More pleasant than my usual topics, that is. I am passionate in wanting to see a fairer world and that makes me focus on covering work that still needs to be done. But sometimes it's good to sit back and enjoy the gains we have already won. Yes, they can be lost, and vigilance in this context is as important as in the context of refusing to normalize Trumpistan. Still, I hope you enjoy what follows:
1. Kathrine Switzer
participated in the Boston Marathon in 1967 and again this year:
Fifty years ago, a runner officially entered as K.V. Switzer participated in the Boston Marathon. On Monday, she did it again at age 70.
Kathrine
Switzer’s marathon in 1967 became historic because she was the first
woman to complete the all-male race as an official entrant — her
registration as “K.V. Switzer” hid her gender. The race resonated far
beyond a footnote in the record books when an official tried to force
her from the course after a few miles.
2.
Mother Jones has put together a
partial list of women's inventions or other deeds which history later erased or assigned to men. I have not checked the validity of all of them, but it's a fun list to contemplate in these cold and dark days of the Trump-Putin-Erdogan-etc. era and among much religious fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism and dictatorships are not exactly conducive to independent female lives or general equality.
3. The US women's national team (USWNT) has
ratified a new five-year contract with US Soccer:
On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer announced that it had ratified a five-year collective bargaining with the U.S. women’s national team, ending a contract negotiation that’s been in overdrive for over a year, particularly since the USWNT filed a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging U.S. Soccer with wage discrimination last March.
The USWNT launched an “Equal Play, Equal Pay” campaign to highlight the pay discrepancy between the women’s and men’s national teams last summer, and while this new CBA doesn’t provide exact equality, it is a significant improvement over the previous deal.
The wage discrimination case that led to the new contract can be read in
this Atlantic article.
4. A 57-year old
female astronaut made her eighth space walk last month.
5. Some interesting recent "firsts" for women:
Parliament Square in London, England, will
get its first female statue to go with the existing eleven statues of men. It will be of Millicent Fawcett, a suffragette and a feminist, to celebrate the centenary of British women's right to vote.
Dr. Vera Songwe from Cameroon
became the first woman to become the Executive Secretary for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Becca Longo became the
first woman to win an NCAA football scholarship to play for a Division II team or higher.
Second Lt. Lillian Polatchek:
became the first female graduate of the Army’s Armor Basic Officer Leaders Course, and the first woman to lead a Marine tank platoon.
Cressida Dick will be the
first woman to lead London's Metropolitan Police Force.
