{"id":156543,"date":"2023-03-20T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/?p=156543"},"modified":"2023-03-20T08:00:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:00:18","slug":"weaving-our-stories-as-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/weaving-our-stories-as-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Weaving our stories as women"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stories carry memories, history, and wisdom. They have the ability to ground us in an experience we may know little to nothing about, yet invoke feelings as if we were part of that very experience. We use stories to widen our understanding, deepen our capacity for empathy and compassion, and connect to lives of generations before and after us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year\u2019s theme for Women\u2019s History Month is \u2018Celebrating Women Who Share Our Stories\u2019. To celebrate, we the women on our team gathered to answer a few questions from our conversation guides:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>How have stories about history impacted you? Who has been an impactful female historical figure in your life?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (History and Society: <a href=\"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/history_society\/\">https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/history_society\/<\/a>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>What examples of female leadership did you grow up with? Who were your female role models?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Women + Leadership: <a href=\"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/women_leadership_and_power\/\">https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/women_leadership_and_power\/<\/a>)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>What personal experiences, if any, do you have with gender inequality? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Women and Society: <a href=\"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/women-in-society\/\">https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/topics\/women-in-society\/<\/a><\/span><b>)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some of the responses:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joan: <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biographies and autobiographies of women are one of my favorite ways to have a window into history and culture- Wild Swans, Daughter of Persia, Eleanore Roosevelt, Woman of Egypt&#8230;&#8230;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(anonymous):<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I am in awe and admiration of some of the more current historical figures &#8212; those that are making an impact in the recent past, such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Hilary.\u00a0 Both are bright, amazing women that didn&#8217;t let the opinions of men hold them back.\u00a0 They pushed forward to show their brilliance, compassion and common sense even in the midst of adversity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Becca:<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For me personally, it\u2019s been a long journey of recognizing what gender inequality looks like in practice. I\u2019ve experienced little things like people speaking to my husband and not acknowledging me as well as bigger things like struggling with imposter syndrome or feeling out of place in predominantly male spaces. I am <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">so appreciative<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for women who speak up and tell their stories. In a way, they give voice to my own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. As a mother of four boys and one girl, it\u2019s so important to share these stories. Whether I realized it growing up or not, I have always been drawn to stories about women. I remember the brief mentions as a child of Sacagawea, Joan of Arc, and Harriet Tubman in school and wanting to know more. I love discovering more names and stories and adding my own experience to women\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cassidy:<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As I have grown and become involved in women&#8217;s health issues, I have come to greatly admire the former supreme court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, so much so that I named my dog after her \ud83d\ude42 The way she was so outspoken about women&#8217;s rights and fought diligently to reduce instances of gendered prejudice and discrimination is very inspirational to me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sushila:<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Although not listed as historical figures, authors of women\u2019s history have made the most impact on me as they opened a world not taught in my 20 years of formal education. Riane Eisler\u2019s The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future answered my questions about why half the world\u2019s population\u2019s contributions were not included in our world narrative. Her more recent books, Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future and The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics present how we can shift from humanity\u2019s destruction to a sustainable caring world if we connect the value of women and the earth we live on to our actions and economic choices. Women\u2019s stories reveal the alternatives to a masculine dominated world narrative. Some of my favorites: Man Made Language by Dale Spender, When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd (I replicated her pilgrimage in Crete), and Untie the Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Est\u00e9s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ana\u00efs:<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Even though history is about what has happened in our past, we are still uncovering and discovering so much about it, which makes history feel just as mysterious and changeable as the future. Especially when history is taught from a single story perspective &#8212; which has often been the case in American history &#8212; and coming to relearn history from the perspectives of those who have been intentionally silenced and shut out. Having to reshape our ideas of what has been traditionally taught impacts our identity in ways that can be empowering and\/or devastating, depending on who and what you&#8217;re reading about. As a woman of color, relearning history carries both disappointment and empowerment. As far as impactful female figures in my life, growing up, I have always admired Harriet Tubman. The courage and bravery it took to not only pave the way to free herself, but going back to free others, is a way of heart that I carry within me to this day. I also deeply admire Sojourner Truth, famous for her &#8220;Ain&#8217;t I a Woman&#8221; speech. Like Harriet Tubman, she escaped from slavery to freedom with her infant daughter. Truth reminds me that our voice carries power, resonance, truth, and to be bold in our truth. Lastly, I also want to recognize Josephine Baker, who was a dancer, singer and actress. I just recently found out about her when someone commented on one of my dance videos, &#8220;Channeling that Josephine Baker&#8221;. I had to look her up immediately and was just in AWE. Her expression is wildly unhinged, daring, bold, and free. I can see so much of myself in her expression and am deeply inspired by her work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s your story? How would <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> answer some of these questions? We\u2019d love to know how women, history, and gender inequality have impacted you. Happy Women\u2019s History Month!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stories carry memories, history, and wisdom. They have the ability to ground us in an experience we may know little to nothing about, yet invoke feelings as if we were part of that very experience. We use stories to widen our understanding, deepen our capacity for empathy and compassion, and connect to lives of generations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingroomconversations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}