Accidental Feminists Joyfully Join the Fray

Carried away by a surging mass of out and out discrimination, outraged feminists emerge

July 4, 2017: (Updated 21 August 2018) I’ve been wondering why a lot of women these days don’t want to be labeled as feminists. Like its some kind of stigma, or a sign of crazed activism.

Especially since women by the millions are looking for ways to combat the newest, meanest anti-female agenda that is endangering more than a hundred years of earned women’s rights.

As someone who observed the accomplishments of the 1970s second-wave women’s movement, I can’t imagine what these women think the word feminism signifies.

I see a feminist as an equalizer — that is, a woman who wants what men always have had. And I’m not referring to their sexual equipment. Feminists are more than happy with their own. I mean, the right to make your health decisions for yourself. And the right to decide when and if you have children. And the right to make as much money as the man working next to you doing the same job.And the right to have children, along with a job, because your husband or partner shares equal responsibility for their care.

And you crave shared housework and laundry. And you want to have the right to walk down the street without being verbally assaulted. And for that matter, just to walk down the street safely.

I’ve no doubt that women today who shun the word feminist want all those rights and more. Maybe it’s just a question of semantics, maybe feminist is just an old-fashion word. I’m thinking of how the word was created by remembering what I would call the accidental feminists of yesterday year.

Quite a few of the women you’ll read about in this Leading Edge section woke up one day and realized they were feminists. I’m sure that’s what happened to Dr. Estelle Ramey. She was a professor of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University. She became a feminist when she read a quote from a female-belittling physician: “Women’s raging hormonal balance makes them unfit for top jobs.” She took to the lectern and let the doc have it. Getting even more hostility for her temerity.

One of her fellow professors got so mad he told her that if he was her husband he’d have her whipped. She was feisty and so funny that converts to feminism crowded her talks. As for Gloria Steinem, I think she was born to be a feminist. She never would take the title of a women’s movement leader, but millions of women followers thrived on her quiet and often devastatingly funny observations.

But whether you’re called a feminist or not, you go, women!

1. Agnes de Mille says she’s not one of “those Lib Girls.”, The Washington Star-News, June 8, 1973
2. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and His Lawyer Wife, Cathy, are an Equal Rights Couple, The Washington Star-News, February 3, 1974
3. Dr. Estelle Ramey Dauntlessly Mounts the Feminist Barricades, The Washington Daily News, 1971
4. Beauty, Brains, a Doctorate in Philosophy, and a Life in Poverty, The Washington Star, June 14, 1977
5. After “Here’s Barbara” TV Show Ends, Ms. Coleman’s Back in ACTION, The Washington Daily News, February 9, 1972
6. Lorena’s Win To Be Switchwoman “Puts Teeth Into Title VII for First Time”: 100 pound woman lawyer easily shows judge that Southern Bell’s 31-weight lifting rule is no problem for would-be switchmen, The Washington Daily News, August 4, 1971
7. Pragmatic Role Model Willy Hardy Is Leader in Aiding the Impoverished: Widowed, she has a job with the D.C. Department of Environmental Services. She has 16 children — six of her own, ten of whom she found on her doorstep. She still has time to inspire and help women. She find ways to provide community aid, like getting churches to lend their facilities for day care centers. “If it’s holy,” she says, “it ought to be doing something during the week.”, The Washington Daily News, May 23, 1972
8. Divorcee Finds Untapped Abilities and Confidence to Support and Nurture Herself. Now she conducts a course, “Discover Yourself, Inc.,” to help other women, widowed or divorced, who have to take charge of their own lives, The Washington Star and Daily News, December 3, 1972
9. Lady Lawyer with FTC Propelled into Feminism: After graduation, she was turned down by 50 law firms. Finally hired, she never was made a partner. A success, nonetheless. The Washington Daily News, February 28, 1972
10. Women Tax Advisors, and There Are Many, Add Brains and Humanity to the chore: “We try to emphasize the painless part of what is really a rotten thing to have to do,” says the founder of an all women firm, Tax Masters, Inc., The Washington Star, April 4, 1971
11. Sworn In as Commissioner, She Says, “I’m No Women’s Libber”: Ann Heuer’s neighbors and friends are there for the ceremony, along with two of her four children. Says her husband,. “As they say, darling, there goes your golf game.” The Washington Evening Star, Early 1970s
12. Lawyer Terry Louise Fisher Helps Produce “L.A Law’’ On NBC: A co-creator with Steven Bochco, she honed her skills at D.A.’s office. The Los Angeles Time, October 29, 1986
13. Even Though She’s Afraid of the Water, Candy Reigns as Howard’s First Woman Coxswain: Early on, as she seemed to be faltering, one of the crew encouraged her, “Come on, be a man!” Said Candy, “I’m a woman! I can cry!” But she didn’t. She persevered. The Washington Star, March 21, 1971
14. These Doctors’ Wives Work Many Hours as Professional Volunteers: Vi Hinton and Adelaide Clark juggle home and family with the needs of organizations that support children, the arts and health, The Washington Daily News, May 18, 1972
15. Top Government Economist Takes Over Congressional Budget Office: But Alice Rivlin still has to go home and cook dinner for her husband and three children dinner. If she works late, she says, she’ll stop for carry-out, The Washington Star, February 25, 1975 — NEW 21 August 2018
16. Lacy McBride Says She’s Smarter than Than Most Men, Can Do Anything Better: A confident securities analyst, her first job after college taught her how to be a lady. She earned her profession in the next two. Now she’s got and iron fist in her golden glove, The Washington Star, Mid 1970's — NEW 21 August 2018

[Section G (#48) in a collection of more than 100 newspaper articles by Judy Flander from the second wave of the Women’s Movement reflecting the fervor and ingenuity of the women who rode the wave.]