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October is Domestic Violence Awareness
Month
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is Canadian Women's History Month
October is Banned Book Month
10-01 TABLE of CONTENTS:
HOTLINES for Domestic Violence, Rape and Child Abuse
Canadian Women's History Month
More About October Events
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by Jimmy Carter,
Canadian women, and Marianne Williamson.
HOTLINES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, RAPE
AND CHILD ABUSE
October has been declared Domestic Violence Awareness
Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (thanks
to its woman leader, HEW secretary Donna Shalala) began providing and or
increasing the funding to support a network of domestic violence resource
centers.
The most important are the HOTLINES ESTABLISHED by
the Clinton administration in 1992:
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233.
National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453.
National Child Care Information Center 1-800-616-2242.
(NOTE: These numbers are
toll-free and no record of your call is recorded on your phone bill.)
HEW established the following:
National Resource Center
on Domestic Violence provides comprehensive ways to enhance community
response to domestic violence, 800-537-2238, Fax 717-545-9456;
Battered Women's Justice
Project addresses the criminal and civil justice systems, responses
to violence, and battered women's self defense, 800-903-0111, fax 218-722-1545;
Resource Center on Child
Custody and Child Protection provides materials, expert consultation,
technical assistance and legal research related to child protection and
custody within the contest of domestic violence 800-527-3223, fax 702-784-6628.
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Canadian Women's History Month
"Women's History Month was created by the
Canadian federal government in 1992 to encourage greater awareness among
Canadians concerning the historical contributions of women to society,
and to recognize the achievements of women as a vital part of Canadian
heritage. A greater appreciation of the past achievements of women will
also lead to a better understanding of the diverse roles women play in
contemporary society. The goal of Women's History Month is to write women
back into Canadian history."
-- From the website http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/whm/.
The site contains the booklets (for download) for the 1997, 1998, and 1999
events and lengthy history of Canadian women's accomplishments. http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/direct.html
is the link to the wonderful Status of Women Canada site.
The following is a highlight from a Nova Scotia
Advisory Council on the Status of Women 1996 celebration essary that featured
information on Canadian artists who were also women:
"While it would be impossible to touch on
women's achievements in all artistic disciplines and cultural areas in
the space of a short article, the following are some interesting facts
about the history of women and the arts in Canada.
"The earliest art work to be recorded in
Canada was the pottery made by Indian women. It wasn't until the late 1800's
that Canadian women began to seek art education and to view art as a vocation
or a career. Eventually, a number of Canadian women were admitted to great
art schools overseas, where they excelled and participated in the great
art exhibitions of the world. Celebrated Canadian professional women artists
of the time included Florence Carlyle, a well known illustrator, and Margaret
Curran, a distinguished painter of military portraits.
"Many women earned a living or supplemented
the family income by selling their novels and poetry. Margaret Marshall
Saunders was the first person in Canada to sell one million copies of a
book (Beautiful Joe, 1894). Marion Cran, Elinor Marsden Eliot, Laure Conan
(ne Flicit Angers), Ad le Bibaud and Josphine Dandurand were successful
early Canadian writers. By the early 1900's hundreds of women were publishing
books, although many used male pseudonyms.
"Women also entered the visual and performing
arts: there were 135 women photographers registered in Canada by 1891.
A few women such as Geraldine Moore and Mary Schaffer Warren went into
the wilderness to take pictures; others like Mattie Gunterman, photographed
life in mining camps and in small towns at the turn of the century. Canadian-born
actresses such as Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford and Mimi d'Este found much
success in the chosen field.
"The first professional dance company in
Canada was the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, begun in 1939 by Gweneth Lloyd and
Betty Hey Farrally as the amateur Winnipeg Ballet Club.
"Most women artists found it difficult
to achieve public recognition and pursue art as a career. "Painter
Emily Carr ran a boarding house for a number of years because she could
not support herself with her art."
-- (The Nova Scotia Council on the Status of Women link is at http://www.gov.ns.ca/govt/foi/status.htm.
We regret we were not able to contact anyone on
the council when Women of Achievement and Herstory author visited Nova
Scotia in 1999 for the trip of a lifetime. What a beautiful and wonderful
place! The people were outstanding and I saw signs of growing women-pride
everywhere with increasing ownership and directing of businesses by women
who are tacking charge of their lives.
BTW, the site http://www.gov.ns.ca/staw/links.htm
gives you a peek at the huge number of support groups available to Canadian
women from the various provinces. Amazing! Few U.S. states offer as much!
http://www.gov.nb.ca/sw_cf/other.htm
offers the list of status of women websites posted by the various Canadian
provinces.
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More About October Events
October contains "All
Hallows Eve", one of the most sacred of the ancient holidays that
recognizes the slim line between life and death, the eve of All Hallows
Day (or All Saints Day). In the U.S. it has been changed to a masqueraded
celebration that features a nasty condemnation of witches, primarily older
females - much in keeping with the witch burning mentality of the Middle
Ages.
The fourth Sunday of the month, namely the Sunday
before Halloween has been set aside as Mother-In-Law Day to celebrate and
honor them. The choice of the date leaves a lot to be desired since it
is also in keeping with the "old witch" tradition.
BTW, in many male dominated primitive societies
the removal of the wife from even the sight of her mother (his mother-in-
law) for the rest of the wife's life was often a part of the marriage ceremony.
Thus it deprived the often very young wife of her closest (and often only
ally) - and has led to the acceptance of the demonizing of the husband's
mother-in-law.
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10-01 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS
Born 10-01-1921, Margaret Hillis - One of this
nation's most distinguished conductors - but what would she have been
if she had been born a man?
* received Master's degree in choral conducting
from Juilliard School of Music (1949),
* Robert Shaw's assistant for two years,
* resident conductor of the Chicago Civic orchestra,
* formed the American Concert and American Concert
Orchestra in 1950,
* founded and became music director of the American
Choral Foundation in 1954,
* appointed chorus director of the Chicago Symphony
in 1957,
* appointed chorus director of the Cleveland
Symphony in 1969.
IN ADDITION, Hillis created, organized and conducted
the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Elgin (Illinois) Symphony Orchestra,
was resident conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and chaired the
Department of Choral Activities at Northwestern University.
In 1977 she subbed for an ailing George Solti
to conduct Mahler's monumental Eighth Symphony which has 400 musicians
and singers. She got rave reviews - but was sent back to the chorus podium.
Hillis won a Grammy award for "the
best choral performance of 1977" for
the Verdi Requiem with Solti conducting, and again in 1978 for the Beethoven
Missa Solemnis.
From early childhood in Kokomo, Indiana, she
accompanied her mother to travel to concerts, sometimes 16 in two weeks.
Her grandmother had a full pipe organ in her living room (pipes in the
basement).
MH had very poor eyesight but during World War
II received flight instructor rating and taught as a civilian for the U.S.
Navy, seven days a week, 12 hours a day.
If you want to see
something impressive, look at her listing in the Who's Who and wonder...
if she had had the opportunities a man has...
B. 10-01-1795, Margaretta Angelica Peale -
U.S. painter and sister of Anna Claypoole Peale, (03-06-1791), Margaretta
Angelica (10-01-1795) and Sarah Miriam (05-19-1800). All were
noted fine arts painters. (WOA will feature this remarkable family in a
later biographical sketch. Use search to locate.)
B. 10-01-1838, Kate Field - U.S. journalist.
B. 10-01-1847, Annie Besant - president of
the Theosophical Society. Born in India, AB developed the Theosophical
organization into a world-wide phenomena. Her many books and articles are
still considered the finest explanations of the doctrine.
Outspoken in her drive for women's rights, AB
was jailed and even lost the custody of her daughter for advocating birth
control. She was a supporter of Indian self-government. She helped organize
the great Match Girls strike in 1888. Another remarkable woman history
has not treated well.
B. 10-01-1852, Sarah Sophie Platt Chase Decker
- U.S. political and social activist. SCD was prominent in the women's
suffrage movement in Colorado and served as president of the General Federation
of Women's Clubs. She guided the clubs towards active roles in conservation
and political responsibility.
B. 10-01-1857, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser - Scottish
contralto, pianist, folklorist, composer, writer, librettist, and critic.
B. 10-01-1860, Mary Eileen Ahern - U.S. librarian.
In summing up the life of MEA, the word librarian should be written LIBRARIAN
for the momentous effect she had on the development of libraries in the
U.S. After doing remarkable service in cataloging as assistant state librarian
in Indian, she was appointed the top position and promptly reorganized
the department to take it out of politics - and took herself out of the
top post!
MEA turned to teaching library science - at
the time a very new concept - through the pages of a new monthly magazine
Public Libraries (1896).
The magazine served as instructor to a host
of smaller and school libraries, even giving them specific directions on
implementing the Dewey system. The magazine closed in 1931when MEA retired
with a amazing record of having influenced (and shaped) the library system
in the U.S. by emphasizing education of librarians and the services and
businesslike operation of libraries.
B. 10-01-1862, Esther Boise Van Deman - U.S.
archaeologist and the first woman to specialize in Roman field archaeology.
Her 1912 article "Methods of Determining the Date of Roman Concrete
Monuments" with only a few changes has become the standard of determining
the dates of Roman structures.
Event 10-01-1864: Rose O'Neal Greenhow drowned
when her small open boat overturned while attempting to run the blockade
of the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina. Her clothes were weighed down
with gold coins she was attempting to smuggle into the cash-poor South.
Before her death, ROG was a spy for the confederacy
and had been imprisoned by the Union secret service. After being released,
she traveled to Europe to aid the Confederacy by collecting funds. It was
those funds, sewn into her clothes, that caused her death.
A monument in Wilmington commemorates her accomplishments
as well as a marker in the marvelous historical district of that city.
B. 10-01-1890, Blanche Oelrichs Thomas Barrymore
Tweed - U.S. author, actor, and radio personality. BBT used the name
"Michael Strange" in her many successful careers. Although a
member of Newport society and married to a prominent socialite, she bobbed
her hair and marched for women's suffrage. She began to write poetry and
became an actor. She met John Barrymore and later married him. Diana Blythe
Barrymore is their child. Following their divorce she married another prominent
socialite and became an entertainment star by giving amazingly popular
radio readings of poetry (hers and others) accompanied by a full orchestra.
B. 10-01-1893, Justina Hamilton Hill - pioneer
head of bacteriological laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.
B. 10-01-1893, Faith Baldwin - U.S. author.
FB published more than 85 novels in which an idealized version of life
always triumphed. In Faith Baldwin's world there was no sex, no violence,
no hunger and sturdy heroes always did the right thing - and everyone had
enough money for a luxurious lifestyle. In the midst of the depression,
her writings made her a millionaire. She said her books were for shop girls
and housewives.
B. 10-01-1897, Myra Kingsley - U.S. astrologer
as famous and influential in her day as was the more current Joan Quigley
who was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan.
MK studied music and became a concert pianist
but she was disinterested in performing and turned to astrology.
Evangeline Adams, dean of astrologers at the
turn of the century, advised MK that she could become a very good astrologer.
MK began broadcasting on radio in 1937 but the FCA ruled that the subject
was not proper for radio. MK didn't fight the ruling but moved to Hollywood
and a met her rich clientele face-to-face. Her mother was a theosophist
and also studied the occult.
B. 10-01-1910, Bonnie Parker - the female half
of the infamous 1930's outlaw duo whose male member boasted he robbed
banks and killed people. She was immortalized and glamorized in the Hollywood
movie Bonnie and Clyde. BP was probably more a dupe to Clyde Barrow
- a man she loved with an awesome passion - than a cold-blooded killer.
B. 10-01-1924, Leonie Judith Kramer - outstanding
Australian scholar and literary figure. Dame Leonie served as editor
of the Oxford History of Australian Literature (1981).
B. 10-01-1935, Julie Andrews - Anglo-American
actor and singer. JA won the Academy Award for her work in the movie
Sound of Music (1965). Her mother was a pianist who toured English
music halls with her second husband and as a child Julie performed in their
act.
After a growing career on the London stage,
she moved to New York to take the lead in My Fair Lady and performed
to rave reviews. However, the Hollywood moguls decided she wasn't glamorous
to do Eliza in the movies. Instead, she was given the Sound of Music
lead - and won the academy award.
JA became one of the most popular actors in
Hollywood and starred in dozens of movies.
B. 10-01-1936, Stella Stevens - U.S. actor.
B. 10-01-1938, Mary Josephine McFadden - U.
S. fashion industry executive. MJM was elected to the Fashion Hall
of Fame.
Event 10-01-1945, Brenda Starr, the first
daily newspaper comic strip drawn by a woman began her sensational career.
Dale Messick was helped develop the strip with the help of New York Daily
News assistant editor Mollie Slott who also helped develop Little Orphan
Annie and Terry and the Pirates.
Critics who coincidentally were usually male
commented on the questionable art work and the outrageous story lines,
but the Messick strip continued for more than 30 years in highly popular
national syndication. DM was the only woman to have a nationally syndicated
strip during most of that period.
Event 10-01-1951: Eugenie Anderson, U.S. Ambassador
to Denmark, is the first woman to sign a United States treaty with
a foreign power. It was a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation
with Denmark.
B. 10-01-1953, Grete Waitz - Norwegian runner
noted for her marathon efforts.
Although she was stymied by the objections to
women running endurance races, she was finally able through repeated victories
to show that women could run long distances. GW is credited for having
changed women's distance competition.
"They thought
it was terrible to see women get tired,"
she said. She was the first to run a marathon faster than 2.5 hours, the
artificial boundary between men and women runners. Even the Olympic committee
refused to hold marathon racing for women longer than 1,500 meters until
after Waitz had excelled in such regional marathons as the New York race
which she won nine times.
She won races all over the world and was considered
the premier woman distance runner of the world, but she seemed to be cursed
in the Olympics with her best showing a silver to Joan Benoit's gold.
GW formed a foundation to encourage and train
women for marathon running. In a book on women athletes published by The
Oryx Press, a woman is quoted as telling Waitz: "Before
you came along, people used to come to watch the women. Now they come to
watch the competition. Thank you."
Event 10-01-1985: Montana enacted a state
law that for the first time in U.S. insurance history mandated that women
will no longer be charged more for their insurance than men. (Yes, women
were charged more for life and health insurance than men as a matter of
course. For example, women - even unmarried single, manopausal women -were
forced to pay extra for pregnancy insurance while married men got that
benefit for their wives free.)
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QUOTES DU JOUR
CARTER, JIMMY:
"The
first step in providing economic equality for women is to ensure a stable
economy in which every person who wants to work can work."
--Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, born
10-01- 1924. Eighteen percent of his presidential appointments were women,
a record at that time. He described his wife Rosalyn as an equal partner.
She often sat in on cabinet meetings and was JC's closest advisor.
WHAT DO CANADIAN DAUGHTERS HEAR?
"
'O Canada, our home and native land
"True patriot love in all thy sons command...'
"Picture two children singing these lyrics
- a girl and a boy. Think of the images formed in their minds. The boy
sees countless males like himself, all standing on guard for their country.
He feels fully part of the patriotic fervour, a true son of Canada.
"The girl is not so lucky. Since our national
anthem says nothing about daughters, she can't help wondering whether it
applies to her. Can only men be patriots?"
-- from The Language Barrier: An introduction to the "why"
of inclusive language from the website http://www.gov.on.ca/owd/.
According to its
website, "The Ontario Women's Directorate assists
the government to achieve its commitment to the economic, legal and social
equality of women in Ontario. Encouraging gender-inclusive language is
part of this effort. Bias-free language is effective language. A number
of studies demonstrate that an audience is more likely to 'get the Message,'
and to remember information, when inclusive language is used."
WILLIAMSON, MARIANNE:
"It's very difficult
being a woman. It's very difficult being a man too, I realize, but this
is a book about women. Sam Keen wrote a book about men, which he called
Fire in the Belly.
"My friend Tara called me up one day and
told me she wanted to write a companion volume, Volcano in the Uterus.
I laughed when she said that, but inside I was thinking, and Catastrophes
in the Breasts and Terror in the Ovaries... More women cry, loudly or silently,
every fraction of every moment, in every town of every country, than anyone
- man or woman - realizes. We cry for our children, our lovers, our parents,
and ourselves.
"We cry in shame because we feel no right
to cry, and we cry in peace because we feel it's time we did cry. We cry
for the world. Yet we think we cry alone. We feel that no one hears, that
there is no listening that matters. And we must all listen now. We must
hold the crying woman's hand and minister to her tenderly, or she will
turn-- this collective feminine shadow self into a monster who will go
unheard no longer."
-- Marianne Williamson, A
Woman's Worth. New York: Random House, 1993.
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