The Well-Spoken Woman (34 page)

What is next for Chelsea Clinton, Meghan McCain, Bristol Palin, Bar-bara and Jenna Bush, and Malia and Sasha Obama? The Obama girls may need to graduate from high school before they contribute to a political dynasty. In South Carolina, Nikki Haley shook up the old boys' network when, at the age of thirty-eight, she was elected the state's first woman governor. There were only a handful of women serving in Congress when Ellen Malcolm founded a political organization with the funny name of EMILY'S List twenty-five years ago. In 2010, when Malcolm turned the reins of power over to new leadership, a record number of women were serving. Stephanie Schriock now heads the fund-raising powerhouse committed to electing progressive women.

A new generation of activists has supplemented the banners and picket signs of the suffragists with blogs and tweets to mobilize young women across the political spectrum. Jessica Valenti founded the website
Feministing.com
in 2004 “to better connect feminists online and off.” Across the partisan divide, Karin Agness's Network of Enlightened Women is, as one member shared, “an organization of intellectual women that went to a shooting range last week, is hosting a traditional tea party next week, and will host a Health Care Roundtable next month.” Another online voice who also speaks the old-fashioned way is Morgane Richardson, founder of Refuse the Silence: Women of Color in Academia Speak Out. Richardson advocates on behalf of women of color who are navigating the issues of race, class, and gender on college campuses.

These Generation X and Y women are a small sample of the emerging voices that will continue to shape the business, cultural, and political landscape as the boomers retire. These women and their families are playing a role in determining what lies ahead for all of us. The generation Y'ers have
the added distinction of having grown up with access to cell phones, instant messaging, and the Internet, and as a result they are likely to be nimble users of new technologies. This familiarity with the virtual world provides them with more channels to speak out in service to their communities, causes, and country.

As the digital age of communications continues to expand, so, too, will the diversity and numbers of women presenters. The richness of their life experiences will enrich our public dialogue with valuable insights and innovative ideas. As more women seize new opportunities, they can contribute while knowing that they have been well served by the well-spoken women who came before them.

 

 

Ann Richards

 

Indra Nooyi

 

Barbara Jordan

 

Pat Summitt

 

Melinda Gates

 

Elizabeth Dole

 

Maya Angelou

 

Suze Orman

 

Madeleine Albright

 

Hillary Clinton

 

 

 

T
he words of women have power and make history. Yet the women who've used words to defend, heal, instruct, champion, and energize have not always been given the recognition they deserve. The speech collections that include women tend to focus on a narrow list of the most famous. An example is the compilation by former presidential speechwriter and columnist for the
New York Times
William Safire. He described his onethousand-page volume of speeches as “history's outstanding instances of oratorical eloquence.” The book contained two hundred speeches, a mere thirteen of which were given by women. Five years later, when the “instant classic” was revised and expanded, the percentage of women decreased!

The Well-Spoken Women's Timeline helps set the record straight and will serve as a useful reference to inspiring moments and significant achievements. The collection reminds us of the resolve to be heard, even when doing so was an act of extreme bravery. In colonial America, Mary Dyer's insistence on articulating her Quaker faith led to her execution by hanging. A contemporary of Dyer's named Anne Hutchinson was also persecuted for preaching her faith. Hutchinson was a Bible study leader and a member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony until she was tried in a legal court for teaching men in public. Banished from the colony, Hutchinson and her family were later killed in an Indian raid.

A gap of more than 150 years exists between those deaths and the first Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. From that point on, women en masse took to the stage and the streets with
gusto. During the late nineteenth century, thousands organized on the state and federal levels for equal rights and social and labor reforms, sometimes facing angry, abusive audiences. The hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation was prepared for the resistance she encountered with her antialcohol campaign. The temperance movement leader used the hatchet to smash liquor barrels and paid her legal fines with money earned from lecturing. She also sold tiny hatchet lapel pins.

American's first black woman millionaire was a crusading mogul. Madam C. J. Walker, who developed, manufactured, and marketed a hair tonic for African American women, gave back to her community through economic empowerment programs and antilynching campaigns. Mary Parker Follett was one of the first recognized experts to speak on management theory and labor relations. Throughout the twentieth century, women spoke out on environmental conservation, international affairs, scientific discoveries, workplace issues, and civil rights. It has been forty years since Phyllis Schlafly emerged to disparage Gloria Steinem and the second wave of the women's movement. Honored with the Congressional Medal of Freedom, movie star Audrey Hepburn was the forerunner celebrity humanitarian to Mia Farrow and Angelina Jolie. Each of the featured women in this timeline opens a window on a unique perspective on the topics, questions, and challenges that have shaped our lives.

WELL-SPOKEN WOMEN THEN AND NOW