Madre's Missives
Inadvertent and Occasionally Intentional Thoughts
Herstory 101
Posted On: March 13th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
As we move forward in the 21st century, many of these stories have become a vital part of the telling of our history. This was not the case in 1980 when less than 3% of the content of school textbooks mentioned the contributions of women. Women, when included, were usually written in as mere footnotes to history. For most students, based on their textbooks, women's work and accomplishments were not central to the telling of our nation's history.
To discover what students were learning in 1980 about women's history, several classes of 6th grade students were asked to name five women in US history. Without exception, the students could not at first think of one woman in American history. Then, they came up with the idea of adding Mrs. to the names of each President they could remember.
Their list began Mrs. Washington,...Mrs. Lincoln,...Mrs. Jefferson...and so forth. Since Jefferson had been a widower for 18 years before becoming President, it was clear that students were just adding the title Mrs., assuming that all the Presidents were married.
When these students were encouraged to think more about a list of important women, excluding First Ladies, the only ideas that emerged were Betsy Ross and the Statue of Liberty. Sadly, these students knew little about either the Statue of Liberty or the real Betsy Ross and her patriotic courage and tenacity. This student sampling is anecdotal and not quantitative, but the students' answers, coupled with academic studies that documented the lack of content about women, underscored the need to include a fuller discussion of the contributions of women to American history in our schools. (from the National Women's History Project)
Has the feminist movement gone too far? Can you name 5 women in American History (not including the ones above) off the top of your head and say why they were significant? No cheating!
Does it matter? Should we even care?
Comments:
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 13th, 2005 at 4:32 pm by femlemtwo
To be perfectly honest I could name 5 women from history. We actually went so far in my history class last year as to do the feminist movement. I really learned a lot (like how much i disliked it).
Now whether any of that matters or not, i cant really tell you. Should we care? Maybe if you are/were a feminist, you might find it of importance to care. :)
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 13th, 2005 at 8:38 pm by Bloghardt
What I find fascinating is how much information HAS been written on this very
subject. Pages like this:
Women In American History. HeH.
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 13th, 2005 at 9:04 pm by femlemtwo
Ok, there may be pages on that that stuff, but that doesnt mean that it is studied in schools. I can definitely say that i had a fairly unique teacher and that it was taught and done so well. But i am more than sure that there are plenty of schools that do not even bother to teach the stuff. I am not saying that it should be on the top of the list ot be taught. I think that history classes are a waste of time. and unless they can teach what our country was founded on, and how we can learn from our past mistakes.
For me personally, things like the feminsit movevment, i cannot really find significant importance behind it. :)
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 14th, 2005 at 10:02 am by femlemone
lemme see (i haven't looked at the other comments, so...)
1. Suzanne B. Anthony - first female SC judge
2. Rosa Park - african american woman who would not give up her seat on a public bus, part of the civil rights movement
3. Sacajahweeha (sp? not a clue) - led Lewis and Clark (both men) across the the unknown americas from St. Louis westward to California (carrying her kid with here)
OK - i never was good at history, and still managed 3. i could tell you things that women did, like start the American Red Cross or take up the work force during the World Wars, but i don't know secific names of people. [looking at commens now to see what the rest of the brain put]..... #2, you didn't even play! you can talk the talk (oh, i can name them alright), but then don't do it? 
the Fem. Movement was part of american history and should be taught as such. to say it should would be to say we shouldn't teach the civil rights movement of the industrial revolution. should it be focus indepthly on? not really. it is just a movement in history. it should be given its due considereration and then moved on with, just like everything else. i know for all the times Am. history was taught in my schooling, we rarely ever reached current history, which to me seems much more important in the ways of learning from mistakes. if we are to speend weeks talking about the Fem movement and neglect recent SC decisions and recent trends in economic and political dealings, how is that upposed to help serve historys purpose (not to repeat its mistakes). how can we make tomorrows leaders out of todays students if you are going to teach the more pertanent parts of history?
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 14th, 2005 at 7:25 pm by femlemtwo
femlemone... hun, first of all, you lost the game because i am more than sure that Susan B. Anthony was NEVER a S.C judge. Sorry. And you want me to play the game? Ok.
1) sara grimke- her and her sister were some big parts of the fem movement.
2) Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson- opened a freakin big library in the name of her husband. Also had a lot to do with some wildlife conservation stuff in Texas.
3) i wanna say that Florence Nightengale started the Red Cross. ( that name may not be right, but its something like that)
I have more, buti would need to refresh my memory from last year, and if i did that, that would be cheating. 
And i now agree with the whole future leaders of tomorrow thing. I never thought of it like that. :)
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 14th, 2005 at 8:20 pm by femlemone
Anthony was a woman's right activist in the 19th century. Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female SC Judge. Sorry about that - both had 3 words :).
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 15th, 2005 at 7:01 pm by Madre
1. Sally Ride - Astronaut
2. Clara Barton - Founder of the Red Cross
3. Amelia Earhart - Aviator
4. Helen Keller - Human Rights Advocate
5. Billie Jean King - Athlete
Why is/was the feminist movement significant at all? Well, it's hard to believe today, but there was a time, not all that long ago when things weren't so good for women. We know women couldn't vote. But did you know a woman could not own or inherit property? She could rarely divorce her husband (who was entitled, even expected, to smack her around from time to time when she got out of line), and if she did, she would have to give up all claims to property and custody of her children. The "Women's Movement" did have some real problems it was fighting against.
Have they gone too far?
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 15th, 2005 at 8:58 pm by The A.M.O.P.
In all honesty, I couldn't name 5 important men in history. I recognize most or all of those names when I see them, though. The sole reason that there aren't nearly as many women to memorize was because they were so repressed during history. Sure you get the occasional name, like Mary Wollstonecraft and Catherine the Great to memorize, but it's like women don't even really exist in history. And we all know where us mens would be without women.
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 15th, 2005 at 9:01 pm by Madre
Forever twinkles in your daddy's eyes? ;)
Re: Herstory 101
Posted On: March 16th, 2005 at 12:23 am by Madre
Forever twinkles in your daddy's eyes? ;)