Sermons

Minister: Rev. Margaret A. Beckman | International Women’s Day 
“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”
~ Susan B Anthony
 

READING from Ware, Susan. Why They Marched, Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote.
(pp. 279-280). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.

HISTORY MATTERS. Susan B. Anthony knew that, but she refused to stay stuck in the past. When the fourth volume of the History of Woman Suffrage appeared in 1902, the eighty-two-year-old Anthony looked back with pride at what the movement had accomplished, but she also looked forward to what still needed to be done. With a firm hand and a penetrating choice of words, she penned this inscription in her friend Caroline Healey Dall’s personal copy: “This closes the records of the 19th century of work done by and for women—what the 20th century will show—no one can foresee—but that it will be vastly more and better—we cannot fail to believe. But you & I have done the best we knew—and so must rest content—leaving all to younger hands. Your sincere friend and coworker, Susan B. Anthony … Rochester, N.Y.”1  Anthony had devoted more than fifty years of her life to the woman suffrage movement, and victory was nowhere in sight when she wrote those words. Yet she remained proud of what she and her co-workers had done for the cause, and confident that the future would bring even more progress. I suspect that the suffrage leaders who guided the movement to its successful conclusion on August 26, 1920 felt the same way.

That hard-fought victory, the culmination of three generations of sustained political mobilization and spirited public advocacy, represented a breakthrough for American women as well as a major step forward for American democracy. By the early twentieth century, women’s lives had already moved far beyond the domestic sphere. Barriers had fallen, and opportunities had opened up. Yet the fundamental responsibility of citizenship—the right to vote—was arbitrarily denied to half the population. The Nineteenth Amendment changed that increasingly untenable situation, and that is no small achievement.

 

READING ~ A bit from www.Internationalwomensday.com

International Women’s Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality.

The first International Women’s Day occurred in 1911, supported by over one million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.

An equal world is an enabled world.
Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.

We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements.

Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.

So let’s build a gender equal world
Equality is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue.

Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive.

A gender equal world can be healthier, wealthier and more harmonious – so what’s not great about that?

The race is on for the gender equal boardroom, a gender equal government, gender equal media coverage, gender equal workplaces, gender equal sports coverage, more gender equality in health and wealth … so let’s make it happen. Let’s be #EachforEqual.

#EachforEqual is about ‘Collective Individualism’
The IWD 2020 campaign theme is drawn from a notion of ‘Collective Individualism.’

We are all parts of a whole. Our individual actions, conversations, behaviors and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society.

Collectively, we can make change happen. Collectively, we can each help to create a gender equal world.

We can all choose to be #EachforEqual.

2020 and beyond
The world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation may feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy.

 

SERMON

“I was against suffrage for a while. Why was that?” an elderly lady strains to remember. “I thought you could use your influence without getting into the dirt of politics. There was something else – it had to do with being protected. Polling places were considered too rough for women. And there was a third reason … It seems ridiculous now. I thought all women would be doing was doubling the vote, because they’d do what their husbands and fathers told them to.” (The Ladies of Castine, From the Minutes of the Castine, Maine, Women’s Club by Miriam Anne Bourne, Illustrated by Louise Taber Bourne. New York: Arbor House, 1986. Page 79)

This quotation is from an unnamed member of the Castine Women’s Club remembering the time at the beginning of the 20th century when suffrage for women was a complicated and complex issue whose compelling arguments did not, at the time, persude all women of the necessity of the vote.

 

THE GOAL OF winning the right to vote involved hundreds of thousands of American women at the beginning of the 20th century. These suffragists revived and revitalized the long standing women’s rights movement and developed modern strategies that convinced voters, won elections and compelled passage of a Constitutional amendment. However, is was never easy. Throughout their long movement, women throughout the county faced ridicule, misrepresentation and outright rejection. Powerful chauvinistic opponents kept them within limits. Only with committed, unified action could they change their condition. That is why many became suffragists and led the drive for equal rights for American women.

NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY PROJECT WWW.NWHP.ORG

The determination of these thousands of women to be recognized as persons with the rights and responsibilities of citizenship – equal to that of men – eventually succeeded in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution and ratification by the required 36 states to be fully adopted.

Here we are, 100 years later.  100 years of voting and women are slowly gaining influence and position in our political system,  When I reflect on the difference women’s votes have made in our country, I am both proud and disappointed. Proud that women have pushed for and gained better conditions for women and children, and yes men, at work, at school, at home and at sport. I’m imagining that if it had been solely up to men to decide public policy and law, we still might not have

youth and child labor restrictions
schools that recognize all kinds of learning styles and achievements
nutrition programs
specific prenatal and natal care as mandatory elements of health insurance
laws prohibiting domestic, partner and child abuse
laws prohibiting marital rape
fair credit without regard to gender
fair marriage and divorce agreements
family leave
women owning property, businesses, and inheritances
severe penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
reproductive rights and comprehensive health care for all genders and gender expressions – and maybe we could actually lose this now
marriage equality
emphasis on the connection between climate justice and health
criminal justice reform
mental health treatment

What else?  Well, probably the Civil Rights Act the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Affordable Care Act.

It’s been important and life sustaining.

What are we all still waiting for?

The Equal Rights Amendment
Paid Family Leave
Guaranteed comprehensive reproductive and health care choice for men and women
Oh, and a woman in the Oval Office

The theme for International Women’s Day is about gender equality.

It’s not simply women’s rights. It’s also about equality for people of all genders and gender expressions.

The United Nations is front and center for the international effort to achieve women’s rights and gender equality.

The Generation Equality campaign is bringing together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country, to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world we all deserve.

Together, we want to mobilize to end gender-based violence; we are calling for economic justice and rights for all; bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health and rights; and feminist action for climate justice. We want technology and innovation for gender equality; and feminist leadership.

That is a good start on creating and sustaining the world we want to leave for those who come after us.

This is all very hard work.  Power does not share well; people who hold power hold on tight.  People who are already advantaged tend not to even see those who are still disadvantaged and people with advantage typically regard themselves as both worthy and normal and do not necessarily believe and act in ways that will bring about equality.  The world remains a patriarchal world. The patriarchy does not give way easily or swiftly.

Shall I mention the role of faith and religion in both the history and the future of equality?

Looking back, Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists have played key roles in the expansion of equality.

I am tempted to recite a long list of UUs who have played a role in bringing justice for women forward through the ages. But I am resisting that temptation. We know that our faith from long ago inspired people to devote themselves to the causes of liberty, justice, and equality.  It still does.

It takes strength, courage, and enormous persistence to do this work.
I think about where I go to keep strong, courageous and persistent.
Certainly, I look to the UU Principles that guide us.
All of them contribute to the work of equality and justice.

My faith began in liberal protestant Christianity and as I grew, my faith grew. When Jesus was asked “What is the greatest commandment?” he gave an answer that has always worked for me in my faith and in guiding my life.

Love God –I understand that to be the universal loving creative energy that surrounds and is creation – with all my heart, mind, body and spirit and love my neighbor. I now think that my neighbor is not only all people, but all my relations.

So, I have not abandoned Christianity, but I have grown beyond the constraints of Christianity. My faith is ever-expanding as I learn and experience new ways of understanding and being in relationship with  creator, creation and all my relations. What I know to be central to my faith now is that we are meant to be in relationship with each other and with all of creation. Life is best when it is reciprocal, shared in fair and mutual respect; lived with appropriate give and take and give again so that all life is sustained and healthy.

Hey, I don’t always get it right.  Maybe I don’t even get it right most of the time.  But it is my highest aspiration  to live in love and regard for all.  Today – that means gender equality is part of my faith commitment to my life and all life. Today is International Women’s Day and I am happy to focus my attention and yours on women and women’s rights and women’s equal access to the resources needed for a full and healthy life.

Come along.

100 years of women’s suffrage and we’re still working toward gender equality. I am inspired by those women who worked for nearly 100 years to be granted their right to vote.  And we have voted.  And progress has been made.  We must continue to make progress for as much as the world is now a better place for women and children, we can and must do better.

I am inspired by women of my generation by women much younger than I am – by their courage and their strength and their almighty persistence.

Think for a minute.  Who are the women inspiring you to make gender equality real in the United States and around the world?

Women in space
Women in politics
Women in religion
Women in science
Women in the university and
Women in the governor’s mansions

Today, as I reflect on 100 years of suffrage and political engagement, I am both heart-broken and heartened.  Six capable dedicated women are gone from the race, and at the same time, I am deeply inspired by their courage and convictions.

Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand,
Tulsi Gabbard, and Marianne Williamson.
They are heroines.
This year, none will be elected President, but they continue to inspire me and give me hope, tarnished a bit this week, but not extinguished.

It took a decades, a century really, for women to gain recognition of their right to vote in this country.
It will take a long time to gain gender equality in our nation and in our world.  The suffragists did not give up.
We will not give up.

As we turn to our closing song, let me say that I selected this song because I think it reminds us of women’s experience in life.  We need peace like a river and strength like a mountain.

May we all, stay strong and carry on.   Blessed Be.  I Love You.  Amen.