I went to a DNC watch party last night. These parties are a chance to get together with a group to watch the speeches. The stories in these speeches were incredible. Deval Patrick, governor of Massachusetts, spoke about coming from a home where he, his sister and his mother slept on bunk beds and the floor and rotated nightly who slept where. He talked about the changes accomplished with the support of his family in 1 generation.
As many amazing political speeches as there were though, it was really all about the women last night. Last night was the anniversary of the day women got the vote and some of the speeches reflected that.
Lily Ledbetter talked about her attempts to get equal pay for equal work by filing a claim against her employer Goodyear Tires. She had worked her entire career for that company through to retirement making less money than her male counterparts. Every raise for her was smaller and it affected not only her ability to raise her children, but also her level of income now in her retirement. Our current supreme court let down women everywhere with its decision, overturning earlier court decisions to grant her the money, saying she should have filed her claim within 6 months of the first questionable pay increase.
There were quite a few senior women in the room, a rarity in Summit County, and in between speakers they talked about the discrimination they had experienced growing up. Gretchen talked about how when she first began teaching, they would not hire you if you were married. Later it was that you could not teach if you were pregnant or had children. There were other stories about how you were required to wear skirts, heels, and hose at all times. If there was an activity that required atheletic outfitting, the women were required to change BACK into their skirts and heels while the men were allowed to spend the rest of their day as they were.
Then Hillary Clinton gave the speech of her career.
Its good to be a woman.
As many amazing political speeches as there were though, it was really all about the women last night. Last night was the anniversary of the day women got the vote and some of the speeches reflected that.
Lily Ledbetter talked about her attempts to get equal pay for equal work by filing a claim against her employer Goodyear Tires. She had worked her entire career for that company through to retirement making less money than her male counterparts. Every raise for her was smaller and it affected not only her ability to raise her children, but also her level of income now in her retirement. Our current supreme court let down women everywhere with its decision, overturning earlier court decisions to grant her the money, saying she should have filed her claim within 6 months of the first questionable pay increase.
There were quite a few senior women in the room, a rarity in Summit County, and in between speakers they talked about the discrimination they had experienced growing up. Gretchen talked about how when she first began teaching, they would not hire you if you were married. Later it was that you could not teach if you were pregnant or had children. There were other stories about how you were required to wear skirts, heels, and hose at all times. If there was an activity that required atheletic outfitting, the women were required to change BACK into their skirts and heels while the men were allowed to spend the rest of their day as they were.
Then Hillary Clinton gave the speech of her career.
Its good to be a woman.
Didn't get to see/hear Hillary's speech so I'm so glad you posted it. Had me coming off my kitchen chair!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
MOM