Tag Archive for "Women’s History"

Posts Tagged Women’s History

Quote of The Day: Andrea Dworkin

A Throwback Thursday quote for our intensely national focus on rape in our culture and institutions from the late feminist activist, Andrea Dworkin:

“I don’t believe rape is inevitable or natural. If I did, I would have no reason to be here. If I did, my political practice would be different than it is. Have you ever wondered why we [women] are not just in armed combat against you? It’s not because there’s a shortage of kitchen knives in this country. It is because we believe in your humanity, against all the evidence.”

(thank you dream hampton!)

A Throwback Thursday quote for our intensely national focus on rape in our culture and institutions from the late feminist activist, Andrea Dworkin:

“I don’t believe rape is inevitable or natural. If I did, I would have no ...

By Katie Halper • 11 years ago

Today in Women’s History: Frances Perkins is first female cabinet member

80 years ago today President Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Frances Perkins the Secretary of Labor and the first ever female member of cabinet. FDR was lucky to have Perkins. And, today, we continue to reap the benefits of the policies Perkins pushed through the department of Labor. Some credit Perkins with the New Deal legislation that characterizes the FDR administration. She was key to the creation of Social Security, the establishment of a minimum wage and passage of legislation protecting workers’ right to organize. The headquarters building of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., is named for Perkins, who was also the longest-serving secretary of labor in U.S. history.

Perkins was born in Boston on on ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

New Favorite Tumblr: Radical Women’s History Project

On this day in 1431, Joan of Arc was handed over to be tried for heresy; in 1793, abolitionist and feminist Lucretia Mott was born; and in 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Thanks to the just-launched Radical Women’s History Project, you can learn quick facts like these about the lives and the accomplishments of the world’s women–especially those who have been most ignored–every day. Shelby Knox explains the project:

In short, women and men have been denied for far too long the history of half of the population. When we know what the women before did and overcame, it becomes more possible to see ourselves doing and overcoming.

But just as ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

What Does Meryl Streep have in common with the Tea Party?

That they both have their eyes on a women’s history museum to be built in Washington D.C. — but with entirely different intentions. Streep recently held a gala raising funds as well as pledged $1 million dollars to help create the the building, while Tea Party Republicans and general misogynists Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn are intent on making sure the museum is never built.

As Taylor Marsh informs us, this is because our favorite lady-hating ladies, Concerned Women for America, reached out to the two senators to do something about the museum because apparently “women’s history” is just code for “abortion’s history.” So the two fellas put a”hold” on the bill that would sell land ...