Research on Women's Issues

A guide that I found from George Mason University Libraries

What is feminism?

The definition of feminism was brought up during the talks. I would like to clarify what it means to me:

It is a simple matter of human rights - women are entitled to equal opportunity, equal pay, and equal protection under the law. It is believing that a woman has control over her own body and can be guaranteed safety from male violence. I do not see feminism as a expression of sexual preference nor is it defined by gender. You can be a feminist and be male.

If you disagree, or would like to further define feminism, please do by making a comment to this blog.

Conference Talks

On March 21st, many people gathered at the Sunburst Lounge for a Speak Out. The twelve women who spoke were: (in the order in which they spoke) Di Lewis, Laura Pruitt, Angela Enno, Sarah Cozzens and Whitney Taylor, Lindsay Kite, Dawnette Hunter, Jessica Sahely, Pamela Bendio, Rachel Brighton, MS, Amberleigh Stayner, and Bobbe McGhie Allen, MEd. Janet Osborne, from the Women's Center, facilitated the program. Many women were honored during these talks and much encouragement was shared.

Click here to listen to those proceedings.

Later in the afternoon there was an art show and a panel discussion called Survivors Speak Out. Four professional women conducted the panel, they were: Carolyn Barcus, EdD; Mary E. Doty, PhD, Annette Gittins, BS, SSW, and Rachel Brighton,MS.

Click here to listen to the panel discussion.

For those of you who have not down loaded a podcast before, simply click where indicated above (it looks like a link-different color). Remeber that you will need a program to play it like RealPlayer or iTunes. If you have one of those on your computer, it will automatically load into it. You can also download it to your favorite mp3 player.

A Voice In History

Do women have an authentic voice? Yesterday they did not. The following is a list of names that you may not be familiar with because they are the names of women. They have done something significant in life and yet their names rarely appeared in history books. This represents a collection I made over time. See if you have ever heard of them or know of their work. And, if there are errors, forgive me and enlighten me, please.

Abigail Adams 1744-1818 * Alice Dunbar Nelson 1875-1935 * Alice James 1848-1892 * Alice Meynell 1847-1922 * Amelia Lanyer 1569-1645 * Amy Lowell 1894-1925 * Anais Nin 1903-1977 * Anna Letitia Barbauld 1743-1825 * Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672 * Anne Finch 1661-1720 * Anne Killegrew 1660-1685 * Anne Mary Chudleigh 1656-1710 * Anne Spencer 1882-1975 * Aphra Behn 1640-1689 * Bjund Barnes 1892-1982 * Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855 * Charlotte Mew 1869-1928 * Charlotte Smith 1749-1806 * Christina Rosetti 1830-1894 * Clive Schreiner 1855-1920 * Constance Fenimore Woolson 1840-1894 * Delarivier Manley 1663-1724 * Dorothy Parker 1893-1967 * Dorothy Wordsworth 1771-1855 * Edith Sitwell 1887-1964 * Edith Wharton 1862-1937 * Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950 * Elinor Wylie 1885-1928 * Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815-1902 * Elizabeth Carey 1585-1639 * Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1810-1865 * Emile Bronte 1818-1848 * Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 * Frances Barney 1752-1840 * Frances E.W. Harper 1825-1911 * George Eliot 1819-1880 * Gertrude Bonnin 1876-1938 * Harriet E Adams Wilson 1828-1870 * Harriet Jacobs 1813-1897 * Helen Maia Williams 1762-1827 * Hilda Doolittle 1886-1961 * Isabella Whitney 1567-1573 * Isak Dinesen 1885-1962 * Jane Austen 1775-1817 * Jane Lead 1624-1704 * Jean Rhys 1894-1979 * Julian of Norwich 1342-1416 * Juliana Berners 1388-? * Katherine Phillips 1632-1664 * Katherine Suzanna Pritchard 1883-1969 * Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 1689-1762 * Louise Bogan 1897-1970 * Mana Edgeworth 1768-1849 * Margaret Cavendish 1623-1673 * Margaret Fuller 1810-1850 * Margery Kempe 1373-1438 *

Having A Voice

I grew up in an era when women did not have a voice. Then one day there were forums everywhere. I was elected President of Women on my college campus and began to find my own voice. Through the years I have not forgotten the power of a persons authentic voice. But I lost my voice when I moved to Utah, married, and raised my children. It isn't that there aren't things to talk about, because there are.

The culture is so strong here that diversity of thought is not something you share out loud. What I am hoping, with this blog, is to give courage to you and to me to find our collective voice.

I have been using blogs for some time but I just did not connect the idea of using it to give women a voice. Blogs have had an incredible impact on the media, on business, on politics and now education. Why not on women's issues? Why not use blogs to find our voices? Maybe, with the support of women all over the world and outside the borders of Utah, it can happen.