This post is part of a series
discussing the 2012 National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference: Energize!
Organize! Stop the War on Women. You can read my notes on this session here.
The fourth session I attended at
the 2012 NOW conference was Plenary III. During this plenary session, the Woman
of Action Awards were awarded, followed by a Political Roundtable. The
all-around amazing Allendra Letsome, NOW Membership Vice President, introduced
the Woman of Action honorees: Dr. Carroll Estes and Dr. Bernice “Bunny”
Sandler.
Dr. Estes is a pioneer and
esteemed researcher in aging policy research, and has served in several
leadership positions within that field. In her acceptance speech, she talked
about the three women who she feels most impacted her life: her mother, who
showed her that women can write; Maggie Kuhn, the Gray Panthers founder, who
taught her about the intersection between ageism and social justice as well as
advocacy; and Tisch Summers, who taught her the adage “don’t agonize,
organize.” She also lamented the War on Women and urged everyone to fight back.
Dr. Sandler was an integral part
of getting Title IX, as well as one of the first people to bring attention to
campus sexual harassment. She credited the award to all of the women who gathered
data on their campuses. Sandler went on to discuss the importance and impact of
Title IX and how nobody expected it to be landmark legislation. She also said
that the biggest impact Title IX has had on her grandchildren is that allows
them to have friends of the opposite sex.
I found both Estes’ and Sandler’s
speeches really enlightening. What stood out to me from Estes’ speech was that
she found inspiration everywhere, from major players like Maggie Kuhn and Tisch
Summers to a regular person like her mother. As someone who tries to draw
inspiration (feminist, religious, and philosophical) from everyone and
everything I happen upon, I really appreciate Estes’ dedication to learning
from her surroundings.
I found it really interesting
that Sandler believes that Title IX’s biggest impact on her grandchildren is
allowing for friendships with the opposite sex. Sandler feels that it just
shows that Title IX facilitated a social revolution, one that is still happening,
and she can’t be more right. Despite the fact that my school is all-girls, I’ve
maintained and made friendships with guys throughout the past few years. These
relationships have really broadened my horizons, just because the guys are cool
individuals who I like in the same way that I like my female friends. I am so
glad that I was born in this generation rather than 50 years ago, when such
friendships wouldn’t have been possible.
When talking about her mother,
Estes said that she had been a burgeoning mystery novelist when her father told
her to stop writing; her success scared him. It’s so sad that her mother’s
talent was quashed the way it was. Sandler also mentioned that in the 1960s,
21,000 women were rejected from Virginia
state colleges, while not a single male applicant was turned away. She wondered
aloud if the cure for cancer was in that 21,000. While writing mystery books is
clearly not on the same level as possibly discovering some amazing scientific cure,
it’s still the same concept of women’s abilities not being harnessed to their full
potential. I feel grateful that women like Estes and Sandler didn’t just moan
and groan about the unfairness of the situation, and did something about it. As
Tisch Summers said to Estes, “Don’t agonize, organize.”
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