We're honoring Women's History Month

     Last week I told a friend about our library honoring Women's History Month in March.  She said she wasn't even aware that such a thing was going on. 
     Well, it is...all across America this month.  All the way from major, well known organizations to small, country libraries, the history of women's stuggles and recognition is being honored.
     Our library displays started when three of us were talking about how our mothers used to make our clothes.  From there it went into making a discussion like this as part of our "Home Front" series, with several women sitting around and talking about what their mothers used to do, what they used to do, and how times have changed.  It would be videotaped for local television and for our library archives.
     Encouraged by these memories, we created a display in our front foyer's lighted cabinets of "women's items," such as crocheted doilies, tatted collars, family pictures, old patterns and handicraft books, bonnets and beaded purses, etc.  Our round table in the foyer holds a child's wooden ironing board with an apron on it and a basket of purple and green flowers.
     The books on all our display tables and bookshelves have green covers and are by women authors.  Except for one table...we've included green-covered books by male authors, so as not to leave the guys out.
     On the walls of the long white hallway, we have a display titled "Ladies First: 34 women who dared to push the envelope."  It was from an article by Catherine DiBenedetto.
     And in recognition of the 101st International Women's Day, which is Thursday, March 8th, we have another wall display that presents an article by Sarah Morrison of The Independent newspaper, exploring the best places to be a woman today.
     As Morrison says: "The global gender gap defies simple solutions.  Eighty-five percent of countries have improved conditions for women over the past six years, according to the World Economic Forum, but in economic and political terms, there is still a long way to go."
     Do you know who these women are: Rosalind "Roz" Savage, Sandra "Sandi" Andersen, or Ann Daniels?  No?  Well, they are just a few of the famous women of the past eight years.
     In 2005 Roz Savage quit her corporate job, left her unraveling marriage, and rowed across the Atlantic by herself; quite a feat for anyone.  In 2008 Sandra Andersen, a barista at a Starbucks in Tacoma, Washington, learned that one of her customers needed a kidney to live and gave the woman one of hers; an act of great compassion.  In 2009 navigator Ann Daniels led the Catlin Artic Survey, a 74-day journey from the Artic Ocean to the North Pole to measure the thickness of sea ice; an environmental concern.
     That doesn't say who the important women of 2010 and 2011 are.  Maybe this is something you can check into...see if you can locate the names of those important women.
     And just remember, even in your family there are important women who made history...the history of your family.  Who are those great women in your life?
     Join us all, around the world, in honoring Women's History Month by sharing with someone the stories of the women you know.