So Long Women’s History Month! Here's "A Word to the Wives"

With Women’s History Month coming to a close, I thought I would post a little video that explores how far women’s roles in American life have come. Here is “A Word to the Wives,” about two enterprising women who attempt to “trick” their husbands into buying them new kitchens. The film was made by companies looking to advertise their new kitchen appliances in the 1950s, and operates under the assumption that all women are housewives and all men can’t manage to operate kitchen appliances without a woman present. This film is a throwback in more ways than one, and definitely managed to entertain me when I first found it last week. At the time, I was looking for any video on women’s history, and found this the same day that my own oven caught on fire and died. This film entertained me and I hope it will make you laugh too.

I Am Woman Hear Me Roar – Women’s History Month Resources

To celebrate Women’s History Month, I thought I would point out some great sites where you can learn a little about the contribution of women to American history.

            The National Women’s History Project is an educational non-profit organization devoted to promoting the contributions and achievements of women to society. They have all kinds of educational resources on their site, which can be accessed here. 

 The Library of Congress has a slue of resources available for Women’s History Month. Visitors can view portraits of influential women from the twentieth century at the National Portrait Gallery, or listen to music by female musicians who broke musical barriers at the Smithsonian. 

There are also a host of resources available to teachers to help integrate the historical contribution of America’s women into classrooms. Check those out here. 

One cool example of a resource available for teachers and history lovers alike are census records. Here is a description of a now famous resident of the Dakota territory in 1880.  This page shows the census records of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the popular Little House on the Prairie series (and inspiration for a deliciously cheesetastic 1970s TV show). In this census record, she is listed along with her parents and sisters as a member of the Ingalls household. Under “occupation” the census record has listed her main job as “help in keeping house,” just like her mother and sisters.   This trait certainly speaks to the time, but also allows us to have a conversation with the past. How are our lives different today?  Laura was 13 when this census was taken. Think of the innumerable ways in which our expectations for today’s 13-year old girls are radically different than in 1880.

2010 is a census year, so you may soon be answering questions about the occupants of your household to help make sure that each state gets a correct allotment of representatives in the House of Representatives. It may seem like prying to have someone knock on your door and ask you personal questions, but just think, it may help a future historian tell your story someday.

[Image via Indiana]

Women's History Month Video

Here is a great video from History.com showing a brief history of women in American political history. In honor of Women's History Month, enjoy this video and think about how far women have come in political life, and how much farther women have to go. We have never had either a female vice-president or president. When do you think that will change? Do you think the suffragettes who marched in front of the White House fighting for the right to vote believed that they would see a female president in their lifetime? How about now?

Women's History Month Video — History.com

[Image via about]

Remember the Ladies – Anniversary of the Certification of the 19th Amendment

On August 26, 1920, after a hard fought struggle for women’s suffrage, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the 19^th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Congress proposed the nineteenth amendment on June 4, 1919, at which point it had to be ratified by a majority of the states. The amendment became a part of the U.S. Constitution on August 18, 1920 when the Tennessee state legislature became the thirty -sixth state to ratify the amendment by a close one -vote margin. The 19^th amendment states:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Campaigning for the 19^th Amendment was spearheaded primarily by the National Women’s Party (formerly the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage). Suffragettes Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led this group to campaign for a voting rights amendment. The NWP were a non-political group that did not support specific candidates for the presidency, but this did not stop them from picketing in front of the White House for women’s suffrage. President Wilson tolerated their public demonstrations until the United States entered World War I, at which point the picketers were arrested for “obstructing traffic.” The women were not deterred and some, including Alice Paul, even went on hunger strikes in support of their shared cause. Alice Paul had to be force-fed in prison which no doubt embarrassed President Wilson, who was simultaneously trying to depict himself as an international leader in human rights. This may explain his support and call for a 19^th amendment in support of women’s suffrage soon after.

After the 19^th amendment was passed in 1920, the NWP continued to lobby to end all gender discrimination. To this end, Alice Paul drafted and lobbied for an equal rights amendment. The time limit for the ERA’s passage ended in 1982 amid controversy, but on July 21, 2009 Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney of New York introduced the ERA in the House of Representatives.

Besides the fact that it is unfathomable that women did not have the right to vote less than a hundred years ago, revisiting the suffrage movement reaffirms the sense of the urgency and dedication shared by these women. These suffragettes had a voice and wanted to be heard; they were not content to resign themselves only to the cult of domesticity. To make this happen, they used grass roots initiatives and common sense reasoning to agitate until they achieved the right that all to many of us take for granted, the right to vote and actively participate in our democracy. I think the best way to pay tribute to these women is to take advantage of the right that they were too long denied, to participate in our democracy no matter what one’s gender, race, religion or political affiliation.

To find out more on how you can register to vote click here: http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_register.html

For any further information on registering to vote and voting click here: http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Register.shtml

[Image via Library of Congress, Fit 4 All, and Fading Ad Blog.