"All reformers are rebels, because they aim to change society."
-Doris Faber, regarding Susan B. Anthony

Seeds of the American Women's Movement can be traced back as far as the American Revolution. New Jersey, in the spirit of revolutionary reform, actually allowed women to vote for a period of about twelve years in the late 18th century. In 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, granting woman the right to vote. And it has been over 40 years since the first printing of Betty Friedan's, The Feminine Mystique. Modern women walk treaded ground. Yet the struggle for equality in this nation continues and disparities between men and women are still everywhere.

In an October 2004 article entitled, "Wage Gap Gives Indiana Women Reason to Wonder," the Bloomington Herald-Times reported that women in Indiana earn only 68% of men's pay (that number is 75% nationally). Yet women need equal pay now more than ever. According to the 2000 US Census, women head-of-households (that is households with one or more children and no man present) increased from 6 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2000. Households headed by women are more likely to live in poverty. Households headed by minority women are especially likely to live in poverty.

And what about within the home?

The New York Times in September of 2004 reported that, according to the Department of Labor, the average working woman spends about twice as much time as the average working man on household chores and care of children. Media advertisements for domestic products and child care are still overwhelmingly directed at women. It seems that not only are we bringing home the bacon, frying it up in a pan, but we're cleaning up the mess too. A working mother, married or single, can find herself literately working from morning to night. She can become a creature of exhaustion, with little time to devote to hobbies or community service.

And there are certainly married mothers who feel like single mothers because they have husbands who've taken on so much responsibility outside of the home with demanding careers. These men have become mere shadows in their family units. This forces men and women into more traditional gender roles, and sidelines many women's aspirations for career advancement. And since men on average are earning larger incomes anyway, it may seem justifiable. But is it? Perhaps we need to question some of our American ideas of success, and find ways of meeting in the middle inside the home and out.

I interact often with women who by all accounts meet the definition of feminist, yet do not consider themselves to be so. Women sometimes distance themselves from the feminist image, believing that to be one, they must exchange part of their sexuality and personality. And also receive scrutiny from the men their lives. All my life I have watched women take on conflicting doctrines of self definition: leading and succeeding, yet dismissing their accomplishments and sitting under the thumbs of men.

The term "feminism"evokes images of braless, angry women marching to dissolve the family unit. But that does not accurately portray the feminists I know. Feminism by definition is simply: social, economic and political equality between the sexes. I do not find that a frightening concept. Yet sexism still exists in our society today. It can take many forms and be as subtle as simply interrupting a woman when she is speaking, or speaking over her.

A recent local example of sexism occurred during the 2004 campaigns this past October in Monroe County at the Shalom Community Center forum. Immediately after his opponent Senator Vi Simpson spoke, Dale Cassidy said publicly, "My wife was a speech teacher, so I'm used to following long-winded women."

Yet this climate of inequality is made even worse when women attempt to sabotage one another's success. Women can be cutting and cunning in indirect ways men never dreamed of! A friend of mine, Elizabeth, spent five years in a competitive sales job in Dallas. She discovered that the undermining tactics of female colleagues to be more debilitating than sexual harassment from men

I have spoken to many women who've experienced this in various occupations, but it seems especially common in fields where a higher priority is placed on physical appearance. For this we must, to some extent, hold our American culture accountable. As women age, they tend to devalue themselves over weight gain, skin imperfections, wrinkles and grey hair, as if they lose points for each passing year. I know women who maintain diet and fitness regiments out of vanity rather than health, still subscribing to the notion of a definition that begins with appearance. We often groom and paper our exterior, all the while ignoring intellectual and spiritual cravings within.

And young women today aren't sure what path to take. The are unsure of what they want from society and what society wants from them. This brings to mind the early dual roles of American writer Sylvia Plath. While in college she could be found reveling in her beauty and popularity one moment and her intellect the next. Teenage girls are bombarded with media images that clearly affirm the value of sex appeal over intellect. These images are reflected back to them through their peers. And if a girl has been raised in a household that dismisses the intelligence and achievements of girls and women, she may take on those same self-defeating values; thereby undermining her own potential and the potential of other girls.

And later in life, other women. In the book, Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids and Life in a Half-Changed World, author Peggy Orenstein discusses many of these dilemmas modern women face. Regarding our national obsession with youth and beauty, she wrote, "Most of the women I spoke with expressed dismay over the excessive value placed on women's appearance, especially about its damaging impact on young girls.....From puberty onward, they'd unconsciously learned to see themselves as others see them, to filter their own vision through the male gaze. If men no longer looked, would the woman still be seen?"

So how do we begin to abandon these trends and enlist new ones? Certainly, we must expect and receive equality inside the home. And we must pass these values onto our children. But most importantly we must stand together as a united voice and demand social and political reform.

The National Organization of Women, championing women's equality since 1966, boasts a current membership of 500,000. That number seems extremely small to me considering that there are over 115 million women in this country over the age of twenty. But NOW's agenda (including pro-choice and lesbian rights) frightens many women on the right, who are more likely to hold traditional female roles. Indiana has only seven chapters and there is no NOW chapter in Monroe County.

Though these obstacles seem at times to outnumber us, they merely challenge our resolve! We must seek more creative solutions in order to move closer to equality. The more we talk, the more people listen. The more we include, the larger our number grows. Reform is within out grasp, we must seize the day!

Amy Semler Gerstman can be reached at agerstman@co.monroe.in.us

Get Involved!

Democratic Woman's Caucus, founded by City Clerk Regina Moore, meets the first Friday of every month at the Village Deli in Bloomington, Indiana, at 7:30 am. Its mission is to recruit, support and train women for elected office. Everyone is welcome to attend!

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