July 27, 1995 - Episode 363 - Women of Achievement and Herstory

      > Continued from July 15: in WOA's continuing presentation of the
proposals for *The Platform for Action: 12 Critical Areas of Concern,* the
main document to be adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women to
be held in Beijing, China, September 4-15, 1995, we present Point 10 -

      "Insufficient use of Mass Media to Promote Women's Positive
Contributions to Society - Advances in information technology have led to
the development of international media organizations which transcend
national boundaries and which have the power to shape public policy and
influence private attitudes. They promote greater interaction among people,
rapid exchange of knowledge and accessible sources of information.  But
they continue to project stereotyped images of women, and they fail to
provide an accurate picture of women's roles and values in a changing
world. There  are still too many programs which include images of violence
and dominance, with women invariably portrayed as victims.

      "The draft Platform states that women are now using the expanding
electronic information highways to link up with each other and to establish
networks which provide them with alternative sources of information. It
adds that "this will strengthen their ability to combat negative portrayals
of women internationally and to challenge the power of an industry which
is outside public control and is self-regulatory."

      "The draft Platform's objectives seek to increase and enhance
women's access to decision-making in and through the mass media and to
promote a positive image of women by the media."

      <<To be continued is Part 11 of the proposed statement of purpose
by the Conference of Women: Because women are responsible for the food
supply and the care of the family, environmental concerns are women's
issues.  

07-27 Anniversaries ...........................................

      B. July 27, 1768, Charlotte Corday, who for political reasons
assassinated French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat while he was in his
bath.  He regularly received visitors while bathing, a not uncommon thing
in those days.

      Event July 27, 1777, the murder of beautiful Jane McCrea and the
scalping of her long blond hair by Amerind scouts with General Burgoyne
helped unite the colonies against British rule. Even Britains condemned the
use of Indians in the revolution.  It should be noted that the white man's
armies encouraged scalping as a means of proving the Indians' kills. 

      B. July 27, 1841, Linda Richards, nurse and educator, received the
first diploma from the first school of nursing in the US.  She established
training schools for nurses and became the director of several hospitals.
She had worked in a mill before being able to get her nurse's training and
consequently poor health plagued her all her life. 

      B. July 27, 1853, Lucy Maynard Salmon, Vassar's first history
teacher. As a full professor she was instrumental in expanding the Vassar
library and taught history as a record of daily life rather than following
only official governmental acts and wars. In 1926 a fund for research was
established at Vassar in her name.  Wrote *Why Is History Rewritten?*
(1929).

      B. July 27, 1878(?), Genevieve Rose Cline, first woman appointed a
U.S. federal Judge.  After she gained her law degree in 1921 (in her 40's),
she moved her women's affairs activism from the Federation of Women's
Clubs to the Republican party.  President Harding appointed her as
appraiser of merchandise shipped through customs in Cleveland. In spite
of objections because she was a woman, she was confirmed as Judge in the
Customs Court in 1928 and served through 1953. 

      B. July 27, 1930, Shirley Williams, British member of Parliament and
government official. Her mother was writer Vera Brittain Catlin, whose
books were burned by Adolph Hitler.
Quotes du jour ................................................

      "No woman has ever told the truth of her life.  The autobiographies
of most famous women are a series of accounts of the outward existence,
of petty details and anecdotes which give no realization of their real life. 

      "On the great moments of joy or agony they remain strangely silent."
             -- Isadora Duncan, in her biography, *My Life,* 1927

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