July 13, 1995 - Episode 349 - Women of Achievement and Herstory

           Born July 13, 1863, Mary Emma Woolley, president of Mount
     Holyoke College for 36 years, expanded it to a major learning
     institution; voted one of the 12 most influential women in America;
     active in the suffrage movement; held more than 20 honorary
     degrees; was a noted peace advocate.  When a man was chosen to
     succeed her at Holyoke, a woman-only college, she never set foot on
     the campus again. 
           She earned the first B.A. ever awarded a woman at Brown
     University (1894) and gained her Ph.D. in 1900.  Head of the
     Department of Biblical History at Wellesley College 1899-1900,
     President Mount Holyoke College 1900, retired 1937.  Active in
     numerous groups for peace and disarmament and held a number of
     official positions such as being the only woman member of the
     American delegation to the Geneva Arms Conference in 1932. 
     President of the American Association of University Women (1927-1933)
     and first woman chair of the College Entrance Examination Board. 
     Lived with Jeannette Marks for 52 years; they'd met at Wellesley. 
     Marks was head of the Holyoke English Literature Department for 20
     years, established the noted Laboratory Theatre, and published some
     20 books. 

     07-13 Anniversaries .................................................

           B. 07-13-1922, Sister M. Rosalina Abejo, Filipino musician who as
     a nun received special Papal dispensation to became the first nun in
     the world to direct and conduct a symphonic orchestra, Cagayan de
     Oro (1957) and Davao City (1960).  Awarded the Tangang Soro and
     named as one of the five outstanding women of 1975 during the
     International Women's Year.  Composed more than 400 works.

           B. July 13, 1922, Dr. Elisabetg Blunschy-Steiner was elected
     President of the Swiss National Council on May 2, 1977, Switzerland's
     equivalent of the U. S. House of Representatives. First elected to the
     Council in 1971, the year women were finally granted the vote in
     Switzerland's federal elections. (That 1971 date is correct.) She was 
     an attorney active in women's organizations and specialized in 
     advising women, especially married women, in legal matters. She was
     active in attempts to change Switzerland's patriarchal family law,
     which still gave men the final say over their wives' assets, income,
     right to work, and children. 

           Event July 13, 1934: Cora Sterling, holder of a pilot's license,
     is the first woman named as an aerial police officer in Seattle,
     Washington.

           Event July 13, 1970, a federal court ruled the Massachusetts
     law forbidding the sale of contraceptives to unmarried adults was
     unconstitutional. In 1972 a similar Massachusetts law was invalidated
     by the U.S. Supreme Court citing the equal protection clause of the
     14th Amendment.

           Event July 13, 1989, a law intended for drug traffickers was
     used by a Florida prosecutor to prosecute addict Jennifer Johnson of
     delivering drugs to her fetus through the umbilical cord. She was
     acquitted.

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

           "I can see no reason why a woman can't throw as effectively
     as a man. There are a lot of statements about anatomical differences,
     but there is not much documented evidence. Maybe we're really
     talking about poorly skilled people. People with poor athletic skills
     tend to throw poorly."
           -- Linda Zwiren, director of Human Performances Laboratory,
     Hofstra University, 1976

           .................................................

     Don't let anyone tell you there weren't notable and effective women
     throughout history.  They were always there, but historians failed to
     note them in our histories so that each generation of women has had
     to reinvent themselves. 

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