Monday, July 9, 2012

"I AM WOMAN..."

...hear me ROAR!" (Helen Reddy, 1971)

Although it was Father's Day weekend, that weekend carried a very strong theme for me about the empowerment of women. Strange, yes indeed, yet very powerful and inspirational for me. It all began with an episode of Andy Griffith. The TV show ran during the 1960's, which was when the Women's Liberation Movement, or Second-Wave Feminism, began. In this particular episode that was on Saturday night, Andy was meeting with a lawyer about a case, and the lawyer happened to be a woman. Andy was very shocked to discover this, and so was his girlfriend Helen! There were many comments made throughout the show about how unusual it was for a woman to be a lawyer. Helen even commented that there were only about 2 or 3 in the whole state. That made me begin to think about how far our society has come, how drastically and quickly things have changed. I could name several female lawyers right now off the top of my head. Women do just about everything. I can't imagine living in that world when it was rare for a woman to do any job.