I Am Woman

I was just reminded about August 26th, 1920 the day the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution became law.  When my children were young teenagers we would sing in our 1988 Ford Aerostar minivan, painted in Dallas Cowboy football colors,  pretty much any time we climbed in.  We all loved that van but that is a story for another day.    I had the Helen Reddy song 'I Am Woman' on a cassette tape.  I made sure my girls knew all the words and any little friends they had with them too.  I was fortunate that for being a conservative and proud of the title  'housewife'  my Mom was quite forward thinking when it came to women's rights.  She was an RN and made the decision with my Dad to stay home and take care of us kids.  I told my girls about my Grandmother's, one of them had a college degree and the other always ran her own business while raising a child on her own.  I explained to my girls and any little girls in the car that this was not usually accepted in that era.  They had strong, forward thinking and very independent Grandmothers. I told them about Grandma, my Mom, trying to get a credit card in the 70's in her name.  She was told that since she was married it would have to be in her husband's name.  My Mom was shocked at this denial of what she saw as acknowledging her as an individual and would just not accept it.  She was diligent,  wrote letters and made phone calls for about a year or more, she would not let up.  Finally she was granted a credit card in her name.  Our young women in 2012 have rights, freedom and protection because of the forward thinking, courage and diligence of our Mom's, Grandmother's and Great Grandmother's.  I think it is so important that we pass these stories down to our young people...otherwise...how will they know??  kisses