She Proclaims by Jennifer Palmieri

Author:Jennifer Palmieri
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: None
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2020-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

Judging from what I was taught in school growing up, all I needed to know about American history to prepare me for life were the stirring deeds of men. The fact that the full history of women in America remains largely unknown is a big deal. The absence of women’s stories leaves a large hole in the record and means that the women who toiled on our behalf are being denied the attention they are due. But beyond that, the dearth of stories about inspiring women in our collective cultural memory affects how we view all women today.

“Where’s the girl president?” At numerous events I attended with Hillary Clinton, little girls would show up with those plastic place mats that depict the American presidents, all of whom, of course, were men. The little girls were rightfully upset that there was no girl president, so they brought their place mats with them to get them signed by the woman they expected to be the first girl president. When I think of those little girls now and how bitterly disappointed they must have been with the outcome of the election, tears still well up in my eyes.

I look forward to the day when they will see a “girl president” on the place mat to model themselves after. But they shouldn’t have to wait for that to happen, because there are so many women’s stories that could be inspiring these girls now—stories that would help them recognize the potential in themselves and understand how much women are capable of doing. Despite the lack of mainstream coverage of the role women played in shaping our country, there is nevertheless a rich trove of stories available to us about important and courageous American women, and we need to bring them into the spotlight and make them required reading.

The history of women’s suffrage in this country is well documented but only because the women involved made it a priority to record their efforts; if it had been left to the male-dominated press of the time, the movement would have been mostly forgotten. They understood the importance to history of leaving a contemporaneous account of their struggles, and thus was born the History of Woman Suffrage by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper. Anthony said of the project, “Men have been faithful in noting every heroic act of their half of the race and now it should be the duty, as well as the pleasure, of women to make for future generations a record of the heroic deeds of the other half.”33

After my experience in the 2016 campaign, I looked forward with anticipation to see how Americans would react to female candidates in the 2020 campaign. Hillary had won the popular vote, which was an encouraging sign that women should keep running. Would the women running this time be able to avoid the kind of gender bias and double standards that made Hillary’s run so difficult? Not exactly. Sadly, the

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