Aaaaand we’re back! That’s right, Freebie Friday is BACK, baby, rested and refreshed and better than ever! (Did you even realize we were gone? *sniff*)
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, so let’s celebrate with a quote from one of OUR favorite feminist icons, Susan B. Anthony. (Not to be confused with Susan A. Anthony or Susan C. Anthony. Why is she always Susan B. Anthony? Were there that many other Susan Anthonys in the suffrage movement that it was causing confusion? These are some of the things we wonder about while running yoga mats through our printers. It’s a very zen activity…) (Note: To no one’s surprise, this very question is answered by the Wikipedia. Whatever would we do without it? Trudge to the library, I guess.)
Anyway, back to Susan B… While she never lived to see all American women receive the right to vote at the national level in 1920 (she passed away in 1906), her steadfast work and the 75–100 fiery orations she gave year after year for 5 decades made it possible (alongside and shoulder-to-shoulder with writer Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her husband Henry Brewster Stanton, both of whom were just as heavily involved in the women’s rights movement. As Elizabeth Stanton said about Anthony, “I forged the thunderbolts, she fired them!”)
So, please, take a moment today and ponder the lives and tireless efforts of Anthony and Stanton and all of the other women and men, both named and nameless, who worked so hard to bring us the right to vote, the right to financial independence, and the right to equal pay for equal work (yes, we know, this is still an ongoing effort, but we’re making progress!)
Download“I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on Earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet.” Susan B. Anthony