Margaret Sanger

Changemaker Spotlight: Margaret Sanger and her Birth Control Crusade

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. -Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger was a famous American activist who devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it universally available for women. She grew up during the Comstock laws where it was federally prohibited for women to have access to contraceptives. Sanger believed the only way to overturn these laws was to break them.

Starting in 1910, Sanger relentlessly worked to bring birth control information and contraceptives to women to relieve them from the dangers of repeated pregnancies.

Sanger’s passion was bred from personal experience and tragedy. One of eleven kids, Sanger watched her mother’s health decline further and further after each pregnancy. Eventually at age nineteen, Sanger watched her mother succumb to tuberculosis. At the young age of fifty, she’d been too weakened from seven miscarriages and carrying eleven children. Sanger blamed her father and was seen arguing with him over her mother’s coffin, “You caused this. Mother is dead from having too many children.”

A Shift in Purpose

Sanger became a nurse and found work as a visiting nurse on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In this working class neighborhood, she saw her mother’s fate tenfold. Lacking contraceptives, many of these women turned to cheap unsafe abortions when faced with another unwanted pregnancy. Sanger was then called in to care for these women after these botched procedures. After experiencing enough of the traumatic effects of these abortions, Sanger decided to shift her efforts from nursing to preventative measures.

In 1914, Sanger coined the term “birth control.” She then began her crusade to arm women with information and access to contraceptives. She was arrested multiple times for sending diaphragms through the mail and for even opening the first birth control clinic in the country. She would not give up. 

In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, the precursor to the Planned Parenthood Federation. She spent the next three decades fighting to provide mainstream access to the American public and was eventually successful. Her efforts contributed to several court decisions that eventually legalized access to birth control in America. 

Although her memory is controversial, no one can argue that Sanger’s efforts did not improve the lives of women. She will forever be remembered as the founder of the birth control movement.

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Female police officers Alice Stebbins Wells

Changemaker Spotlight: First Female Police Officers

Alice Stebbins Wells was a minister and social worker who in 1910 became the first female police officer appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department. Although she was not technically the first female officer in the United States, she was the first of female police officers to hold arrest privileges and she was a national trailblazer for getting women allowed on police forces.

Wells worked hard to overcome gender stereotypes and barriers to women working on the police force. At the time, women who worked in law enforcement were only allowed to be matrons overseeing female inmates and juveniles. In May of 1910, Wells drafted a petition and obtained signatures before bringing it to the mayor of Los Angeles, the police commissioner and city council to demand she be appointed as a female police officer. The petition succeeded and she was appointed the following fall.

Paving a Road to a Stronger Force

Her initial months on the job were bumpy. She had to overcome disrespect and confusion with the idea of a woman on the force. One of the usual perks of the job was being allowed to ride the trolley for free. However, she was kicked off the trolley after being accused of wearing her husband’s badge. This was eventually rectified as she was issued a new badge with the title “Policewoman No. 1.” 

She also had to deal with derisive newspaper reporting. Article headlines mocked her with titles like “Officerette, Officeress, and first woman policeman.” Instead of bowing down, Wells demanded acceptance and gave an exclusive interview to the Los Angeles Times. There she stated, “This is serious work and I do hope the newspapers will not try to make fun of it.”

Female police officers Alice Stebbins Wells

Wells continued to campaign for wider inclusion of female police officers across the country. In 1915, she created the International Association of Policewomen. She traveled and gave lectures about the merits of adding female police officers. Wells advocated there were situations where women would be more effective than men in police enforcement. She argued that if female police officers were to go into dance halls, skating rinks, and picture shows, women and children would be less intimidated to ask for help. 

Preparing Female Police Officers for a New Role

Since female police officers were not issued guns or batons, Wells instituted nationwide training programs specifically targeting female officer safety. She also founded other organizations, conferences, and training programs for female police officers nationwide.

Wells expanded these self-defense programs for female community members as well. She began lectures and classes at local schools and women’s organizations. She taught women to be feisty and unafraid to defend themselves. One of her favorite lines was “The weapon nature gave a woman was a scream. But in more rural communities where someone might not hear you then it would not be bad to know a few bone-breaking tricks.”

Wells remained on the Los Angeles Police force until 1940. She died in 1957 and her funeral was attended by all the senior police officials in the department. She also had an all female honor guard of 10 officers. 

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Jane Addams Action Quote

Who was Jane Addams? Changemaker Spotlight

It’s an important birthday this week. On September 6th 1860- one of the most important American social welfare activists was born. You might not be familiar with her by name, but I bet you’ve heard of some of her accomplishments as they helped shape the settlement house movement across the country. So, who was Jane Addams?

Jane Addams won worldwide recognition in the early twentieth century for her contributions as a pioneer social worker, feminist and activist in America. It all started with her founding of a famous place called Hull House in 1889. 

Addams began her mission with her friend, Ellen Starr, and expressed her mission statement to be- “providing a center for a higher civic and social life, to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago.” With the founding of Hull House and this mission statement, the settlement house movement began.

Addams and Starr hit the ground running. They made speeches about the needs of the lower class, raised money, recruited young female well-to-do volunteers, and provided childcare and nursing services. 

Jane Addams’ Hull House Legacy

By the second year of Hull House’s existence, it was providing services to two thousand people a week. They had morning kindergarten classes, afternoon classes for older children and night school for adults. They also eventually offered an art gallery and studio, a public kitchen and cooking and sewing classes, a gymnasium and swimming pool, a boarding house for girls, a music school, a library, and an employment bureau. 

In 1892, Addams published her findings, entitled the “three Rs”, on what made the settlement house a success. Residence, Research and Reform became the pillars for the settlement house movement. These were described as “close cooperation with the neighborhood people, scientific study of the causes of poverty and dependence, communication of these facts to the public, and persistent pressure for [legislative and social] reform…”

These published findings traveled the nation and soon settlement houses sprang up in other working class areas of cities nationwide.

As Addams became more famous for her successful efforts, she was drawn into more areas of civic needs. In 1905, she was elected to the Chicago Board of Education. She was later made chairman of the School Management Committee. She worked to create the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and also became the first female president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. To continue her research on causes of poverty and needs for reform, she led investigations of midwifery and childbirth conditions, narcotics consumption, milk supplies, and sanitary conditions in lower class areas. 

I am not one of those who believe – broadly speaking – that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance. – Jane Addams

Addams was an ardent feminist and an involved suffragette. But she went even further than supporting women’s voting rights. She believed that not only should women vote, but they should push to participate in legislation and politics. 

Addams was also a pacifist and had a lifelong objective to rid the world of war. She gave lectures at universities across the country and wrote a book entitled the Newer Ideals of Peace. Addams spoke out against America’s entry in the First World War and served on many boards of women pacifist organizations. She eventually became the president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

In 1931, Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was the second woman to ever receive this honor. 

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Women Rights Movement

Women’s Right Convention & The Women Who Risked it All

July 19th and 20th of this year mark the 175th Anniversary of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls!

For those not familiar, this historic two day convention was the first event to focus on “the social, civil and religious condition and rights of women.” About three hundred women attended and after two days of discussion, they drafted the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. This document described the ways in which the laws of their time failed women. They failed to protect their rights, their safety and their potential. Their proposed solution was calling for the woman’s right to vote. 

This was the official launch to the women’s rights and suffrage movements. Sadly, it took seventy years for women to actually be granted this right and few got to ever celebrate or see the fruit of their labors. But there was at least one woman, Rhoda Palmer, who at 102 cast her first ballot in the 1918 New York State election.

Women's Right Convention

It’s amazing how second nature and even taken for granted voting seems today. I’m guilty myself of not voting in every election. It’s just a small one. There’s no candidate I care for, etc. But, to think of the blood, sweat and tears so many put in to grant us this simple privilege, I know I should do better. 

As we head into what appears to be another contentious election season, let us remember these courageous people from our past. And let us most importantly remember, even one vote can make a difference. Let your voice be heard!

Are you currently registered to vote? REGISTER TODAY!

For more information about the Seneca Falls Convention and to really get a clear picture of the attendees and the risks they took to attend the convention that day– take a look at this keynote speech from the 150th anniversary.

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Education for Women

How an Education Bill Changed the Story for Women

Trekking down a paved path: Education for Women

Do you have women in your family who have gone to college? What about any doctors, lawyers or other ceiling busting women? If so, you have Representative Patsy Takemoto Mink to thank.

Fifty-one years ago, Rep. Mink authored a bill and got Congress to pass this landmark piece of legislation. The Title IX of Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in educational institutions and programs that receive federal funding. 

Education Reform

This legislation was groundbreaking for a number of reasons. For the first time women were entitled to an equal education on every level. No more could colleges turn away women from entering particular programs of study!

It also paved the way for sex equity in school sports and other school sponsored extracurricular activities. 

Ultimately, The bill was renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002 to honor her contributions to civil rights, and economic and social justice.

An interview with Rep. Mink in 2002 shared her personal motivations for authoring the bill.

“I have a very personal connection with Title IX because while I was wanting to go to medical school and I had written to a dozen or more medical schools to seek entry, each one of them turned me down by saying that they did not admit women to their schools. It came to me as quite a shock that in America it was not a person’s grade, aptitude, tests, recommendations that got the person into the careers of their choice, but that it had to do with one’s gender.”

Luckily, we have come far from those ceiling-inhibiting days. What is something you’re grateful you were able to accomplish as a woman in your lifetime that your mother could not?

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Rosie the game changer

Rosie the Riveter Turns Eighty!

Rosie the Riveter

On May 29th, 1943, the Saturday Evening Post published a cover image that changed history forever. It was an image by Norman Rockwell, portraying “Rosie” with a flag in the background. 

Overnight, this image became iconic. It showed up everywhere– at movie theaters, posters, newspapers, etc. Rosie the Riveter was everywhere– and society would never be the same again. 

When we think back on women’s history, WWII and Rosie the Riveter offer a clear dividing line. There were women in the workforce before WWII, but they were definitely in the minority and the idea of a woman working after marriage was unheard of.

But America entered the war and workforce rules changed. 

Suddenly, it was patriotic for women to work! American women entered the workforce in droves. Between 1940-1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce rose from 27 to nearly 37%. And by 1945, one out of every four married women worked outside the home.

Then the war ended and America entered its identity crisis. The intent behind the Rosie the Riveter campaign was for it to be a temporary fix, “patriotic” women filling the gaps while the men were away. They were supposed to happily return to their homes when the men returned. However, what was not considered was how societal roles had changed forever.

For starters, how could men ever claim superiority again after witnessing these women’s selfless efforts and demonstrations of their strength and capability? Also after tasting freedom and thriving in their new jobs, many women were rightfully unhappy about returning to their former lives at home. 

We all know progress is slow. And major societal change especially takes time. But I do want to examine how far women have come since that famous picture debuted.

This postwar era required an entire reshuffling of identity and viewpoints. For those of you who watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the latest episode hits on this point perfectly. 

The father, Abe, goes out to dinner with a group of other men. While there he admits to having an identity crisis and questioning everything he’d thought he’d known for his entire life. The men go around the table trying to pinpoint what Abe is feeling. They offer theories about change and how fast the world has changed in their recent years. How it’s natural to feel overwhelmed etc. 

Finally, Abe offers up that it’s about his daughter. He admits that everything he thought he knew about women and his expectations of them is wrong. He’d pinned all his hopes and expectations on his son and later his grandson. He brought the son to Columbia to watch him teach, never even thought to do that for his daughter. Same with his grandson, putting all his efforts in tapping into his early potential. And yet now? His daughter owns the apartment he lives in. Her husband abandoned her and she was the one who fought her way up to thrive. She’s in a difficult profession and yet, she’s mastering it. All of this is without any help from him or her mother. And his granddaughter is the grandchild showing the early signs of genius talent. He realizes he majorly undersold their potential and capabilities. He closes by admitting his daughter is truly remarkable.

“Rosie” is eighty years old this year. Eighty- that’s one lifetime. And in that one lifetime we’ve seen expectations for women go from telling our daughters their only role in life was to cook and keep house to saying they can be whatever they want. If they can dream it and work hard, they can make it happen. We now have a woman Vice President, congresswomen, pilots, astronauts, judges, entrepreneurs, scientists– you name it, they’re doing it! 

“Rosie” might have been a campaign born out of necessity, but she changed the rules to the game. For that, I’m forever grateful. Let’s see where another eighty years of remarkable women can take us!

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