Gender Equality

I recently watched a video about Helen Reddy's climb to stardom called "I Am Woman." She had a hard time getting started, singing in nightclubs to small audiences. She was a single mother trying to balance child care with a career which didn't seem to be going anywhere. Then a man offered to be her manager and get her voice on recordings. They developed a relationship and Reddy achieved moderate success. But she wanted to write her own music and when she created "I Am Woman" her career really took off. Unfortunately, her manager wanted to take credit for her success and tried to put her down.

Reddy was a strong believer in the equality of women and knew that she was equally responsible for her success. Without her voice, her partner was nothing. She taught her young daughter to be strong and confident. She told her that she could be anything she wanted to be.

Most parents nowadays try to teach their daughters this same lesson. "Be all you can be." Follow your dream." Those who try to make their children, boys and girls, follow their parents' agenda, make for unhappy offspring who often fail. Of course, some who try to follow their dream are not successful and may have to learn to be more realistic or work harder.

Amellia Earhart wanted to be a pilot and achieved her dream. She became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic and set many other records. She wrote books about aviation and encouraged other women to become aviators. She is still a heroine today for many girls seeking adventure.

Today women  have infiltrated many fields previously filled only by men such as senators, judges, doctors, lawyers, police officers, firefighters, and armed forces. They have shown equal courage, strength, and intelligence as men. May women continue to claim their rightful place in society. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Limping to God I come to you, God, weather-beaten and limping, asking for forgiveness for all the times I have failed to be faithful and attentive to all those around me, especially the elderly who have run the race, the poor, the lonely and abandoned, who need my care and concern.     Is there any hope for these old bones? What will it take to change my limp into a surge of energy and a ready step? Teach me to become more caring, more responsive, more aware. Give me eyes to see and the will to act on my good intentions.   Water my dried up spirit and shriveled body, expand my shrunken heart. Give me eyes to see what you are leading me to do even as my bones creak and my legs become unsteady. Make me remember that I am here to serve, to listen, to be ready to be your hands and feet today.   Barbara Mayer, OSB    
Read more
Image
    “Wonderfully Made” When I took a college English course, our first assignment was to write an essay about whether we would rather lose our sight or lose our legs. It was a thought-provoking choice. If we became blind, we would miss seeing our loved ones and all the beauty of our world. If we could not walk, we would be hindered from traveling and moving around without help. I chose to keep my eyesight since I love to read and write and enjoy the variety and beauty that surrounds us.   Of course, I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice in real life, but it was a thought-provoking assignment. It made me think about how much we take our bodies for granted. I began to think about all the organs, veins, arteries, canals, nerves, and bones we have in our bodies and how they all work together to keep us alive and healthy. It is not until we lose one of them that we realize how magnificent we are, created in the “image and likeness of God.” God loves each and every one of us as if
Read more
Image
  Overcoming Discouragement Sometimes discouragement and failure take over our lives, and we cannot seem to crawl out of our hole. Even if in reality they are not a true picture, we can be blinded by the seeming darkness.  It often takes another person to uncover what is hidden from us and to see through the cloudy picture.  I am reminded of a story about Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He tells of how he felt his dream of starting a group for people with drinking problems was not going anywhere. Then unexpectedly Father Dowling, a disheveled priest, came to his door in the middle of a snowstorm. Bill’s caretaker told him that a “damn bum” was at the door. Bill was tired but agreed to see him and in doing so had his “second conversion experience.” Bil and Father Dowling talked way into the night, and Bill told of his “high hopes and plans, and spoke about his anger, despair and mounting frustrations.”  It turned out that the elderly priest had had similar feel
Read more