March has been designated as National Women's History Month and I have observed the month by posting Encyclopedia Brittanica blogs and relevant news articles to my Facebook with the hope that my friends and especially my granddaughters would read them. My project has been a grand failure! I have received very few comments from my friends and none from my granddaughters. I am not sure what that means, but I am guessing that the lack of interest is that Facebook is usually very short exchanges of personal information and my granddaughters take the freedom they enjoy for granted and aren't interested in history.
Today I posted two EB articles on "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan, published in 1963, and Gloria Steinem, the founder of NOW. Two outstanding women who started the "women's movement." I read "The Feminine Mystique" and identified strongly with Friedan's assessment of women's role in society. I didn't join any feminist group but I read and read and my mind was irrevocably changed, I did march in Washington for the Equal Rights Amendment. I am grateful for Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and all the women since, and before, who had the courage of their convictions and paved a path for me to follow.
Although women have achieved many "firsts," and changed the world for the better, it is my opinion that many women are changing the world in less than positive ways, sometimes in destructive ways that threaten the freedoms fought for by so many women.
Sarah
"Feminism is the most revolutionary idea there has ever been. Equality for women demands a change in the human psyche, more profound than anything Marx dreamed of. It means valuing parenthood as much as we value banking." Polly Toynbee
