In my genealogy research, I found that when a several greats grandfather died young, leaving his wife with children ranging in age from two years to twenty, the wife was "allowed" to retain only her personal property such as clothing, hair brush, mirror, etc. Being of age, the twenty-year-old son was appointed the guardianship of his father's estate (real property, like the farm, farm implements, livestock, etc.,) as well as guardianship of his younger brothers and sisters. If there hadn't been a son old enough to take over the responsibility of the family, another adult male family member would have, and in the event one couldn't be found, an unrelated male would have been appointed. So a woman could face death with every pregnancy, year after year for twenty or more years, and if she was lucky enough to survive, she was considered unfit to raise the children she'd risked her life to give life to.

My personal opinion is that men have done a fantastic job of bringing us to the point the world finds itself in now. It's long past time for another womens' suffrage - to find our place in the top rungs of the running of government, and hopefully stop the insanity before the human race is wiped off the planet by the males.

The U. N. CEDAW Treaty was first introduced and signed by 20 countries on December 18, 1979 in NYC, and was effective as of September 3, 1981. As described by the author, Elizabeth Galewski, although the U.S. is a signatory, the treaty has NOT been ratified in this country. There are only seven or eight countries in the world that have NOT signed this treaty, including Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Vatican City (with whom Nancy Pelosi was on the phone when drafting the health insurance reform bill in the House). So, this is the company kept by the U.S.

In 1979, it's important to remember that Jimmy Carter had a Democratic congress, too! It's also important to remember that Jimmy Carter, despite all of his good works around the world, does not really believe in CHOICE! However, already, in 1979, the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment, was under attack, so to speak, by the religious right, under the direction of Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum. The ERA has never been passed in this country. Other right wing women's groups, e.g. Concerned Women for America, have also worked diligently to slow progress for equal rights for women.

The ERA was originally written by the suffragette Alice Paul in 1921, and first presented to congress in 1923. In 1972, the ERA was voted on, and passed in both houses of congress, but ratification by the states was necessary for the ERA to become law. The deadline for ratification was June 30, 1982. At that time, only 35 states had ratified the ERA -- ratification of 38 states was required in order to become law. On July 21, 2009, Carolyn Maloney, Democrat from NY state, reintroduced the ERA into the House of Representatives. Sometimes, this bill is referred to as "The Lucretia Mott Amendment."

Susan Jacoby points out in her book, The Freethinkers, that Elizabeth Cady Stanton lost some of her standing in the women's movement when she took it upon herself to rewrite the Bible -- "The Women's Bible." Elizabeth Cady Stanton understood the origins of patriarchy. She was a radical in many ways, and her thought processes are worth taking the time to read. She and Susan B. Anthony's letters, etc. have been published and are available.

On April 25, 2004, I attended an enormous rally in Washington, D.C. for women's rights and for CHOICE/women's reproductive rights. The organizers asked us to sign into the event so that they could more accurately tally the numbers attending. Most of you are aware of how the media downgrades the numbers attending progressive events/rallies/protests/marches. The tallies proved that more than a million people were present in D.C. supporting the rights of women. When Hillary Clinton was asked, later, she said the numbers were NOT enough. We needed MORE! Fellow citizens, that's the Dems for you -- in a nutshell -- we will never be able to gather enough people for them to enact anything even relating to the public interest and "we the people." If the Democrats had all 100 seats in the senate, they would still find a way to fail us.

Doesn't anyone look around and wonder WHY 52% of representatives in the government of The Republic of Rwanda are women, and only 17% of our congress, here in the U.S. are women? Is anyone really surprised when the women in congress, for the most part, support the status quo?

To read the Declaration of Sentiments, drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, for the Seneca Falls, New York Convention of 1848, go to:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/senecafalls.html

Sadly, today, some countries around the world are using the example of the U.S., not ratifying CEDAW, to exit the treaty! This is 2010 -- isn't it? Like the author of this article, I'm NOT laughing, either.

From the 1986 book, written by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale:

"She doesn't make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn't seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she's been taken at her word." -- about one of the central characters in the book, Serena Joy, IMO, based on Phyllis Schafly

"Our big mistake was teaching them to read. We won't do that again." -- Commander Judd

Many men still feel threatened by women.

After a group of us women kept a toxic dump out of here, one man grumbled to me, "We should never have given you the vote."

Misogny is the last "racism." It's still socially acceptable to ridicule older women, in particular.

Many men feel displaced today since women can do almost anything men can with the help of machines and intelligence.

Therefore, men are confused about their purpose in the family because the woman isn't their personal slave anymore (despite "Christian" teachings) and she works outside the home making perhaps as much, sometimes more, than the man of the household.

Some men feel women are taking "their" jobs, and these feelings worsen in bad times such as we're in now, leading to suppressed rage, which sometimes pops out as genuine rage resulting in physical assaults against "their" women.

I don't have a solution except that women will have to ensure they have means to protect themselves from enraged men - and there are more than you'd think - who blame women for their own personal failures.

Sometimes the condescension is sublte. H.L. Menken once wrote that women should be satisfied because they have the important job in society (raising children), whereas men tend to be bankers, lawyers, and accountants.

Hey, sisters, I'm with you.

When bees start abdicating their flower-pollenating responsibilities, I will march with them in their bee-liberation parades (if I still have the strength).

The most important reason to consider remaining in Afghanistan is women. The Taliban are willing to disfigure, mutilate, and kill women in order to keep them from learning.

I think that sociobiologists would remind us that human cells are still Great Ape cells. The brightest and strongest females cannot engage in mortal combat to become Alpha. The main prize to the Alpha (as Jane Goodall discovered) was the trebling of his testicle size, plus fingersnap access to all females of the troop.

Sociobiologists would further remind us females are born with about 200 eggs, dispensed at 28 day intervals. Males wreak grievous harm upon other males for a chance to fertilize an egg. Females can bargain for one that has a big cave, or is employed at a good income. The social ramifications and expressions of this power imbalance are myriad.

Look how many nations have, by now, had female Heads of State. But the US - - - ?