March is Women's History Month
Celebrate Women of Achievement and Herstory
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Compiled and Written by Irene Stuber
who is solely responsible for its content.
Contents of this
article may be freely reprinted for educational and nonprofit use.
We would appreciate credit and request that the philosophy of the material
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April 17, 1972 is one of those classic, "Are
you kidding?" dates. According to HIStory, on 04-17-1972: Nina Kuscik became the first woman to officially run in the Boston Marathon - she crossed the finish line first in that handful of women who were finally invited to compete in the classic. Elaine Pedersen was one of that handful of women. In a 1997 interview that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, she said, "It was really an earth-shattering moment. The Boston Marathon is the creme de la creme. To be there, to be a part of all that was exciting ... it was a watershed in many ways." OK, enough of HIStory, let's go to HERstory: In 1966 (six years before the official date of women's participation in the race) Roberta Bengay (Roberta Gibb Welch) hid in the bushes and then joined the runners just after take-off to get into the race. She ran the Boston Marathon in 3:12.2 and beat two-thirds of the men. Race officials, however, denied a woman had run the race. "I know of no girl who ran in the Boston Marathon. I do know of a girl who is supposed to have run on the same roads as the marathon route today. But that's not the same." Duh? (By the way, recently WOAH was informed that "Bengay" was actually Roberta Gibb Welch.) The very next year, Katherine Switzer was refused permission to enter the Boston Marathon, but got a number in 1967 as K. Switzer. While racing she was recognized as a girl and officials chased her trying to pull off her number. (There's a famous photo of the attempts to remove her number which were foiled by male runners around her, as well as her speed.) Switzer finished the race and most certainly WAS the first woman to run the race under an official number. But Switzer paid a great price for her audacity. She was a member of the Syracuse University track team and was promptly suspended from the Amateur Athletic Union for "running without a chaperon!" For those who are shaking their heads and who had been thinking women had human rights in the U.S. "Forever." 1966 was 34 years ago . . . Let's put these dates into perspective: In 1972, the year of the first woman to officially run in the Boston Marathom, Mia Hamm was born and Sally J. Priesant was ordained as the first woman rabbi in the United States, only the second woman rabbi in the recorded history of Judaism. In 1966, the year a woman had to SNEAK into the
Boston Marathon, the first Venus probe landed on our neighbor planet and
the National Organization for Women was organized... YES - women's rights are young and tender.... Copyright 2000 by Irene Stuber. More than 20,000 women's biographies and thousands of facts of herstory have been gathered by istuber and used in the more than 900 episodes of Women of Achievement and Herstory that have been emailed to subscribers over the past ten years. She is in the process of slowly uploaded them to her website. As always, copies of all of istuber's writings about women work may be distributed freely for educational purposes if the copyright is observed and the articles remain unchanged. (Acknowledging her as author is appreciated.) |
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© 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000
Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902.
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