In 2014, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton delivered the keynote speech at the United Nations before International Women’s Day. During that speech, she said, “I believe the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century.” This was before she ran for the office of president of the United States.
The Women’s Rights Movement has gone through many phases in America. According to the History website, the earliest phase occurred 72 years after the founding of our country. The event that started the movement was the Seneca Falls Convention, which occurred in 1848 in New York. In brief, an educated and religious group of women had a conversation at a tea party, which discussed the plight of women in society. Among them were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a Christian who was married to an abolitionist, and Lucretia Mott, a Quaker activist. Both women were part of the anti-slavery movement. They were energized by the primary concerns of not being able to own property, having no control over income, and not being allowed to vote. Women’s roles were relegated to the home: cooking, cleaning, and raising children. Even educated women from a higher social stratum faced these barriers to participation in society outside the home.
The two women and many others organized the Seneca Falls Convention. They drafted a “Declaration of Sentiments,” a document modeled after the Declaration of Independence. It listed the social, civil, and religious issues impacting women, preventing them from functioning in society freely and without fear. While the convention attracted a huge number of women and men, the press reported largely unflattering things about the event and ridiculed the participants. However, a brave and stalwart group of women kept meeting to keep the issue of equality at the forefront and to secure the vote by passing the 19th amendment in 1920. This victory took decades. It was sweet but incomplete in that only White women and Black men could vote by that time. This was considered the first wave of women’s rights, according to the National Women’s History Alliance.
Black women did not get to vote until President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This part of women’s history is considered the second wave. I was born two years before this wave, in 1958. When I was old enough to understand that there was a problem with discrimination and inequality, I began to wonder if these rights would apply to me as a Hispanic woman. I remember hearing talk about women’s liberation (usually in a disparaging way by men), and wondered why equal pay for equal work wouldn’t be beneficial. It sounded sensible and fair. I also heard much talk about civil rights and the Black Power movements. Dolores Huerta raised issues of economic justice for the farm workers in California. Still, many of the greatest legal victories occurred during that era, such as widespread desegregation and more Title IX programs that opened doors for women in education and employment. The increase in childcare centers, domestic violence shelters and hotlines, as well as women’s clinics, gave underserved women a place to go for help if they were dealing with an abusive husband or boyfriend.
It wasn’t until I decided to change my career path from being an aspiring actress to becoming a seminary student that I truly explored the issues of women in academia and the larger society. I remember seeing the Women’s Concerns group present at a chapel. They invited a rousing guest speaker who spoke about women in church, which felt very affirming to me because ministry was not a traditional field for women to enter in the 1980’s. There were very few women professors, and fewer executives in the seminary leadership or on the board of trustees. Occasionally, the Women’s group would talk about the interpretation of women’s roles in the bible and the representation of women in all levels of the church and academia, but the agenda of the group seemed elitist because there were many international women and minority women who were also attending the seminary, and there was little attempt to reach out to them.
As I watched those other women, I noticed that they were tentative; sometimes fearful or angry. When I got to know some of the international women and the staff who attended to them, I was told by some about the sexist and harassing treatment they endured from their classmates and other students. When I became involved in student government, I advocated for some of the women to professors and department heads. I also formed a prayer group for women of color, and took great pains to focus on sharing our stories and supporting each other. Some of the larger women’s groups claimed that I was being divisive, but if they were not actively reaching out to black and brown women, how could they object if we created our own spaces for support?
As I navigated the process of ordination and certification, I felt challenged by the people who were supposed to assist me with fitting into the community and the organizational structure of the church. I sensed that my gender and ethnicity caused my motives to be scrutinized more because there was so little representation. This was the emerging issue of intersectionality. When I met Hispanic clergy facilitating the process, some would accuse me of distancing myself from my culture, which was not particularly welcoming either. I encountered many capable women who were tirelessly taking notes, organizing events, and acting as leaders in ways that transcend gender. But they did not get the credit for their efforts. Fortunately, we are seeing positive changes in the installation of more women clergy to prominent and responsible positions. Some are installed as bishops. This proves that God does not look at race, social strata, or gender, but views all as one and set apart for special and unique purposes. Scripture from the book of Galatians asserts, “28 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28 NKJV).
The third wave of the women’s movement is comprised of younger women who are beneficiaries of the legal and social victories of the second wave, but wish to see more progress in women’s concerns for the economy, the environment, and how women are portrayed through technology. There have also been movements towards greater diversity and body positivity. The #MeToo movement is gaining traction after more women of color are speaking out against sexual harassment, assault, and exploitation in their communities. There are new movements for expanding gender roles.
All women deserve to be valued and supported because they are the biggest influencers of culture. If they are educated, their children will be educated. If they are healthy, their children will be healthy. If they are productive, their children will learn about the industry. Let us commit to addressing the unfinished business in our society by finding common ground so we can support all women and their families to have an equal stake in life.
