May 14, 1995 - Episode 290 - Women of Achievement and Herstory

      "(Women's) rights are as completely ignored in which is
adjudged to be woman's sphere as out of it; the woman is uniformly
sacrificed to the wife and mother.  Neither law, gospel, public
sentiment, nor domestic affection shield her (women) from excessive
and enforced maternity, depleting alike to mother and child; -- all
opportunity for mental improvement, health, happiness -- yea, life
itself, being ruthlessly sacrificed.  
      "The wizen, withered, narrow-minded wife - mother of half a
dozen children -- her interests all centering at her fireside, forms a
painful contrast in many household to the liberal, genial, brilliant,
cultured husband in the zenith of his power, who has never given
one thought to the higher life, liberty, and happiness of the woman
by his side; believing her self-abnegation to be Nature's law."
      -- From the _History of Woman Suffrage_.  The first three
volumes prepared for 1881 publication were researched, recorded, and
written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda
Joslyn Gage.  It took them ten years to prepare.
      In 1900 the average age of women at death was 48, mainly
because so many married women died in their early 30's from
unlimited child bearing. 
      With the advent of birth control, the average age of a married
woman doubled in less than 60 years.  
      Happy Mother's Day.

05-14 Anniversaries ...............................................

      B. 05-14-1851, Anna Caroline Maxwell, RN, established numerous
nurse training schools, worked with Red Cross who used many of her
innovations, campaigned to get military rank for nurses of the Army
Nurse Corps.  Authored _Practical Nursing_.

      B. 05-14-1887, Henrietta Silvis Additon, a pioneering
superintendent of women's reformatories, superintendent Westfield
State Farm, New York's only woman's prison (1940.)

      B. 05-14-1904, Katherine McBride, psychologist educated in at
Bryn Mawr, B.A. 1925; M.A. 1927; Ph.D. 1932; appointed Dean of
Radcliffe College (1940) and fourth President of Bryn Mawr (1942-
1970).

      B. 05-14-1902, (Helen) Flanders Dunbar, psychiatrist, only 4'11",
she earned four advanced degrees in seven years including a Ph.D.
in philosophy, a B.D, and a medical degrees in 1930, integrated
religion science, medicine and psychiatry and headed the Council for
the Clinical Training of Theological Students. Her chief legacy is
psychosomatic approach to illnesses - a study that showed distinctive
personality profiles for each disease and also uncovered the emotional
disturbance of accident-prone people. Her _Mind and Body _ (1947)
presented her findings. 

      B. 05-14-1925, Patrice Munsel, operatic singer.  Known as the
baby because she was only 18 when she debuted at the Metropolitan.

      Event 05-14-1969: Canada legalizes abortion and homosexuality.

      Event 05-14-1973, the U.S. Supreme Court rules the husbands
of military woman had the same rights as the wives of military men. 
Military policy had denied benefits to husbands.  Ruth Bader
Ginsberg argued the case before the high court on behalf of
husbands.

Quotes du jour ...............................................

      "And like a bear emerging from its winter lair, the thought
surfaces: my father verbally abuses my mother and always has.  He
puts her down.  Sometimes it's blatant, often subtle. He never takes
what she says seriously, barely listens.  My insides feel webbed with
live wires.  At first I think it's anger at him, or empathy for her,
but this doesn't last long.  I can't evade the truth another moment.
      "As a teen, I colluded with him.  I joined in the ridicule of my
mother -- all in fun, of course -- and she accepted it as her due. 
Shame suffuses me as I acknowledge my culpability."
            -- Sandra Scoppettone in _Everything You Have is Mine_,
	       a mystery novel.