Honoring Women Trailblazers

Honoring Women Trailblazers
March 18, 2005

Saluting Women's History Month

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) today submitted the following opinion/editorial:

"Earlier this month, I had the privilege of hosting Dr. Massouda Jalal, Afghanistan's Minister of Women's Affairs, in Washington. Dr. Jalal is a pioneer in her home country. When the Taliban regime fell, Dr. Jalal became active in politics, and last fall ran for president in a country where only a few years ago, women could not even appear in public without a male escort. Women were subject to public beatings for violations of a strict dress code. Girls over eight years old were not permitted to attend school, leading to an illiteracy rate of more than 90 percent among young Afghani women.

Today, a free Afghanistan stands in great contrast to its former self. The forthcoming Afghan Parliament will have female representatives. The country's constitution guarantees at least 25 percent of the body will be made up of women.

Similarly, in Iraq, where anti-women legislation was passed and where a woman could be stoned to death in public for fighting with her husband, an historic election on January 30, 2005, brought more than eight million Iraqis to the polls and secured 31 percent of the seats in the 275-member transitional national assembly for women.

Women in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as Dr. Jalal, are blazing a new trail in the Middle East that millions of women will follow. Her tenacity, bravery, and perseverance give us a window into the qualities of the American women who secured the freedom and rights we enjoy today.

We recall women such as Abigail Adams, wife of our second president, John Adams. Her ideas on the American Revolution, the new nation, the American family, foreign courts, and war were well respected and her opinions were influential in government affairs.

Susan B. Anthony helped organize the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. The Nineteenth Amendment to our Constitution, passed in 1920, has been called the "Anthony Amendment" in tribute to the tireless work of this great crusader.

Clara Barton, the "Angel of the Battlefield," was the first president of the American Red Cross.

Angelina and Sarah Grimké, raised in a slave-holding South Carolina family, were among the first women to write and lecture against slavery.

Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is acclaimed as one of the greatest war memorials ever created.
The compelling stories of these historic leaders, and thousands of other women, deserve a national forum where they can be told to future generations. Amazingly, there is no national institution in the Washington, D.C. area that recognizes the historical contributions of American women, and there is no better time than now to fill that void. I am very proud to have authored legislation that will preserve the legacy of women in our nation's capital. This legislation will secure a site in Washington, D.C. for the National Women's History Museum, in close proximity to our National Mall. The museum would host a permanent exhibition space and educational center to honor the rich heritage of women's contributions to family and society.

The United States of America has a strong history of women leaders. As March is Women's History Month, we celebrate the women who have come before us to help shape history and we salute the women across the globe whose courage, determination and resilience is making history today.

http://www.house.gov/pryce/press%20releases/031805_women_trailblazers.htm