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October 1

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month October is Canadian Women's History Month October is Banned Book Month 10-01 TABLE of CONTENTS: HOTLINES for Domestic Violence, Rape and Child Abuse Canadian Women's History Month More About October Events DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS QUOTES by Jimmy Carter, Canadian women, and Marianne Williamson. Posted 08-30-1999 HOTLINES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE October has been declared Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.       The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (thanks to its woman leader, HEW secretary Donna Shalala) began providing and or increasing the funding to support a network of domestic violence resource centers.       The most important are the HOTLINES ESTABLISHED by the Clinton administration in 1992: National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233. National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453. National Child Care Information Center 1-800-616-2242.       (NOTE: These numbers are toll-free and no record of your call is recorded on your phone bill.) HEW established the following:       National Resource Center on Domestic Violence provides comprehensive ways to enhance community response to domestic violence, 800-537-2238, Fax 717-545-9456;       Battered Women's Justice Project addresses the criminal and civil justice systems, responses to violence, and battered women's self defense, 800-903-0111, fax 218-722-1545;       Resource Center on Child Custody and Child Protection provides materials, expert consultation, technical assistance and legal research related to child protection and custody within the contest of domestic violence 800-527-3223, fax 702-784-6628. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | Canadian Women's History Month "Women's History Month was created by the Canadian federal government in 1992 to encourage greater awareness among Canadians concerning the historical contributions of women to society, and to recognize the achievements of women as a vital part of Canadian heritage. A greater appreciation of the past achievements of women will also lead to a better understanding of the diverse roles women play in contemporary society. The goal of Women's History Month is to write women back into Canadian history."             -- From the website http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/whm/. The site contains the booklets (for download) for the 1997, 1998, and 1999 events and lengthy history of Canadian women's accomplishments. http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/direct.html is the link to the wonderful Status of Women Canada site. The following is a highlight from a Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women 1996 celebration essary that featured information on Canadian artists who were also women: "While it would be impossible to touch on women's achievements in all artistic disciplines and cultural areas in the space of a short article, the following are some interesting facts about the history of women and the arts in Canada.        "The earliest art work to be recorded in Canada was the pottery made by Indian women. It wasn't until the late 1800's that Canadian women began to seek art education and to view art as a vocation or a career. Eventually, a number of Canadian women were admitted to great art schools overseas, where they excelled and participated in the great art exhibitions of the world. Celebrated Canadian professional women artists of the time included Florence Carlyle, a well known illustrator, and Margaret Curran, a distinguished painter of military portraits.        "Many women earned a living or supplemented the family income by selling their novels and poetry. Margaret Marshall Saunders was the first person in Canada to sell one million copies of a book (Beautiful Joe, 1894). Marion Cran, Elinor Marsden Eliot, Laure Conan (ne Flicit Angers), Ad le Bibaud and Josphine Dandurand were successful early Canadian writers. By the early 1900's hundreds of women were publishing books, although many used male pseudonyms.        "Women also entered the visual and performing arts: there were 135 women photographers registered in Canada by 1891. A few women such as Geraldine Moore and Mary Schaffer Warren went into the wilderness to take pictures; others like Mattie Gunterman, photographed life in mining camps and in small towns at the turn of the century. Canadian-born actresses such as Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford and Mimi d'Este found much success in the chosen field.        "The first professional dance company in Canada was the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, begun in 1939 by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Hey Farrally as the amateur Winnipeg Ballet Club.        "Most women artists found it difficult to achieve public recognition and pursue art as a career. "Painter Emily Carr ran a boarding house for a number of years because she could not support herself with her art."               -- (The Nova Scotia Council on the Status of Women link is at http://www.gov.ns.ca/govt/foi/status.htm. We regret we were not able to contact anyone on the council when Women of Achievement and Herstory author visited Nova Scotia in 1999 for the trip of a lifetime. What a beautiful and wonderful place! The people were outstanding and I saw signs of growing women-pride everywhere with increasing ownership and directing of businesses by women who are tacking charge of their lives.        BTW, the site http://www.gov.ns.ca/staw/links.htm gives you a peek at the huge number of support groups available to Canadian women from the various provinces. Amazing! Few U.S. states offer as much!        http://www.gov.nb.ca/sw_cf/other.htm offers the list of status of women websites posted by the various Canadian provinces.       | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | More About October Events        October contains "All Hallows Eve", one of the most sacred of the ancient holidays that recognizes the slim line between life and death, the eve of All Hallows Day (or All Saints Day). In the U.S. it has been changed to a masqueraded celebration that features a nasty condemnation of witches, primarily older females - much in keeping with the witch burning mentality of the Middle Ages.        The fourth Sunday of the month, namely the Sunday before Halloween has been set aside as Mother-In-Law Day to celebrate and honor them. The choice of the date leaves a lot to be desired since it is also in keeping with the "old witch" tradition.        BTW, in many male dominated primitive societies the removal of the wife from even the sight of her mother (his mother-in- law) for the rest of the wife's life was often a part of the marriage ceremony. Thus it deprived the often very young wife of her closest (and often only ally) - and has led to the acceptance of the demonizing of the husband's mother-in-law. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | 10-01 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS Born 10-01-1921, Margaret Hillis - One of this nation's most distinguished conductors - but what would she have been if she had been born a man?        * received Master's degree in choral conducting from Juilliard School of Music (1949),        * Robert Shaw's assistant for two years,        * resident conductor of the Chicago Civic orchestra,        * formed the American Concert and American Concert Orchestra in 1950,        * founded and became music director of the American Choral Foundation in 1954,        * appointed chorus director of the Chicago Symphony in 1957,        * appointed chorus director of the Cleveland Symphony in 1969.        IN ADDITION, Hillis created, organized and conducted the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Elgin (Illinois) Symphony Orchestra, was resident conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and chaired the Department of Choral Activities at Northwestern University.        In 1977 she subbed for an ailing George Solti to conduct Mahler's monumental Eighth Symphony which has 400 musicians and singers. She got rave reviews - but was sent back to the chorus podium.        Hillis won a Grammy award for "the best choral performance of 1977" for the Verdi Requiem with Solti conducting, and again in 1978 for the Beethoven Missa Solemnis.        From early childhood in Kokomo, Indiana, she accompanied her mother to travel to concerts, sometimes 16 in two weeks. Her grandmother had a full pipe organ in her living room (pipes in the basement).        MH had very poor eyesight but during World War II received flight instructor rating and taught as a civilian for the U.S. Navy, seven days a week, 12 hours a day.        If you want to see something impressive, look at her listing in the Who's Who and wonder... if she had had the opportunities a man has... B. 10-01-1795, Margaretta Angelica Peale - U.S. painter and sister of Anna Claypoole Peale, (03-06-1791), Margaretta Angelica (10-01-1795) and Sarah Miriam (05-19-1800). All were noted fine arts painters. (WOA will feature this remarkable family in a later biographical sketch. Use search to locate.) B. 10-01-1838, Kate Field - U.S. journalist. B. 10-01-1847, Annie Besant - president of the Theosophical Society. Born in India, AB developed the Theosophical organization into a world-wide phenomena. Her many books and articles are still considered the finest explanations of the doctrine.        Outspoken in her drive for women's rights, AB was jailed and even lost the custody of her daughter for advocating birth control. She was a supporter of Indian self-government. She helped organize the great Match Girls strike in 1888. Another remarkable woman history has not treated well. B. 10-01-1852, Sarah Sophie Platt Chase Decker - U.S. political and social activist. SCD was prominent in the women's suffrage movement in Colorado and served as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She guided the clubs towards active roles in conservation and political responsibility. B. 10-01-1857, Marjory Kennedy-Fraser - Scottish contralto, pianist, folklorist, composer, writer, librettist, and critic. B. 10-01-1860, Mary Eileen Ahern - U.S. librarian. In summing up the life of MEA, the word librarian should be written LIBRARIAN for the momentous effect she had on the development of libraries in the U.S. After doing remarkable service in cataloging as assistant state librarian in Indian, she was appointed the top position and promptly reorganized the department to take it out of politics - and took herself out of the top post!        MEA turned to teaching library science - at the time a very new concept - through the pages of a new monthly magazine Public Libraries (1896).        The magazine served as instructor to a host of smaller and school libraries, even giving them specific directions on implementing the Dewey system. The magazine closed in 1931when MEA retired with a amazing record of having influenced (and shaped) the library system in the U.S. by emphasizing education of librarians and the services and businesslike operation of libraries. B. 10-01-1862, Esther Boise Van Deman - U.S. archaeologist and the first woman to specialize in Roman field archaeology. Her 1912 article "Methods of Determining the Date of Roman Concrete Monuments" with only a few changes has become the standard of determining the dates of Roman structures. Event 10-01-1864: Rose O'Neal Greenhow drowned when her small open boat overturned while attempting to run the blockade of the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina. Her clothes were weighed down with gold coins she was attempting to smuggle into the cash-poor South.        Before her death, ROG was a spy for the confederacy and had been imprisoned by the Union secret service. After being released, she traveled to Europe to aid the Confederacy by collecting funds. It was those funds, sewn into her clothes, that caused her death.        A monument in Wilmington commemorates her accomplishments as well as a marker in the marvelous historical district of that city. B. 10-01-1890, Blanche Oelrichs Thomas Barrymore Tweed - U.S. author, actor, and radio personality. BBT used the name "Michael Strange" in her many successful careers. Although a member of Newport society and married to a prominent socialite, she bobbed her hair and marched for women's suffrage. She began to write poetry and became an actor. She met John Barrymore and later married him. Diana Blythe Barrymore is their child. Following their divorce she married another prominent socialite and became an entertainment star by giving amazingly popular radio readings of poetry (hers and others) accompanied by a full orchestra. B. 10-01-1893, Justina Hamilton Hill - pioneer head of bacteriological laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. B. 10-01-1893, Faith Baldwin - U.S. author. FB published more than 85 novels in which an idealized version of life always triumphed. In Faith Baldwin's world there was no sex, no violence, no hunger and sturdy heroes always did the right thing - and everyone had enough money for a luxurious lifestyle. In the midst of the depression, her writings made her a millionaire. She said her books were for shop girls and housewives. B. 10-01-1897, Myra Kingsley - U.S. astrologer as famous and influential in her day as was the more current Joan Quigley who was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan.        MK studied music and became a concert pianist but she was disinterested in performing and turned to astrology.        Evangeline Adams, dean of astrologers at the turn of the century, advised MK that she could become a very good astrologer. MK began broadcasting on radio in 1937 but the FCA ruled that the subject was not proper for radio. MK didn't fight the ruling but moved to Hollywood and a met her rich clientele face-to-face. Her mother was a theosophist and also studied the occult. B. 10-01-1910, Bonnie Parker - the female half of the infamous 1930's outlaw duo whose male member boasted he robbed banks and killed people. She was immortalized and glamorized in the Hollywood movie Bonnie and Clyde. BP was probably more a dupe to Clyde Barrow - a man she loved with an awesome passion - than a cold-blooded killer. B. 10-01-1924, Leonie Judith Kramer - outstanding Australian scholar and literary figure. Dame Leonie served as editor of the Oxford History of Australian Literature (1981). B. 10-01-1935, Julie Andrews - Anglo-American actor and singer. JA won the Academy Award for her work in the movie Sound of Music (1965). Her mother was a pianist who toured English music halls with her second husband and as a child Julie performed in their act.        After a growing career on the London stage, she moved to New York to take the lead in My Fair Lady and performed to rave reviews. However, the Hollywood moguls decided she wasn't glamorous to do Eliza in the movies. Instead, she was given the Sound of Music lead - and won the academy award.        JA became one of the most popular actors in Hollywood and starred in dozens of movies. B. 10-01-1936, Stella Stevens - U.S. actor. B. 10-01-1938, Mary Josephine McFadden - U. S. fashion industry executive. MJM was elected to the Fashion Hall of Fame. Event 10-01-1945, Brenda Starr, the first daily newspaper comic strip drawn by a woman began her sensational career. Dale Messick was helped develop the strip with the help of New York Daily News assistant editor Mollie Slott who also helped develop Little Orphan Annie and Terry and the Pirates.        Critics who coincidentally were usually male commented on the questionable art work and the outrageous story lines, but the Messick strip continued for more than 30 years in highly popular national syndication. DM was the only woman to have a nationally syndicated strip during most of that period. Event 10-01-1951: Eugenie Anderson, U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, is the first woman to sign a United States treaty with a foreign power. It was a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation with Denmark. B. 10-01-1953, Grete Waitz - Norwegian runner noted for her marathon efforts.        Although she was stymied by the objections to women running endurance races, she was finally able through repeated victories to show that women could run long distances. GW is credited for having changed women's distance competition.        "They thought it was terrible to see women get tired," she said. She was the first to run a marathon faster than 2.5 hours, the artificial boundary between men and women runners. Even the Olympic committee refused to hold marathon racing for women longer than 1,500 meters until after Waitz had excelled in such regional marathons as the New York race which she won nine times.        She won races all over the world and was considered the premier woman distance runner of the world, but she seemed to be cursed in the Olympics with her best showing a silver to Joan Benoit's gold.        GW formed a foundation to encourage and train women for marathon running. In a book on women athletes published by The Oryx Press, a woman is quoted as telling Waitz: "Before you came along, people used to come to watch the women. Now they come to watch the competition. Thank you." Event 10-01-1985: Montana enacted a state law that for the first time in U.S. insurance history mandated that women will no longer be charged more for their insurance than men. (Yes, women were charged more for life and health insurance than men as a matter of course. For example, women - even unmarried single, manopausal women -were forced to pay extra for pregnancy insurance while married men got that benefit for their wives free.) | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | QUOTES DU JOUR CARTER, JIMMY:        "The first step in providing economic equality for women is to ensure a stable economy in which every person who wants to work can work."               --Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, born 10-01- 1924. Eighteen percent of his presidential appointments were women, a record at that time. He described his wife Rosalyn as an equal partner. She often sat in on cabinet meetings and was JC's closest advisor. WHAT DO CANADIAN DAUGHTERS HEAR?        " 'O Canada, our home and native land        "True patriot love in all thy sons command...'        "Picture two children singing these lyrics - a girl and a boy. Think of the images formed in their minds. The boy sees countless males like himself, all standing on guard for their country. He feels fully part of the patriotic fervour, a true son of Canada.        "The girl is not so lucky. Since our national anthem says nothing about daughters, she can't help wondering whether it applies to her. Can only men be patriots?"               -- from The Language Barrier: An introduction to the "why" of inclusive language from the website http://www.gov.on.ca/owd/.        According to its website, "The Ontario Women's Directorate assists the government to achieve its commitment to the economic, legal and social equality of women in Ontario. Encouraging gender-inclusive language is part of this effort. Bias-free language is effective language. A number of studies demonstrate that an audience is more likely to 'get the Message,' and to remember information, when inclusive language is used." WILLIAMSON, MARIANNE:        "It's very difficult being a woman. It's very difficult being a man too, I realize, but this is a book about women. Sam Keen wrote a book about men, which he called Fire in the Belly.        "My friend Tara called me up one day and told me she wanted to write a companion volume, Volcano in the Uterus. I laughed when she said that, but inside I was thinking, and Catastrophes in the Breasts and Terror in the Ovaries... More women cry, loudly or silently, every fraction of every moment, in every town of every country, than anyone - man or woman - realizes. We cry for our children, our lovers, our parents, and ourselves.        "We cry in shame because we feel no right to cry, and we cry in peace because we feel it's time we did cry. We cry for the world. Yet we think we cry alone. We feel that no one hears, that there is no listening that matters. And we must all listen now. We must hold the crying woman's hand and minister to her tenderly, or she will turn-- this collective feminine shadow self into a monster who will go unheard no longer."               -- Marianne Williamson, A Woman's Worth. New York: Random House, 1993. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE |