By: Marcia King-Gamble
www.lovemarcia.com
This month’s topic Strong Women resonates strongly with me. I am a woman who grew up with trailblazers like Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug. These were powerful feminists of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and the two were founders of The National Women’s Political Caucus.
This group billed itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who sought elected and
appointed offices in government. But they were so much more. Credit for founding
The National Women’s Political Caucus should also go to Shirley
Chisholm, Betty Friedan, Fannie Lou Hamer, Jill Ruckelshaus,
and Mildred Jeffrey.
Now back to the women’s movement which exploded
in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Until then, in certain states a husband forcing sex
on his wife was not legally considered rape. Any purchases made all belonged to
her husband, even if these items were purchased with her own earnings. Back
then, married women could not obtain a credit card or get credit without her
husband’s signature.
My personal experience with this was
twenty plus years ago when I moved South from New York. I was in a commuting
situation and opened a checking account in my name only. My husband opened his
own account to be used when he came into town, yet the banker without
permission, linked both accounts. When I questioned my balance, I was rudely told
that as a married woman our accounts were the same.
You can imagine how upset I was when one day I discovered I had almost zero in the account and discovered that my husband’s purchases were being charged to my account. Let’s just say after my conversation with the banker, he probably has never been the same. Adding fuel to the fire, he implied he would be reaching out to a co-worker (male and my counterpart), to let him know I was belligerent.
A comparable situation occurred when I
attempted to buy a place on my own. Mind you, I was using my own funds, and yet
was told my husband needed to sign off on the paperwork so that I could obtain my apartment. Now really?
Back in the day, some states even barred
women from jobs that required lifting more than 25 pounds. California
employment ads often discriminated by gender and race. Nationally, firefighting
and police work was restricted to men. Even women broadcasters were rare and
paid far less than their male counterparts. Jobs that required authoritative figures
were often off limits to women. Law and medical schools had female quotas. And
on average, women made 59 cents for every dollar a man made, even when doing
similar work. The largest gender pay gap involved women of color.
Crude references were often made about women’s hormonal imbalance. Interesting,
because even today women have to deal with the B word, while a man who might
say the same thing Let me not digress. This post is about strong women. Do you think
most men could make it through labor?
Yet here we are today, and while some progress has
been made, women, more so than men, are still the objects of sexual harassment,
hence the “Me Too Movement.” Thanks to Activist, Tarana Burke who
created this group in 2006, women have come out of the woodwork to share their experiences
about unwanted advances. They have shared painful and embarrassing memories
kept hidden for years, fearing repercussion.
Women. You are my Sheroes! For years we have had to be
strong, even stronger in our silence.
To paraphrase, singer, Helen Reddy’s words – “We are
women. Hear us Roar!”
