#HERStory

[janusfranc15]

Also- there were the Beguines!

They were cool!

Job Opportunities for Women Medieval Edition:

Wife, Whore, Nun

Thank you.

[herstory-storiesaboutwomen]

It’s been 25 years since environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill climbed down from a giant thousand-year-old tree after calling it home for two years — but her activism has stood the test of time.

Julia Lorraine Hill (born Feb 18, 1974), best known as Julia Butterfly Hill, is an American environmental activist and tax redirection advocate. She lived in a 200-foot (61 m)-tall, approximately 1,000-year-old California redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997, and December 18, 1999. Hill lived in a tent near the top of a tree, affectionately known as Luna, to prevent Pacific Lumber Company loggers from cutting it down. She ultimately reached an agreement with the lumber company to save the tree. Hill is the author of the book The Legacy of Luna (2000) and co-author of One Makes the Difference. via Wikipedia | @abwwia

[forsapphics]

New York City, 1970s

[liberaljane]

Women's Not So Distant History

This #WomensHistoryMonth, let's not forget how many of our rights were only won in recent decades, and weren’t acquired by asking nicely and waiting. We need to fight for our rights. Here's are a few examples:

📍 Before 1974's Fair Credit Opportunity Act made it illegal for financial institutions to discriminate against applicants' gender, banks could refuse women a credit card. Women won the right to open a bank account in the 1960s, but many banks still refused without a husband’s signature. This allowed men to continue to have control over women’s bank accounts. Unmarried women were often refused service by financial institutions entirely.

📍 Before 1977, sexual harassment was not considered a legal offense. That changed when a woman brought her boss to court after she refused his sexual advances and was fired. The court stated that her termination violated the 1974 Civil Rights Act, which made employment discrimination illegal.⚖️

📍 In 1969, California became the first state to pass legislation to allow no-fault divorce. Before then, divorce could only be obtained if a woman could prove that her husband had committed serious faults such as adultery. 💍By 1977, nine states had adopted no-fault divorce laws, and by late 1983, every state had but two. The last, New York, adopted a law in 2010.

📍In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, entered the Boston Marathon under the name "K.V. Switzer." At the time, the Amateur Athletics Union didn't allow women. Once discovered, staff tried to remove Switzer from the race, but she finished. AAU did not formally accept women until fall 1971.

📍 In 1972, Lillian Garland, a receptionist at a California bank, went on unpaid leave to have a baby and when she returned, her position was filled. Her lawsuit led to 1978's Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which found that discriminating against pregnant people is unlawful

📍 It wasn’t until 2016 that gay marriage was legal in all 50 states. Previously, laws varied by state, and while many states allowed for civil unions for same-sex couples, it created a separate but equal standard. In 2008, California was the first state to achieve marriage equality, only to reverse that right following a ballot initiative later that year. 

📍In 2018, Utah and Idaho were the last two states that lacked clear legislation protecting chest or breast feeding parents from obscenity laws. At the time, an Idaho congressman complained women would, "whip it out and do it anywhere,"

📍 In 1973, the Supreme Court affirmed the right to safe legal abortion in Roe v. Wade. At the time of the decision, nearly all states outlawed abortion with few exceptions. In 1965, illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths. Unfortunately after years of abortion restrictions and bans, the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. Since then, 14 states have fully banned care, and another 7 severely restrict it – leaving most of the south and midwest without access. 

📍 Before 1973, women were not able to serve on a jury in all 50 states. However, this varied by state: Utah was the first state to allow women to serve jury duty in 1898. Though, by 1927, only 19 states allowed women to serve jury duty. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 gave women the right to serve on federal juries, though it wasn't until 1973 that all 50 states passed similar legislation

📍 Before 1988, women were unable to get a business loan on their own. The Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 allowed women to get loans without a male co-signer and removed other barriers to women in business. The number of women-owned businesses increased by 31 times in the last four decades. 

Free download

📍 Before 1965, married women had no right to birth control. In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the Supreme Court ruled that banning the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.

📍 Before 1967, interracial couples didn’t have the right to marry. In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court found that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. In 2000, Alabama was the last State to remove its anti-miscegenation laws from the books.

📍 Before 1972, unmarried women didn’t have the right to birth control. While married couples gained the right in 1967, it wasn’t until Eisenstadt v. Baird seven years later, that the Supreme Court affirmed the right to contraception for unmarried people.

📍 In 1974, the last “Ugly Laws” were repealed in Chicago. “Ugly Laws” allowed the police to arrest and jail people with visible disabilities for being seen in public. People charged with ugly laws were either charged a fine or held in jail. ‘Ugly Laws’ were a part of the late 19th century Victorian Era poor laws. 

📍 In 1976, Hawaii was the last state to lift requirements that a woman take her husband’s last name.  If a woman didn’t take her husband’s last name, employers could refuse to issue her payroll and she could be barred from voting. 

📍 It wasn’t until 1993 that marital assault became a crime in all 50 states. Historically, intercourse within marriage was regarded as a “right” of spouses. Before 1974, in all fifty U.S. states, men had legal immunity for assaults their wives. Oklahoma and North Carolina were the last to change the law in 1993.

📍  In 1990, the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) – most comprehensive disability rights legislation in U.S. history – was passed. The ADA protected disabled people from employment discrimination. Previously, an employer could refuse to hire someone just because of their disability.

📍 Before 1993, women weren’t allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor. That changed when Sen. Moseley Braun (D-IL), & Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) wore trousers - shocking the male-dominated Senate. Their fashion statement ultimately led to the dress code being clarified to allow women to wear pants. 

📍 Emergency contraception (Plan B) wasn't approved by the FDA until 1998. While many can get emergency contraception at their local drugstore, back then it required a prescription. In 2013, the FDA removed age limits & allowed retailers to stock it directly on the shelf (although many don’t).

📍  In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court ruled that anti-cohabitation laws were unconstitutional. Sometimes referred to as the ‘'Living in Sin' statute, anti-cohabitation laws criminalize living with a partner if the couple is unmarried. Today, Mississippi still has laws on its books against cohabitation. 

[usnatarchives]

Dr. Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel in space. Born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Jemison’s journey into the stars is a testament to the power of dreams and determination. 🚀

[femsolid]

Often, men will say something like : "Who built this world? Men! Who created everything, all the technology, the great art, the culture, our societies? Who built the roads you drive on? Men!" and feminists will respond "That's because you didn't let us work or make art!" and... that's just wrong? Why are you validating the idea that women didn't contribute anything to the world? That we didn't work? That we didn't innovate? And why are you approving the nonsense that says being a mother is not work?

Don't let men rewrite history.

Women have always worked the double shift; outside of home and inside of home.

[theblvcksupreme]

BEYONCÉ OFFICIALLY WINS ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR HER HISTORIC MASTERPIECE “COWBOY CARTER.” THIS WIN SOLIDIFIES THAT THE COUNTRY MUSIC INDUSTRY CAN NO LONGER IGNORE/ERASE THE BLACK ARTISTS THAT HELPED CREATE IT.

SHE DID IT! THE GRAMMY’S HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN IT RIGHT. BEYONCÉ BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK WOMEN IN 26 YEARS TO WIN AOTY. SHE ALSO BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK PERSON TO WIN BEST COUNTRY ALBUM AND BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN AFTER THE POINTER SISTSER’S TO WIN A GRAMMY COUNTRY AWARD, IN OVER 50 YRS!!!!!

WITH 11 GRAMMY NOMS BEY BREAKS THE RECORD FOR MOST NOMS BY A FEMALE ARTIST IN A SINGLE YR. BEY BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO BE NOMINATED IN 5 DIFFERENT GENRES. HERSTORY HAS BEEN MADE BY THE ICON HERSELF!!!!!!! THE GOAT. BEYONCÉ.

[dykearchiving]

J Kellan Dewey-McCracken, photographed by Laurie Toby Edison, featured in Women en large : images of fat nudes by Laurie Toby Edison and Debbie Natkin

[aclaywrites]

Shel Silverstein for Playboy, 1965

[herstory-storiesaboutwomen]

Women in Syria Have Created a Feminist Commune Free of Patriarchy and Capitalism

By Prachi Gupta  |  December 3, 2018 | 5:20pm

With the aid of women’s rights groups and volunteers, a group of women in Syria have created a self-sustainable feminist commune outside of the structures of patriarchy and capitalism.

The village of Jinwar—a word that roughly translates to “woman’s space” or “women’s land” in Kurdish—is in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (also known as Rojava), which became a de facto autonomous region in 2012 amid the ongoing Syrian Civil War. According to Kurdish news outlet ANF News, the village is primarily for women whose families suffered violence by ISIS, which massacred Yazidi men and raped and tortured thousands of women. Widows and women without families can all apply to live there as well. Jinwar opened on International Day Against Violence Against Women, November 25, with 30 homes, a school, museum, and medical center.

[forsapphics]

Happy Disability Pride Month! 🩶💚❤️🤍💛💙🩶🌈 (x)

[wartina]

Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1612)

Artemisia Gentileschi

[usnatarchives]

These U.S. Army nurses were first to land with the vanguard of American troops on Normandy beaches. They ate dinner on the site of the field hospital, located between the beach and the fighting.

[auntymurda]

deelishis and her webcam selfies. 2OO7.

[theblvcksupreme]

BEYONCÉ BECOMES ONLY THE FOURTH BLACK WOMAN TO WIN ALBUM OF THE YEAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE GRAMMY’S, JOINING MUSIC LEGENDS - NATALIE COLE, WHITNEY HOUSTON AND LAURYN HILL!

[city-of-ladies]

"Burginda’s letter is instructing the young man in his spiritual endeavours, and the contents of the (albeit short) letter reveal that she was highly educated and well-read. Written in a period that many still refer to erroneously as an intellectual ‘Dark Ages’, Burginda’s letter uses Greek words, utilises biblical exegesis, imitates Christian poetry like the fifth-century Psychomachia of Prudentius, and references both the sixth-century Italian poet Arator and the classical Roman poet Virgil. It also contains a reworking of a description of heaven found in a Latin poem from Africa that dates to c. 500. Burginda was clearly a very well-read intellectual.

This letter can be used as an example to refute many popular misconceptions about the early middle ages. The first misconception is that antique texts were neglected or unknown in this period. The second misconception is that medieval women were uneducated and unintellectual. The third misconception is that there was little or no intellectual transmission between Africa and Europe in this period. Burginda’s letter proves all these assumptions false. Not bad for two paragraphs of Latin."