to be anything or nothing

91 years ago today, after a 72 year battle, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of The United States of America was ratified, effectively granting the vote to women. Our fore-mothers had to fight for a right we take completely for granted today - so completely that nearly 40% of us don't even exercise it.

The brave and ballsy women who put everything on the line for us - generations of women they would never know - deserve our respect, our gratitude, and our remembrance. They did more than just make banners and march. They were loud, vocal, agitators, troublemakers - and they paid dearly for their actions. Many were imprisoned, and when they went on hunger strikes, they were brutally force-fed.

But they did not give up...

 

 They kept marching, singing, protesting, agitating, until they won.

Registering women voters

We're the fortunate ones,  born in a country where the hardest work for gender equality was done by our ancestors. In other parts of the world that's not the case, even today:

"In many countries, women are not entitled to own property or inherit land. Social exclusion, “honor” killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage among others, deny the right to health to women and girls and increase illness and death throughout the life-course." — Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization

Despite the progress made, the work started over 200 years ago - before this country was a country - isn't finished. Did you know that the "Equal Rights Amendment" ("Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."), written in 1923 by suffragist Alice Paul, was passed, but still has not been ratified?

"The ERA was introduced into every session of Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was passed and sent to the states for ratification. The seven-year time limit in the ERA's proposing clause was extended by Congress to June 30, 1982, but at the deadline, the ERA had been ratified by 35 states, leaving it three states short of the 38 required for ratification. It has been reintroduced into every Congress since that time."  (source)

Take a minute to look back, to say thank you, and then to look ahead at the work still to be done. They did it for us; now let us do it for them. (Click captions for more information on these amazing women to whom we owe so much.)

Frances Wright

Ernestine Louise Rose

Lucretia Mott

Sarah Margaret Fuller

Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage

Lucy Stone

Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
& Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Alice Paul was portrayed
 by Hilary Swank in Iron Jawed Angels.

Elizabeth Freeman

Carrie Chapman Catt

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.

                                              ~ Susan B. Anthony

For a more complete list of famous Suffragists, see here.

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

Kentucky Oaks 137: I'll second that!

Today is the Oaks, the annual fillies race held the day before the Kentucky Derby. Oaks is really all about the girls, both equine and human - tens of thousands of women attend with girlfriends, the stands are a sea of pink, there's an annual breast cancer Survivor's Parade, and the race is run by fillies.

Am I attending? No. The crowds are more than I want to deal with, and frankly, I'm always terrified for the horses, all that beauty and brawn barreling around the track on those delicate, fragile legs. Even so, the allure of Oaks is had to resist... 

Be careful out there ladies.

 Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Oaks Winner

From wikipedia:

The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year. The winner gets a $500,000 purse and a large garland of lilies, affectionately called the "Lillies for the Fillies." A silver Kentucky Oaks Trophy is presented to the winner.

The first running of the Kentucky Oaks was on May 19, 1875 when Churchill Downs was known as the Louisville Jockey Club.  The race was founded by Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. along with the Kentucky Derby, the Clark Handicap, and the Falls City Handicap. The Oaks and the Derby are the oldest continuously contested sporting events in history, and the only horse races to be held at their original site since its conception. The Kentucky Oaks was modeled after the British Epsom Oaks. In the first race, the horse Vinaigrette won the then 1½ mile race in a time of 2:39¾, winning a purse of $1,175. Since that race the Kentucky Oaks has been held each year.

Despite the increasing number of out-of-state visitors who came to the race every year, the "Oaks" (as local residents simply refer to it) has always been considered to be a local event by the people of Kentuckiana (the Ohio Valley, centered around Louisville, and consisting of much of northern Kentucky and southern Indiana). Large crowds of Louisvillians and others from the Kentuckiana attend the Oaks annually and the infield of the race track hosts numerous musical attractions, boardwalk games, and food and alcoholic beverage vendors. Bringing in one's own alcohol is forbidden at Churchill Downs and many locals revel in finding ingenious ways to smuggle in their own libations, rather than pay the inflated prices inside Churchill Downs. Most every school and quite a few businesses in the Kentuckiana region treat the Oaks as a holiday. Perhaps out of self-consciousness for the gambling aspect of the race, none of the region's schools declare that the holiday is explicitly because of the Oaks and most simply say it is an "administrative holiday." 

Wonder Woman: "I'd like to have seen more women."

Green Lantern: "I'll second that!"

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/

Phenomenal Woman

Phenomenal Woman

by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.*

mouse over images for source

*Pssst...that's you, too!

http://confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com/