I connected with two remarkable women yesterday. No, I can not make the claim to a personal relationship, yet I feel I know them well, through their actions and their words.
Gloria Steinem: Gloria appeared on Oprah yesterday and I was reminded of how she influenced my early twenties, when I subscribed to Ms. and engaged in lively discussions (sometimes debates) about women’s rights with my mostly male friends. I was idealistic, hopeful and absolutely convinced that women would change the world. I remain absolutely convinced that women will change the world, yet am puzzled by the timeline. Seeing Gloria and listening to her words, reconnected me with my passion, committment and intention to participate with so many other women around the planet who are acting for social change.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki: I loved reading the article about Severn in our local paper this morning. Living in Metro Vancouver, it feels like I watched Severn grow up and I like to think that I may have seen her in person many times over the years at Capers or Granville Island or the Folk Festival. Severn jumped onto the world stage in 1992 when she and a group of Vancouver kids traveled to Brazil to attend the UN Earth Summit and she presented her plea to the delegates for them to “save the world”. The video of this speech is still being widely circulated via “youtube”. Now grown and recently married, she is staying true to her roots through developing “roots” and community in Haida Gwaii.
In my opinion, these two women represent courage; integrity and transparency and stand as gently powerful and remarkable role models for women.
namaste,
Zoey
life & business coach for women
“coaching for your heart & soul”
At age 40, I realized that I knew that it did, but nothing of HOW the world turned — from routine repression to relative freedom for women.
I was a pre-teen in the 60s and was vaguely aware of bra-burning and women’s ‘liberation.’ But nothing was taught in school – there were no tv shows – no popular books that would make a person of my generation understand what it took to instill in me the firm belief that there was nothing in the world that I as a woman could not do.
I believe that my generation of women was the first to come of age with most of us believing, taking it for granted, assuming that the world would be fair to us and that our future would be glorious.
Of course, that hasn’t always been the case, though my life has been blessed with amazing opportunities that my mother and grandmother would not have dreamed of.
But when I realized that I didn’t know how my freedom happened I set out on a journey of discovery and I am now strengthened by the inspiration of countless suffragettes.
I realize I stand on their strong shoulders, and on the shoulders of other women who keep pushing for more than voting rights, who demand the full range of human rights for women.
I want to share that inspiration with other women.
Can you even imagine being a woman and NOT being able to vote?
Thanks to the suffragettes, America has women voters and wide range of women candidates, and we are a better country for it!
Women have voices and choices! Just like men.
But few people know ALL of the suffering that our suffragettes had to go through, and what life was REALLY like for women.
Now you can subscribe FREE to my exciting e-mail series that goes behind the scenes in the lives of eight of the world’s most famous women to reveal the shocking and sometimes heartbreaking truth of HOW women won the vote.
Thrilling, dramatic, sequential short story e-mail episodes have readers from all over the world raving about the original historical series, “The Privilege of Voting.”
Read this FREE e-mail series on your coffeebreaks and fall in love with these amazing women!
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Virginia,
Thank you so much for adding these insightful comments and sharing the information about your email series. Learning more about the women who made it possible to have the vote is valuable for all women.
Do you include Canadian women in the series?
namaste,
Zoey