March 2014 Women's History Month

[TexasTowelie]

Carol Morgan is a career counselor, writer, speaker, former Democratic candidate for the Texas House and the award-winning author of Of Tapestry, Time and Tears, a historical fiction about the 1947 Partition of India.

By Carol Morgan

Recognizing women’s place in history began with President Jimmy Carter and his 1980 proclamation establishing Women’s History Week, but it took seven more years before the celebration was extended to a full month of appreciation.

Most historical research on female movers and shakers is fairly recent. We are still far behind, but newly-discovered personalities are being acknowledged every year. All of us recognize the names Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Alice Paul and their contributions to the world, but the names Pauline Sabin, Angelina of Texas, Phoolan Devi, Donaldina Cameron or Louise Bryant are head-scratchers to most.

Why have women in history been ignored for so long? It is because, until recently, history was written mainly by men and therefore, reports were about men’s role in the public sphere. War, politics, economics, and world diplomacy were all men’s roles and the women who attempted to break the barrier to that public sphere were regarded negatively; they were not your average lady.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a Harvard historian, coined the oft-quoted phrase in her 2008 book, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” This brief statement perfectly characterizes the icons of women’s history. They rejected the sex-stereotypical roles of their generation to enact badly-needed change and it required behavior that went against the value-laden views of the day.

The complete blog is at http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2014-03-01/march-2014-womens-history-month .

[font color=green]I admit that I don't wander into this group very much since I am male. However, this blog would probably not be read outside the Lubbock area so I am posting it because of the historical context and the powerful messages it contains in the final two sentences:[/font]

"My advice for women (and men, too), just be yourself and keep moving forward! Be an individual of character, courage and commitment, but add determination and patience to your tool box for an autonomous and self-actualized life."

[niyad]

1. thank you for posting this.

by the way, that quote "well-behaved women seldom make history" has been around a LOT longer than 2008--certainly at least since the early 70's, because I have been using it for that long, and it was something that was in common use.

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're welcome.

I never had heard that quote, but my knowledge about women's issues is lacking compared to many of the other people posting on DU. Sometimes quotes like that become popular for awhile and fade from public usage to return when somebody gets bitten in the ass (pardon my not being a "well-behaved man&quot .

[niyad]

3. years ago, trivial pursuits had a women's history edition. sadly, I lost mine and have not been

able to locate another.

don't worry, I am not a well-behaved woman, much to the disgust of many!!

another of my favourite quotes: "women should raise more hell, and fewer dahlias"