women’s History.
“Turn to page 112,” my colleague said. I flipped to 112 and, wouldn’t you know it, right in between Clara Barton’s founding of the American Red Cross and the creation of Lady’s Home Journal, was the story of 17 young women who assembled to discuss the formation of an organization promoting equity for women and girls. As you know, this association, which started as the Association of Collegiate Alumnae back in 1882, is now, nearly 130 years later, AAUW.
This book was a nice reminder to me of how what I’ve done and what I do every day helps to educate and advocate for women and girls of all ages. Through all our hard work, no matter what our specialties are or how big or small the task, we all help to improve society individually and collectively. So congrats to all of us and to the kudos we have had and will continue to receive.
What a wonderful book!
We live in a viral-conditioned/image-obsessed society that continuously sabotages opportunities to promote the ideals of who women are, and have been, based on what is expedient-at-the-moment to assure consumer-engagement and the bottom line of profitability. Even women of influence, no matter how well-intentioned, are caught in the crosshairs of this conundrum. This faulty approach is self-defeating on so many levels, but mainly because: 1) consumer appetite is fickle; 2) effective advocacy and education cannot be reduced to sound-bites or 140 characters; and, 3) the targeted audience who will provide the most support is not being reached…at all.
Real stories about real women who have made and are making a difference must be written, produced, promoted, shared and embraced by women who are committed to challenging and re-defining the platforms we’ve been given. Scary? Perhaps. Stepping out on faith against the status quo usually is, but the results are always worth it.
I am concerned that the “Equal Pay Act” will become another reason why “we don’t need the ERA.” The Equal Pay Act will be temporary legislation – easily changed. Without a fundamental guarantee of equality of rights, regardless of gender, in the US Constitution, women will never achieve the status of full citizenship. I hope this “Equal Pay Act” will not distract us from seeking passage of the ERA.
It’s still a challenge to get women’s voices heard, even for those influential women who are making history today. I see it as an imperative: to tilt the gender imbalance by getting the ideas of thought-leading women into the many mainstream conversations going on all around us.