by Lynnette Watts on 02/17/12
Instead of having you wade through my weekly ramblings, I thought I'd share a few other's words this week. In the past two weeks, WFA opened the 2012 Girls of Promise season with a conference at Arkansas Tech University and was the recipient from funds raised at Stroller Stride's annual offering of Lunafest. Not only were these successful - and most enjoyable! -events, but they also inspired a couple of wonderful blogs that we'd like to share with you:
Speaking of bloggers, WFA is fortunate to have many of the women in the Arkansas Women Bloggers as friends. In fact, several helped us in getting the word out about last year's film screening of Abby Disney's
Pray the Devil Back to Hell. When you have some time,
visit their website and get to know this group.
WFA is fortunate to have many male supporters around Arkansas, as well. Recently, I asked the men on WFA's Men's Advisory Council to share with me why they support education for women. I'd like to share one of the responses we received:
Why I Think Supporting Women and Girls is Important
By Lynn Hamilton
My mother was an especially bright woman who inspired me to rise above our family's circumstances. She told me I could achieve. At age seven or so, I recall her pointing out with admiration a young man on the sidewalk who was "going to college" and "studying algebra!" She told me early on that I was anyone's equal and that my place in life was limited only by how hard I worked. Clearly, though, that same freedom from limitations had been unavailable to her.
Raised in the Oklahoma backwoods during the early 1900's, my mother was the second child of eight born to a circuit riding preacher and his country wife. There was no money for school and no exposure to the social graces. She stayed home to work in the fields while her father traveled to preach.
Mom was proud to be the first girl from her little hollow to leave for "college," which really was not much more than a secondary school in a small town not too far from where she grew up. She boarded at someone's home, cared for their children, and went to classes. Her education ended after a couple years when there was no money to pay for courses she had just completed. She lost credit for her work and was told by her father that it didn't matter. He said, "No one can take away what you have learned."
Defeated perhaps as much by social insecurities as finances, my mother returned home, and to escape her family, she soon married a happy-go-lucky, nearly illiterate local boy. In many ways, Mom and Dad lived good lives, but her fate was sealed. Her economic and cultural opportunities would be irreparably restricted.
My mother and father soon had three children (my siblings) and moved to California in the 1930's as part of the depression era Okie migration. Eventually, Mom took a few college courses in California in order to qualify for a provisional teaching certificate. The state was flooded with migrant farm workers' children (both Southerners and Hispanics) and didn't have enough qualified instructors to fill the classrooms. So, my mother was allowed to be an elementary teacher for a total of nine years, until more people with education degrees became available. She lived to be 96, and her mind remained good almost until the very end. Those few years at the head of a classroom were the highlight of her life.
I was fortunate to be born in 1948 as the fourth and last of my parents' children. Dad was 45 years old, and Mom was 43. Times were better, and I had opportunities no others in my immediate family were ever given.
Why do I think supporting women and girls is important? Mom's personality and talents were basically the same as mine. She loved history and was good at math. My analytical mind came from her. No doubt, had she be been given encouragement and the opportunity, my mother could have thrived in academia or as a professional in a number of areas.
Oh, and today, I have a wife, a daughter, two step-daughters, and three granddaughters. The thought that any limitations might be placed on any of them is abhorrent to me.
I watched Miss Representation last night to prepare for WFA/UALR's upcoming screening April 26 (stay tuned for more information). I sat there with notepad and pencil in hand, ready to jot down anything that might be controversial, upsetting, off-putting so I could mention it in pre-event press. The only thing I wrote down was a quote from the film: "You can't be what you can't see" Marian Wright Edelman’s famous quote. I wrote it down thinking this was PERFECT for our Girls of promise program. We introduce eighth grade young women who are interested in ESTEM studies to women with established careers in these very fields - placing a living, breathing example in front of the young women. They can "see" it! It fits!
