Historically, we know that women were not supposed to have an opinion, a good idea, or anything but a good dinner on the table. There was little a woman was allowed to do besides all of the housework, cooking, baking. When abolitionists and suffragettes began to stand up at a podium to speak in support of ending slavery and allowing women to vote, they were heckled and had rotten vegetables and rotten eggs thrown at them.
Now women are speakers, writers, CEO’s, athletes and not the weaker or second sex. Are we equal? NO! I am a news junkie and America is suffering from an increase in racism and misogyny. Black men are being targeted. Even a white woman like I am can see that. But women are targeted, too. Republicans have made sure that women do not earn equal pay for equal work. We are the only citizens who are not legally equal. Why? Men are threatened by women, especially women who are assertive. I will never forget Rush Limbaugh stating on his radio show that feminists were really Feminazis. Really? Why was he so intimidated by an educated, strong woman who knows what she wants and will go for it? Have you ever had a man tell you a dream you have is not worth following? If so, he was trying to keep you down. After all, you are the second sex. Never believe anyone, even a woman, who tells you this.
“The hardest times for me were not when people challenged what I said, but when I felt my voice was not heard.” —Carol Gillian, feminist writer and ethnicist
“It is the right and duty of every woman to employ the power of organization and agitation in order to gain those advantages which are given to the one sex and unjustly withheld from the other.” —Catharine Beecher, American educator
“Said I, in scorn all burning hot, in rage and anger high, ‘You ignominious idiot, Those wings are made to fly?” —Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist, novelist
” Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different…I claimed myself and remade my life. Only when I knew I belonged to myself completely did I become capable of giving myself to another, of finding joy in desire, pleasure in our love, power in this body no one else owns.” —Dorothy Allison, American writer
“The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don’t agree with.” —Eleanor Holmes Norton, American politician
” I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” —Evelyn Beatrice Hall, British Author
“I attribute my success to this—I never gave or took any excuse.” —Florence Nightingale, English nurse and writer
” You get whatever accomplishment you are willing to declare.” —Georgia O’Keeffe, American artist
Republicans do have a war against women.
Marley devoted his life to equality.
idealisticrebel 
Reblogged this on johannisthinking and commented:
Women are Human Beings. Women ARE Equal to Men. What else is there to say? We can complement one another…we do NOT need to compete with each other…we just need to accept each other as human beings and treat each other with respect. Please direct your likes and comments to this wonderful blogger, Barbara at: https://idealisticrebel.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/womens-words-2/
[…] Women are Human Beings. Women ARE Equal to Men. What else is there to say? We can complement one another…we do NOT need to compete with each other…we just need to accept each other as human beings and treat each other with respect. Please direct your likes and comments to this wonderful blogger, Barbara at: https://idealisticrebel.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/womens-words-2/ […]
This is wonderful and exactly right on target! I reblogged your article and posted it on my Facebook page! Thank you for speaking for all of us!
Since my earliest memories from the very early 1950s, l have always wondered about gender roles and societal inequalities. I grew up in the quintessential Norman Rockwell family, two parents, a brother, a live-in grandmother and a dog. To the outside world, we were perfect and in many ways were. But my mom worked. That was unheard of among their friends and family. Dad had a really good job but mom spent most of WWII as a single, widowed woman with a small child and widowed mother to care for. She worked and liked her job. My mom could bake the cupcakes and cookies for school or scouts. She drove the nuns to appointments and did a lot of the mom things but my dad sewed and was a great cook and taught me how to catch an infield pop fly and to throw a great spiral. What l am trying to say is that l grew up knowing the expected societal roles for men and women yet having parents that “broke” those roles on a daily basis. When l first became aware of the need for the ERA and women’s movement, l was initially confused. I was raised without those boundaries yet women, on a daily basis, were refused mortgages because they were divorced though men could and divorced women were always thought to be the same as a prostitute. I was angry. What my folks taught me wasn’t the way life was. I felt they lied but it was just the opposite. They taught me the way it should be, they way the next generation, my generation, needed to change it to be. That was the late 60s and early 70s. Here it is, 2014, and l am about to be 67. Fifty years, fifty more years of inequality have passed. Women are still being subjected to abuse and rape with little to no legal recourse. Men still make more than women for the exact same job. The control of our own bodies and our reproductive rights are being eroded constantly. We have represenratives antd senators talking about the concept of “legitimate rape”. We still do not have an ERA and there are women defending the concept that women do not need an ERA. What the hell is wrong with us? Why is our country still treating women like second class women and what are we going to do to change this? I don’t think this most current generation of young women even know women’s history outside of some course they take but never assimilate. If anyone has an answer, an opinion, or even an idea, l would love to hear it. I recognize that identifying a problem is a lot easier than developing a solution but i spent many years fighting for equality. Right now, l am fighting for survival. Once that is dealt with successfully, l will willingly and happily rejoin the fight for equality because they are related. Let’s do all we can so our daughters and granddaughters do not go through what many of us experienced. Thanks for letting me vent!
May I use your comment as the basis for tomorrow’s blog. I would like to write and address these issues. If you don’t want me to use your comment, that is fine. I am 64 and I understand what you feel and are saying. Hugs, Barbara
Barbara, l am not sure if you were speaking to me. I have never done this before and it is all new to me. If you were talking to someone else, l apoligize for assuming you were talking to me. If there is something l wrote that you want to use, of course you may. I really did go on and on but the passion l feel on the subject does the same. Thanks.
Sometimes I look at all that has changed in my lifetime and then at all that remains the same and I weep.
I weep with you my dear friend. All the marching and protesting, the lobbying in Harrisburg, serving abusers myself with protection from abuse orders. Getting death threats because they are messed up. Holding women as they told me of being raped. Even my patients at the hospital…I remember every name and their stories. Sitting with someone while they go on to the next world. Telling them it is ok, they had lived a good life and now they can rest. Then you hear a jerk make a slur against women and you can’t say what you really want to say. Escalation is not good. Thank you my friend, for reading me and commenting. It means so much to me. Hugs, Barbara
We become powerful by refusing to be silenced. Whether we use our voice in small ways, such as here or we speak in more public forums. We become powerful by standing up and speaking out. It is hard though, we lose so much when we go against what is expected of us.
This was wonderfully done my friend.
Thank you Valentine for stopping by, reading, and leaving a comment. As always, I value your opinion. Hugs, Barbara
It’s a “man’s world” out there in the big business end of town, regretfully, but hey, the tracks women make are so much wider and deeper – we need to keep keeping on and fight for equality.
Reblogged this on When Women Inspire and commented:
Women need to keep fighting to become equal – and I hope that one day it happens! This is a well-written post from “Idealistic Rebel” on gender inequality.
I am bewildered that even America has such issues! American women feel unequal and unsafe? ‘A man’s world’ here too with the statue of Liberty standing tall and proud! Thanks for highlighting.
America is not utopia and we are not perfect. We do however, work to improve American society and the lives of women and children. Also the lives of minorities. It is nice to meet you and I appreciate you stopping and commenting. Hugs, Barbara
I am surprised that gender equality is still an issue in a country as developed as USA . It is a war against rigid attitudes and mindsets that are deep-seated and hence victory will come only at the end of a long and determined struggle . The action must happen from the top with women consolidating themselves for greater representation in the senate and congress . At the societal level , there must be more women doctors, engineers , architects , lawyers , judges , teachers , airline pilots; in other words , the feminine gender must fan out and establish critical mass in all fields of human endeavour . And then things are bound to fall in place…
It is nice to meet you. Gender equality has always been a problem here as well as racism. Having a black President has shown how much racism is still living in our country. I continue to back President Obama, but I am aware that our country is full of bigotry, racism and classism. We have a lot to do and there are many citizens who are working to do this. Many women can’t get hired in their professions and they do not earn equal pay for equal work. We are working to change things, but we have been working since the eighteen hundreds. Men continue to feel women are to own. We will change this in time. Hugs, Barbara
Blessing to you in 2015. May equality become a non-issue in the near future.
That would be wonderful. We, in America haven’t ever had equality for everyone. We still don’t have legal equality as women. We don’t have real racial equality. But we are on the edge of a new year and therefore more chances to get it right. Hugs and Happy New Year, Barbara
Hoping and praying for all of that Barbara. Hugs right back at cha! 🙂