Bless me, Father for I have sinned. It’s been two weeks since my last confession. I have been up to the usual stuff — neglecting daily prayer, murmuring, complaining and the occasional cuss words, bad thoughts about Republicans, sloth, obstinacy, etc. etc. — but I am in deep despair over a sin of omission. And for this grievous act, I am experiencing a lifetime of punishment/consequences.
I failed to know the name, the face and the story of Alice Paul or recognize her evil influences.
I firmly resolve with the help of God’s grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen!
Never mind. I am probably beyond absolution. As an act of penance, I don’t know if I would be allowed to change my confirmation name to Alice, but I am thinking of having her name tattooed on my 63 year old flesh.
I am not making this up. And I am not makings excuses for myself.
Until February 11, 2016, I did not recognize the name Alice Paul and I really don’t know why. Was it because I spent the first 18 years of my life in rural southwestern Pennsylvania? Was it due to the fact that Paul was a Quaker and the Catholic women’s college that I attended did not yet offer a Women’s Studies program? Was it because I spent the most active 42 years of my adult life with the domestic concerns of bearing, nursing and raising children within a conservative Christian environment? No, none of these situations justify or explain the intellectual black hole that I fell into when I made my life choices.
And that brings me to the real topic of this diary — Women’s History Month. The month isn’t over yet and, thankfully, neither is my education.
Why is it that this face isn’t as recognizable as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr?
There is only one reason that I can think of as to why my noble ancestral sisters and their courageous acts of non-violent resistance in the struggle for women’s rights are not common knowledge.
No, this is not a feminist rant. It is probably a feminist rage. Sorry guys, I still love you. But I am probably going to get even more annoying in my senior years because I owe it to 16½ granddaughters and grandsons and those yet to be born.
If you didn’t recognize the face in this photo. If you don’t know the story of Alice Paul. I forgive you, because I need to forgive myself and move forward. But I am no longer naive about the fact that women continue to be devalued.
Simple test case in point:
In my search for a Women's History Month web site, I began to google the word “Women’s” and was disturbed to notice the following options:
- women’s winter boots
- women’s coats
- women’s slippers
What the ??? Is it because I live in the frozen north? It is spring already and it’s not that cold. Ok. “Women’s H” and up came
- women’s holiday dresses
- women’s heath
- women’s hair cuts
Seriously? Having NEVER searched online for any of the above, clothing or other wise, why were these options coming up. Finally, I put in “Women’s Hi” and when it came up with women’s high top sneakers and hiking boots, I was relieved to see that enough women are getting some exercise, but disturbed to see that they are not using on line resources, or any other for that matter, to discover their own story.
This is not good. How many women, let alone men, recognize the names of:
-
Francis Perkins — the woman behind the New Deal?
-
Margaret Dreier Robins — key organizer for the Women’s Trade Union League?
-
Sigrid Undset — Nobel laureate in Literature whose open criticism of antisemitism and German occupation led to her own exile?
-
Helen Barrett Montgomery — the first woman elected to the presidency of the National Baptist Convention (1921) and the first woman of any religious denomination in the United States?
- Etc., etc., etc.
I feel personally deprived by the fact that I did not grow up with these women as heroes.
Women’s History Month is not taking hold. Just as a test, typing in “Black H” will come up with Black History as Google’s first option. This is great!!! And my point is not to disparage Black History Month. We have a LONG way to go in recognizing the contributions of African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, non-European Americans of any culture or color. But Women’s History Month, women of color, and women’s issues in general — 50% of the population — has a long way to go.
The potential 27th amendment for Equal Rights was three states short in passing. Instead, that honor went to congressional and senatorial pay raises. Women are still paid FAR less than men for the same work. And women who engage in personal child rearing for the serious job that it is have little security — social or otherwise. The need for repentance is broadly shared. And I have a lot of work ahead of me if I am going to make restitution to my grandkids.
Thursday, Mar 24, 2016 · 1:44:23 PM +00:00 · RevKatie
Correction / Clarification
So that we don’t continue to get bogged down by distracting issues, yes, I know that in my zeal to publish this diary, I failed to make adequate auto-correct corrections. Ironically, Francis / Frances (as in Frances Perkins), was my paternal grandmother’s favored name and if it wasn’t a birth name, it was the confirmation name of choice.
And I did not realize that I would be taken seriously re: the Google search. Yes, search algorithms are likely to favor what can be bought or sold. But when women and men begin to care less about how a woman looks or what she is wearing, the shift will be seismic and we can work together to bend the ark of the moral universe.
"The domestic function of the woman does not exhaust her powers... To make one half of the human race consume its energies in the functions of housekeeper, wife and mother is a monstrous waste of the most precious material God ever made" Theodore Parker, 1853
"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."