When Rock n Roll first started, musicians were men, roadies were men. Groupies were women. Since the first Beatle set foot on American soil, not only has music changed and morphed but many women have join the ranks of singers/songwriters/musicians. We have all changed and music bloomed to inspire Vietnam War protests and protests for rights for women and children.
We are indebted to the women who entered the professions where they weren’t really welcome. Medicine, accounting, factories, the law, music and the arts are now open to women and women have added a lot to our world. These pioneering women pushed open the doors and raised the ceiling on what a woman was allowed to do. Women weren’t let into these fields, they pushed the doors open until they could enter these fields at will. Increasingly, women are breaking the ceiling of achievement, moving further up the ladder of responsibility than has ever been permitted before.
Today, we have women who are homemakers, building cars on an assembly line, working in an ER, being a cop or a fireperson. Some women combine jobs with having a family, as is their right and choice. Some women volunteer instead of working at a paid job because they feel they need to give back to their communities. So, in the twenty-first century everyone can contribute as they feel led to do.
The problem is that women do not earn equal pay for equal work. Many employers think that women don’t know, but we do. The government also knows and periodically puts out the numbers. This is a form of sexism and is illegal by federal law. Is the enforced? No. Not really.
Even for disabled women, there are many who want to give to their communities. They want to be useful and assist other disabled women and men.
Thank you to every American who grows and gives to their communities. You are heros/sheros. We appreciate your wisdom, generosity of spirit and for your time.
“One woman weaves a message
singing the sounds of silence
another wheels her chair to the center of the stage
changing minds and attitudes
with eyes that hear, and hands that see
these women, working, living…independently
and I look to you
I look to you
for courage in my life.”
—Holly Near
All women are, in a sense, differently abled, not by biology but by socially constructed mythologies from which they have had to liberate themselves. We do indeed look to them for courage in our lives.
Namaste, Barbara
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